Sunrise
These five-minute sunrise events celebrate a significant artist from the French diaspora, in a silent tribute to a musician, philosopher, painter, dancer, composer, writer, poet from a French speaking country. Each day, a different person is filmed at the beach during sunrise while contemplating this figure of their choice. The five-minute video is uploaded to YouTube daily. An Eiffel Tower marks the spot.

As part of Vizcaya's Moonlight Garden Tour, John Bailly creates Matisse a la Claire Fontaine, which explores the distorted perception of France that the French diaspora often creates. The longer we are away from France, the more our idea of France distances itself from reality. The conceptual France of the diaspora is not France; it is an abstraction. Inspired by Matisse, John Bailly creates a series of Parisian landscape drawings. The first, representational, based on an actual image of Paris, the second a drawing of Paris and the third is based on the second. As the project progresses the drawings become more abstract. The more distance between the original and the representation, the greater the interpretation   in art, as in our memories. (free with Museum entrance)

The Blood of a Poet (55min, 1930) is a classic of experimental cinema and is the first in what came to be known as Jean Cocteau"s "Orphic Trilogy," which includes Orphée (1950) and Testament of Orpheus (1960). Although he completed it in September of 1930, the attitudes of the day delayed the public release of the film until 1932. Many early viewers saw anti-Christian symbolism. The Blood of a Poet features the only film appearance by noted photographer and Man Ray model Lee Miller, who plays a statue.

Filmmaker/film historian Sherer's five-minute short, Cocteau Motif, is a new video essay with live elements. Sherer explores how Jean Cocteau's cinema constructions emphasize an identifiable visual poetry and authorship through use of motifs, a unique synthesis of history, previous works and non-cinema disciplines.

Come for dinner and take an abstract tour of France with Christiane Grimal and Kevin Arrow's Audio Visual Travelogue, FRANCE, Christiane on vocals and accordion and 35mm slides by Kevin.

In Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, a French revolutionary secretly records a list of people to be killed by continually encoding names into her knitting. When asked by police what the mysterious object she's making is, she answers "a shroud." Instead of political enemies Carrie's Shroud for Soul Murderers records, in textile form, encoded, unable to be read visually as text, the names of rapists, child abusers, and spouse batterers. As a site-specific installation, the piece functions, metaphorically, as a final resting place for those who have caused irreparable harm and an opportunity to learn more about trauma.

Keddell brings back the red velvet Bonaparte – an enlightened, virile and decisive leader of France and of all Europe. Appearing hatted and "formally attired" standing outside the Long House of Lummus Park – The William English Slave Plantation structure c. 1849 in downtown Lummus Park, he deigns to speak, but be warned Napoleon is in a foul mood. His famous maxim about torture has recently been blatantly ignored at a huge cost to the American soul and to him personally. However it is not politics, nor is it morals, or the lack of them, that is bothering the Emperor. It is the ongoing suppression of his maxims that continue to this day. Attend and the Emperor will tell all.

This trio continues a Cajun French tradition of Acadian music as genuine as can be found in the 21st century. The songs of Marc Savoy (accordion, vocals), wife Ann Savoy (guitar, frequent lead vocals) show the spectrum of Cajun life from sorrow and lost love to nonsense and the joy of dance. The trio brings the raw energy of the dancehalls of southwest Louisiana to the stage, peppered with humorous and informative anecdotes about life on the Louisiana prairies. Go to the Savoy-Doucet event page for more info and tickets.

A French-themed Miami Treasure Hunt takes place in locations to be revealed. First prize will be dinner for two at a Miami French restaurant. Second and third place winners will receive VIP tickets to FLA-FRA events. All Chasse participants will receive a vintage French medal. All teams will end up at 4pm, at a final location to be revealed. There, in a party atmosphere, answer sheets will be evaluated while Chasse au Trésor team members enjoy a complimentary glass of pastis or wine.
Registration is FREE.

Je Ne Suis Pas Marcel Marceau (I Am Not Marcel Marceau) begins its journey at night at the top of a fire escape, lit only by a spotlight. Dedicated to John Kerry and Asteroid 11409 this Italian nutty professor performs a tribute to Debussy, Marceau and Jean-Paul Sarte. "He was misunderstood. Before his time... ", Il Dentone 1997, by Franco Caro

Cocteau's sublime fairy tale masterpiece, in which the pure love of a beautiful girl melts the heart of a feral but gentle beast, is a landmark film of motion picture fantasy. The spectacular visions of enchantment, desire, and death in Beauty and the Beast have become timeless icons of cinematic wonder.

At only 29, Adrien Moignard has become the leading guitarist of "le Jazz Hot" tradition, which began with Django Reinhardt in the 1930's. With flawless technique, he has become the hottest performer in Paris' jazz manouche clubs and DjangoFest events throughout the world. He will be accompanied by NYC-based bassist Sam Anning, who plays in French jazz singer Cyrille Aimee's band.

Go to the Adrien Moignard event page

At 8:05, 8:10 and 8:15, three absurd five-minute videos by Randy Burman become a mini pseudo-Randy Burman French Film Festival. Styled like a black and white French movie, Qu'est-ce existentielle Miami? utilizes the interview as the vehicle to elicit material. A 5-minute puppet movie of Sarte's No Exit is performed with hands holding a French fry (the Valet), a small jar of French's mustard (Garcin), a bottle of French dressing (Estelle), and a croissant (Inez). Random Bag-ACTS of Culture features stop action animation with French words or phrases spelled with baguettes.

At 8:20, John DeFaro's With and Without Camille (Claudel): In a 5' x 7' area for With and Without Camille (Claudel), John DeFaro pours sand mixed with sea water on an object covered with a white cloth, resting in a box, as if a sculptor was working on the sculpture and took a break. The sand is then cleared away and the object is uncovered. A sculpted face of a woman is revealed. A memory of Camille Claudel surfaces.

At 8:20, Lucia Aratanha's Que reste-t-il (What Remains) is a gestural recollection of a catholic education given by French nuns at Our Lady of the Assumption convent in Brazil, as experienced by all of the women in Aratanha's family. The recording of her eldest aunt singing Que reste-t-il de nos amours serves as a backdrop to Aratanha's movements.

At 8:25, appearing in costume, Patricia Gutierrez takes on the persona of a Trobairitz, a female troubadour from the 12th and 13th centuries in southern France, accompanied by a Trobairitz song. Exceptional in musical history, the Trobairitz were known as the first female composers of Western secular music. Pinned to her garment Patricia has placed ribbons and needlework scraps, each with a written name and verse from a particular Trobairitz. Audience members may unpin these and pin them on themselves.

Tigertail and FLA-FRA join Books & Books in the launch of French Corners, with musician Vincent Raffard. Vincent Raffard is a French singer/song writer whose music emanates from a traditional French style combined with pop and jazz. To Vincent, his words play an integral role in his music and his views on race, religion, social equality, justice and love.
(See the full description of French Corners on the main FLA-FRA page.)

Within an immersive and interactive visual and aural design, Beugré battles the stifling confines of the stage, oppressive sound, seas of plastic water bottles and an endless, tangled microphone cable. In this world willing to bury her, Beugré's powerful and passionate quest for freedom unfolds, her body and spirit irrevocably changed by the struggle. Are there spaces where we may not go? Places we do not have the right to explore? And if we cross the boundaries of forbidden spaces, what happens to us? Who do we become? Beugré explores these questions in a raw and unbridled performance in which she confronts and resists that which seeks to oppress.

Go to Nadia Beugré event page

At 8:20, Kerry Phillips' Ne me quitte pas, Tonta. We know how much the French love their dogs. Here in the U.S. we are not far behind. Sung in French, Ne me quitte pas, Tonta (Don't Leave Me) is a homage to a beloved elderly pet, a song which grasps the sadness and desperation of parting. Sung privately from a shower stall at MDCA. Love and loss, whatever its form is universal to our species.

At 8:25, while projecting the animated French film Les Triplettes de Belleville (2003) from a hand held projector, Jenny Larsson will perform a dance piece based on scenes from the film. Richly detailed and loaded with surreal touches, reviews call The Triplets of Belleville an odd, delightful charmer.

Testament of Orpheus (80 min, 1960) is the third and final film of Jean Cocteau's "Orphic Trilogy".In this, an exploration of the torturous relationship between the artist and his creations,Cocteau meets several symbolic phantoms that bring about his death and resurrection. This quest for divine wisdom in a mysterious wasteland brings full circle the journey Cocteau began in The Blood of a Poet 30 years earlier. In the cast are Charles Aznavour, Jean Marais and Françoise Sagan. It also includes cameo appearances by Pablo Picasso and Yul Brynner.