First piece of good news. The Institut Francez website is back on schedule!
On the 5th of October, they will be at the International University fair at Grand Hotel Napoca. So, I guess other reps will be there too, for those interested in studying abroad.
And there the Institut Francez will be at the dance festival.
https://omdancefestival.ro/program/
Where did we find that out? From the Institut Francez Cluj Napoca website. Yes, the website is working again, and appears to be up to date! Hurrah!
To simulate the adverts we might put on this website in the future, I will interrupt this blog post by linking to some random news about America: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm0e32rwvrryo No, I don’t really care either. Okay, I kind of care, but yeah, what am I going to do about that? Sneak onto Air Force One?
Now, back to the Cluj News.
On the 10th of October, two French films about dance will show at Cinema Arta. Joseph Nadj’s 2006 Last Paysage, and Valerie Urrea’s “L’homme qui danse” (the man who dances.) Are they any good? I have no idea. Will I go? Probably not.
I found a little trailer of “Homme qui danse,” and it seems to be an animated gif of some naked guy boxing with himself. It looks boring. The guy has big muscles, but he appears to be doing a beginner workout (someone stole his clothes and his gym equipment.) There isn’t even a background, he’s just in a blank room. Maybe he’s looking for the shower and found an empty storage cupboard?
The Last Landscape seems slightly more interesting. He has nice clothes, and there are props and backgrounds. In fact, he is well dressed. Does he have big muscles under those clothes? I don’t want to know.
Of course, our favorite 21st century French film about dance is Dernière Danse by Indila. That isn’t showing in Cluj, but you can see it on YouTube.
No, there’s not much dancing on it, but Indila sure sings a lot about how she dances (and flies.)
There’s more dancing in – Parle à ta tête
Okay, so what’s at the festival? First, the website is in Romanian and English. I guess by International, they are expecting people from out of the country who have not had the opportunity to learn its beautiful languages yet. In case you can’t find the little EN in the top corner, here you go:
https://omdancefestival.ro/en/program/
The festival includes live dancing, movies (like those French ones), exhibitions, a guided tour of an exhibition (a guided tour of a dance exposition? That sounds interesting), dance workshops, talks, social events, and a book launch.
Will I go? I’ll probably go to something. It does look interesting. I didn’t see anyone reading after many hours (and three days) at the book fair, do you think I’ll find anyone dancing at the dance festival? Maybe they read the two days I didn’t go.
When is it? Thursday the eighth of October to Sunday the 11th. So, next weekend.