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AFDC Presents Pioneer French Filmmaker Alice Guy-Blaché Jan.24
January 13, 2020Following their first French-language Film Festival in November 2019, about Women Filmmakers, Alliance Française de Washington (AFDC) presents a fabulous documentary about Alice Guy-Blanché, the first-ever French woman movie director, a “pivotal figure in the history of film” who single-handedly invented narrative cinema and many cinema techniques, such as colorizing and synchronized sound. Directed by Pamela B. Green, narrated by Jodie Foster, and produced by Robert Redford.
Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché made its festival debut at Cannes 2018 to a standing ovation, and then was seen at the Deauville, Telluride, BFI London, and New York Film Festivals among others. It opened in Los Angeles and New York in April and is now screening nationwide.
(Photo by: Alliance Française de Washington)
Synopsis:
When Alice Guy-Blaché completed her first film in 1896 Paris, she was not only the first female filmmaker but one of the first directors ever to make a narrative film. Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché follows her rise from Gaumont secretary to her appointment as head of the production a year later, and her subsequent illustrious 20-year career in France and in the United States, as the founder of her own studio and as writer, director, and/or producer of 1,000 films—after which she was veritably erased from history. Until now...
Screening is January 24, 2020. Happy Hour at 6:30 pm. The screening will start at 7:00 pm.
Film in English & French with English subtitles.
Check out the trailer here!
AFDC Member & Culture Pass: FREE
Purchase tickets here.
Alliance Française de Washington is located at 2142 Wyoming Avenue NW.
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Car2Go Gone
December 19, 2019Urban mobility update: Share Now, the car-sharing service formerly known as Car2Go, is leaving North America.
Daimler and BMW, the two global automakers that share ownership of Share Now, said it would cease service on February 29th, 2020. Share Now currently operates in New York City, Montreal, Seattle, Washington, DC, and Vancouver.
The decision was based on “two complicated realities,” Daimler and BMW said in a joint statement: the “volatile state of the global mobility industry” and rising infrastructure costs associated with operating a car-sharing service in North America.
On the same date — citing “low adoption rates” — Share Now will also cease operating in three European cities: Florence, London and Brussels. Instead, the focus will switch to remaining European cities where it operates and where it thinks the service remains viable.
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Jane Monheit Live at Blues Alley Dec. 18
December 10, 2019American jazz and pop vocalist, Jane Monheit will be performing live at Blues Alley on December 18, 2019.
With her new album, The Songbook Sessions: Ella Fitzgerald—the first to be released on her own Emerald City Records—the Long Island native has surprised even herself with her artistic leap. Jane had thought about recording an Ella tribute for a long time. Fitzgerald’s beloved songbook albums held “Biblical” importance for her when she was growing up and have never lost their hold on her.
On this new offering, Monheit pays joyous tribute to Ella while sharing a definitive portrait of herself, guided by her producer, arranger, and trumpet great, Nicholas Payton. Once she decided to make the dream project a reality, she had no trouble choosing titles. She jotted down a list of 25 titles “almost immediately.” She and Payton each narrowed the choices to a dozen and settled on the final list together.
“When I was growing up, listening to music and singing along with records was the greatest joy of my life. Above all, beyond any other artist, I loved and revered Ella.” – Grammy nominated vocalist, Jane Monheit
Purchase tickets here.
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