LA FRANCOPHONIE 2023 CELEBRATED IN SRI LANKA
In celebration of La Francophonie 2023, in Sri Lanka, The Embassy of Switzerland to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, along with the International Organisation of la Francophonie, has set the grounds to host a series of cultural and aesthetic events across the country. The diplomatic missions of Canada, Egypt, France, and Switzerland also have joined hands with the Alliance Française in Sri Lanka; de Kotte, de Matara and de Kandy, the French Teachers Association, and the International French School of Colombo.
‘La Francophonie’
The Francophonie is a collective term utilised to introduce all the male and female French speakers-foreign as well as native-who are widely spread across the globe. In fact, it is spoken by more than 300 million people in the world, across five continents. Quite popular huh? Indeed, it is. French is the world’s fifth most-spoken language!
‘La Francophonie’, is a festival celebrated by French-speaking countries annually to cherish the language. In celebrating the language in this token, they intend to promote the French language and its cultural and linguistic diversity.
To mark the launch of La Francophonie 2023, a press conference was held at Alliance Française de Kotte, Colombo. Speaking at the event, Director – Alliance Française de Kotte, and Coordinator – Alliance Française de Sri Lanka and Maldives, Bruno Duparc, noted that Sri Lanka has been an observer of the International Organisation of La Francophonie (L’OIF).
L’OIF is an organisation which, since its inception in 1970, has been working towards promoting the French language and political, educational, economic, and cultural cooperation among the 88 member countries of the Organisation internationale of la Francophonie (OIF) [International Organisation of La Francophonie].
La Francophonie 2023
It was revealed that this year’s celebrations of La Francophonie are going to be the most vivid, as it features a wide range of celebrations including cultural, musical, artistic, gastronomical as well as literary events. Following is a brief introduction to the events taking place.
Cinema:
– Short movies screening in Alliances Françaises of Colombo, Matara and Kandy: French short movies in the frame of La Fête du Court Métrage and Canadian short movies.
– Screening of the French movie Edmond (Alexis Michalik, 2018) at the National Film Corporation: the movie tells the story of the writing of one of the most famous French theatre plays: Cyrano de Bergerac.
Music:
– The Swiss Embassy has organised a tour of the music band ‘Les Monsieur Monsieur’ in Colombo, Jaffna and Kandy.
– Music workshops with Rachel Chanmugam at Alliance Française of Colombo with a big festive day with all the participants
Exhibition:
– Celebrate the French language through arts with the Belgian artist Fabienne Francotte who will conduct workshops with a group of Alliance Française members and a class from the international French school of Colombo. The workshops will lead to an art exhibition at Alliance Française de Colombo.
Gastronomy:
– The Embassy of Egypt organizes a Francophonic cuisine day at the Galle Face Hotel, with a special menu featuring different recipes of the countries that are part of the international organisation of Francophonie.
Literature:
– Official opening of the library of the Alliance Française of Colombo, with the presentation of Yasmin Rajapakse’s book
Conference:
– A presentation of what is la Francophonie and higher education in France for the students of the University of Sri Jayawardenepura in Colombo.
Workshops on French Language:
– Quiz and a drawing contest for the French-learning students of Sri Lanka by The French Teachers Association organisers.
– Time’s Up on the 10 words of the Francophonie and acrostiche and drawing workshop at Alliance Française de Kandy.
– Video contest and writing contest at Alliance Française de Matara.
