1st time chevalier at the 9th francophone film festival!

There seem to be a lot of "last time" events this year.
How wonderful to have been present for a "first time" knighting at this 9th - and final - Francophone Film Festival at Armstrong!
It isn't that the festival itself is going away...
just the name of "Armstrong" as the campus is merged with Georgia Southern University.
Still, that won't be finalized until sometime next year, so I intend to carry on as I have.
Part of my carrying on is partaking of this cultural event every year.
(smile)
Opening night saw a unique event not only for this film festival, but for the United States.
Seriously!

The French teacher,
the woman behind this
annual celebration of things French,
received the
Ordre des Palmes académiques.

That makes
Dorothée Mertz-Weigel
a knight!
How incredible!
I was so blessed to bear witness!

Barbara and Carolyn
were there, too,
as were Jordan and Axelle,
of course.

And guess who else I ran across?
John Suchower!!!
The theatre manager
from my days
in the Armstrong Masquers
in the mid-1980's!!!
What a thrill to see him!



Then we were treated to a hilarious movie which featured the song "Tea For Two"! Yes, indeed on the surface, "La Grande Vadrouille" looked to be a war film, but it honestly was more like "Hogan's Heroes" in tone. Some British flyboys are shot down, but helped to avoid the Germans by some French friendlies. Hilarious!
That was my Thursday night's entertainment.
Last night, we were treated to a doubleheader. The first was an old-fashioned 1953 comedy, "Les Vacances de M. Hulot", which follows the adventures of a single man on holiday solo. Strictly clean humor that I know Grndmama would have loved!
The second film that night was "Bon Cop, Bad Cop", a 2006 buddy film, pairing a strait-laced anglophone with a loose cannon francophone to solve a murder on the Ontario-Quebec border. It definitely had some hilarious moments, but it was nicely balanced with more serious - and scary - police work. Oh, and there was hockey in it, too!
On this third, and final evening of the film festival, the films came from farther than usual. "Daratt" was from Chad, a 2006 piece that had their civil war at its heart. Heart is certainly what it was full of, as a young man, sent to seek revenge, finds forgiveness in its stead.
"Le Bonheur D'Eliza" is set in the Caribbean Ocean, on the island of Guadeloupe in 2011. After years of being raised in Paris with her mom and sister, a young woman has returned to her past in search of a relationship with her estranged father. Very interesting film in a quite beautiful location!
This has definitely been a film festival to be remembered fondly!
i thank You, God, for having been granted this blessing for the past nine years!
Right place, right time.
(smile)