As part of the week celebrating the French language and its use world-wide (March 18th to 26th), the Aix-Marseille Academy is organizing a programme which involves more than 300 students from the Academy plus 8 similar institutions from Algeria, the Lebanon, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia. The CMCA and the Villa Méditerranée / Avitem are partners in this operation.
On Thursday, March 23, the CMCA organized the screening of the film A Voix Haute with à great participation of high school students. In a full auditorium, 400 young students exchanged and discussed about the film and the roles of the different characters. The opportunity to practice speaking and discuss about the major themes of contemporary society.
In the continuity of the work carried out by the students during the PriMed, four pupils of the Lycée Victor Hugo who animated the debate around the importance of the good utilisation of words.
THE PROGRAMME
Thursday March 23rd
A day focussing on school children, to discover the work they have done
Educational establishments only
As part of the Press and Media Week
9:00am Round-table
“Where does the news come from?”
With 70 pupils from the Lycée Thiers in Marseille who, over several months, have been asking their teachers about the way the written press works, plus the journalists and editorial cartoonists they have invited to answer their questions and comment on their work: Coline Charbonnier, Michel Gairaud, Christophe Deroubaix, Steyvelan Chaizy, Ernesto Concha Trujillo, Nadia Khiari, Mustapha Benfodil.
10:30am Workshop
Making a headline
Press article about the event – Interviews with those taking part in the round table – creating cartoons for the press
During the two days, Placide, an editorial cartoonist, will be drawing caricatures taken from life, so be careful! Whoever and wherever you are, you may find yourself immortalised on paper!
10:00 to 10:30am Visit to the exhibitions
Sharing the French language: in the words of the pupils
A word, a photo – ten words for dreaming – video letters – letters displayed
Guided visits by two pupils from the secondary school at La Ciotat, Les Matagots, and two pupils from the 6th form Lycée Victor Hugo, in Marseille
Draw me the Med
Cartooning for Peace
Guided visits by six pupils of the Lycée Thiers, Marseille
10:30am to 12:30pm Writing workshop
Passages, tissages, tressages (the common threads inter-weaving languages)
For young people whose first language is not French and who are either learning a language or a trade. Composition of a shared space for writing, made up of the common threads, the links, the warp and weft which inter-weave our cultures.
11:00am to 12:00pm Theatre
An improvisation tournament
Oran/Lycée Maurice Genevois
The Drôles Madaires from Oran and the pupils at the Lycée Maurice Genevoix will take part in a friendly competition, a fine example of live oral improvisation and inter-cultural hand gestures.
1:30pm to 4:00pm Workshop / Screenings / Discussion
A second look at the day’s headline plus press workshops
By the pupils of the Lycée Thiers.
Young Citizens of the Mediterranean Workshop (AJCM): propositions 5mn 50 – 2015
Created in partnership with the Conseil Régional des Jeunes and two associations: Les Têtes de l’Art and Citoyens de la Terre, as part of the Young Mediterranean Citizens Workshop.
The proposals of 70 young 6th formers from 8 countries around the Mediterranean: “This video is for you, the young people of the Mediterranean. An invitation to commit yourself at our sides for our common future.” The film will be presented by members of the Conseil Régional des Jeunes.
Screening of a documentary presented by the CMCA and FranceTélévisions
A continuation of work done by the 6th formers during the PriMed in December: four pupils from the Lycée Victor Hugo will lead the discussion with the audience about the importance of mastering language.
Friday March 24th
Open Day for the public, presented by the pupils
10:00 to 10:30am Visit to the exhibitions
Sharing the French language: in the words of the pupils
A word, a photo – ten words for dreaming – video letters – letters displayed
Guided visits by the pupils of the invited countries
Draw me the Med
Cartooning for Peace
Guided visits by the pupils of the invited countries
10:30am to 12:30pm Writing workshop
Passages, tissages, tressages (the common threads inter-weaving languages)
For young people whose first language is not French who are either learning a language or a trade. Composition of a shared space for writing made up of the common threads, the links, the warp and weft which inter-weave our cultures.
11:00am to 12:00pm Theatre
An improvisation tournament
The pupils of the secondary school, Jules Ferry, meet those of André Malraux to decide the Marseille winner of the Trophée d’impro culture et diversité, sponsored by Jamel Debbouze. They have worked with the actors of the AOC (Atelier où l’On Cherche, Workshop where we search) before taking part in this selection competition which will allow the best to go through to the final in Paris.
2:00pm – 4:00pm Discussion
The French language – a link? A means of communicating and “living together”
Discussion between ambassadors, authors and 6th formers with the following guests: three project ambassadors “Ambassadors in School”: Bernard Valero, Christine Fages and Jean-Marc Châtaigner plus the two authors of “Quatre nuances de France”, Nacer Safer and Karime Bouhassoum
An open TV studio, presented by the pupils. Images implicit in the French language, threaded by the contribution of other cultures and identities, in France and elsewhere.
7:00pm to 9:00pm Creations / Concert / Screenings / Readings / Theatre
Shared and contrasting creations
France-Algeria-Lebanon-Libya-Morocco-Tunisia
Musical moment
By the pupils of the Collège Versailles, a secondary school, and their Jazz group, an off-shoot of “an orchestra at school” with Marseille’s Cité de la Musique.
Fayrouz, Day of Glory (12 mn) – 2016 – Morocco
Screening of a film by Fouad Zaari and Hicham Aît Ouguerrab, students doing a Master in broadcasting at Tétouan University (Morocco) – Audience Award – PriMed 2016
Fayrouz confronts the reality of teaching in the mountains above Tétouan.
Lettre à soi, l’être à l’autre (Letter to oneself, letter to the other)
Readings of letters exchanged between pupils from two sides of the Mediterranean
Improvisation tournament on stage
Les Drôles Madaires from Oran compete against the pupils of Marseilles’ Collège André Malraux
Saturday March 25th
1:00pm Screenings / Discussions
Les enfants de l’ovale (52 mn) – 2014 – Morocco
With the director Rachid Oujdi
When rugby football arrived in a small Moroccan village, a funny, oval revolution took hold of the inhabitants. Forgotten by the world, these men and women whose life is spent trying to survive, have found a dignity and a reason to hope for a better future for their children thanks to rugby. The film shows us the boys and girls whose families have overcome prejudice to allow them to be together on the rugby pitch. All hope that this unique experience of the “Rugby Children” will lead to a change in Moroccan society.
Director: Grégory Fontana and Rachid Oujdi – Production Company: Comic Strip Production, Images Plus Télévision Vosges – Audience Award at the 2014 PriMed
Possible projections of the future
Selection of films made by associations working with young people from different backgrounds. They will take part in a discussion with the directors at the end of each sequence.
2:30pm First sequence: Portraits and stories
Shared and contrasting perspectives: France and Morocco 20mn – 2017
A series of CV video portraits made by La Compagnie Art dans le jardin – Communicating in French, knowing each other better to better understand our future, the film shows the sensitive work using stage techniques with young people getting vocational training in the Ile-de-France region and young people from rural areas of southern Morocco, funded in their education by the Fondation Sanady.
Presentation of the film by three young Moroccan students with the directors Nathalie Guisset and Julien Pannetier.
Jilan n’aime pas le mensonge / Le dragueur / Réfugié afghan à Marseille / Lara et la préfecture (20 mn) – 2016
4 mini-dramas made by young adults learning French at the Centre d’innovation pour l’Emploi et le Reclassement Social (CIERES), produced by Archipels Images as part of the “Un geste, un premier” workshop.
3:30pm Second sequence: Society, citizenship and otherness
Unemployment: Chômage debout (14 mn) – 2016
Although in France unemployment is at the heart of social unrest, in Tunis the unemployed also have their equivalent of “Nuit debout” (a reference to a French social movement which began in March 2016 protesting against proposed labour reforms). In an almost total indifference, the Tunisian unemployed silently protest day and night to demand a bit of dignity.
Film made by 12 young French and Tunisians as part of the Mediterranean Workshops on Street Journalism organised by Tabasco Video. Production company: Tabasco Video.
Living in the town, living in an image (30mn) – 2016
Six films made from archival images from INA by young people assisted by the Service territorial d’éducation et d’insertion in Marseille (STEI), assisted by the directors of Lieux Fictifs: 1.Des-illusions, 2. Envie d’être aimé, 3. L’étranger, 4. I hate love story, 5. La paix est un trésor à préserver, 6. Ma solitude. Six one-off stories which take us into imaginary worlds here and elsewhere.
5:00pm Third sequence: Territory and commitment
Dialogue et territoires (10 mn) – 2017
Film made by Archipels Images during writing workshops for young people whose first language is not French, at the CIERES and the Deuxième Chance school.
Quand les quartiers nords s’affichent (When the difficult neighbourhoods of North Marseilles go public) (15 mn) – 2017
“What can art and culture change in a difficult neighbourhood?” This film follows a project called
“Le Nord fait le mur” supported by Lieux Publics, from photographic workshops of people living in a difficult neighbourhood to the organisation of mobile, transitory exhibitions by the many participating schools (primary, secondary, lycée).
A film made by the civic services of Tabasco Video.
La villes est à nous (5mn30) – 2015
Film written and directed by Agathe Dreyfus and the newly-arrived immigrant pupils of the class UP2A of the secondary school Belle de Mai, on the theme “Cinema and Politics”. Produced by Les Têtes de l’Art as part of the free rein given to Boulègue, a community TV, at the Le Gyptis cinema.
Sunday March 26th
2:00pm Screening
Patience, patience, t’iras au paradis (85 mn) – 2015
In the 1960’s, thousands of North Africans came to Belgium to work. Many of them women who had left everything to follow their man to an unknown country.
“Patience, Patience t’iras au paradis!” (Be patient, you’ll get to Paradise) is the thousand times repeated phrase encouraging these women to put up with their life without complaining. 50 years later a desire for emancipation has begun to take them over.
Director: Hadja Lahbib (Belgium) – Production Company: Les Passeurs de Lumière, Clair-obscur Productions, RTBF, Arte (Belgium) – Best First Film Award and Asbu Special Mention at the 2015 PriMed
From March 23rd to 26th
Exhibitions open to the public
Sharing the French language: the spoken words of school children
A word, a photo – ten words to dream – video letters – letters displayed – the French press – the French-language press
The exhibitions show the handwritten or filmed letters of students who did not know each other but who tried to describe their daily life, their town and who they are.
Other classes chose to exchange using the “ten words” selected for this year’s French language celebration, all to do with digital: avatar, hoax, favourite, browser, host, nomadic, cloud, pirate, emoticon, phone-freak. Illustrated using photographs or calligraphy drawing on their cultural practices and their own individual imagination.
Draw me the Med
Cartooning for Peace
This new educational exhibition, Cartooning for Peace, shows editorial cartoons from across the Mediterranean. It hopes to make young people more aware of street or participatory media. It was seen at the Lycee Thiers by 954 pupils who analysed and commented on it with their teachers. Through these editorial cartoons the exhibition offers a key to reading and understanding the major problems of the Mediterranean region: freedom of expression, borders, migration, the environment, the challenges of youth.
Concurrently the exhibition PRESSE FRANÇAISE, PRESSE FRANCOPHONE (French press, French-language press) presents articles, headline stories, op-eds, editorial cartoons made by the pupils at the Villa Méditerranée workshops.
From March 23rd to 26th
Writing workshops available
Passages, tissages, tressages (the common threads inter-weaving languages)
An offering by Esther Salmona, writer and artist, in partnership with cipM.
Thursday March 23rd and Friday 24th from 10:30am to 12:30pm Only for young people whose first language is not French and who are either learning the language or a vocation.
“For these workshops, using elements collected during the exhibition visit, we will compose and construct a shared place for writing, made up of common threads, the warp and weft of cultures, languages, ways of seeing, words, memory. A space like the Mediterranean itself, this liquid territory, which exists only through the movements ceaselessly crossing it. “
Saturday March 25th and Sunday 26th from 2:30pm to 4:30pm – For adults, free registration compulsory
“The Mediterranean, this liquid territory, exists only through being shared, and this sharing is possible only through movement, the never-ending passage of people. For these writing workshops, we will try to explore the things passed from one language to another, to construct sounds that may have never been heard. We will draw on the exhibition but also on the texts and visions of contemporary poets around the Mediterranean, in the form of short video clips.”
Esther Salmona is a writer, artist, landscape gardener and teacher at the École Nationale Supérieure du Paysage de Versailles/Marseille.
