Normandy has its American Film Festival in Deauville at the end of summer .... Britain too!!! An international film festival ... the British Film Festival.


And where can it be ??? A place for the Franco-British friendship… Dinard.

Why Dinard ? Because in the mid 19 th century this small city used to be crowded with British people enjoying the sea. And the success was so impressive that nowadays Dinard has more than 400 villas listed.

In short, the British Film Festival could not find a better ally : and it goes on with the ferry that connects Saint Malo (just in front of Dinard) with United Kingdom.

Back to cinema. The festival takes place in early autumn for a few days. And the last ones were successfull…

Shallow Grave Friends (1994), The Full Monty (1997) Billy Elliot (2000), Bloody Sunday (2002) or The Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003). What a great reward and a great opportunity to discover original works.

Not bad for a young festival ! Here is the program for the 20th edition.

The festival has many awards but the ultimate prize is the Golden Hitchcock .... Some sessions are free, screenings are held in the prison of Saint Malo.

In september, enjoy the very pleasant open-air screening .. .

The festival is really nice, far from the summer crowds, you discover the charms of Dinard and its cinemas... And improve your French .... by reading the subtitles...

Read it in French : Festival du film britannique à Dinard

What can you do in Dinard when it rains… discover African Art. Every year at the Palais des Arts in Dinard (on the seafront and close to the casino), you can discover a nice art exhibition : last year it was Picasso… This year, the exhibition called Gloire de la femme dans l'art africain (litterally glory to women in African Art) shows 200 pieces of African Art connected with women and their roles in African Art and Society.



It is open from june 28th to september 14th (a Sunday) 2008, every day from 2 pm to 7 pm. And it is free…




It is a really nice aesthetic exhibit. The objects are from the XIXth and XXth century, you ‘ll see masks, statues, stools, woodlocks, pearls’jewels…that explains the role of woman in african society. The different rooms present various women’sides such as maternity, fertility, couple, initiation figure,… thanks to a sign, each room explains some part of the african culture. For example, you will learn that scarifications around women’ navel symbolizes the links to the world or that twins have a very special status in Africa. As a fertility symbol, they are feared and revered at the same time. And the Yoruba people (Nigeria) have the highest rate of twins in the world (45,1 for 1000 births) compared to Europe (10,9). And we still don’t know why !



And if you want your kids to improve their french, a guide in french !!! will reveal the secrets of African Art on Tuesday and Thursday afternoon. For the 4-8 years old at 4.30 pm, and for the 8-12 years old at 2.30pm. Hurry up, it lasts till mid september.

Read it in French : L'art africain en Bretagne à Dinard

Wedding anniversary, 40’s birthday, your lover is 50 and you want it to be unforgettable... Birthdays are an occasion for giving an original present : a fly over Brittany just for yourself !!!. My friend did it in September, it is just great...




They (my friend and his lover) did it at Dinard Airport, but you can do it in many breton aerodromes. Pilots do it for nothing because they need to fly n hours to keep their licence to go on flying. They fly you around for your pleasure and for their licence. Dinard Airport has for exemple four pilots doing it.

At Dinard Airport, the pilot was waiting for them. They went into the plane




– you can be three plus the pilot – and they began their take off. Once in the air they had to choose to fly East or West, that is Cap Fréhel (east) or Mont Saint Michel (west).
My friends wanted to fly over the coast, they choosed west, they flew over the sea and Chausey island. The pilot explained to them the landscape while driving his plane as if it were a car .
They saw Cancale and its oysters beds.



Saint Malo



and they finished the trip with Rance estuary.



The weather was really nice, it was wonderful…

And what do you do if it rains !!! Don’t worry and be happy !!! It is known worldwide that Brittany like Great Britain has an humid climate. So, the pilots look at the weather forecast and call you when it is no good to fly…
You’re conquered ???? Well, the fly lasts half an hour and it costs 100 €.
Good trip.



Read it in French : la Bretagne vue d'avion : rendez vous à l'aéroport de Dinard

What are they doing, those mammoths, here in Brittany…

Well, they used to live there long long ago… when ice was everywhere and Britain and Brittany did belong to the same land...

They’re back. Because of the Parisians.Yes, the exhibition you can discover in Rennes was conceived for the National Museum of Natural History in Paris a few years ago and it is now adapted for a smaller place, l’Espace des Sciences at Rennes.

And if I do speak about it, it is because the whole expo is subtitled in English … or translated as you want…



The expo is called At the time of mammoths, it is nice ... I have just spent an hour and a half with my young nephew (6 years old).

The tour begins with all possible fantasies that existed when men discovered those huge bones. People attributed those pieces of skeleton to imaginary figures ... until a whole mammoth was found and one could imagine the disappeared animal.

The exhibition then explains the time of glaciation, the climate, and the BEAST.
You can touch things (I won’t tell you what, you’ll discover it by yourself) and it is nice to do.
Then we live the everyday life with our forebears who lived at that time…In short we become experts in the woolly mammoth.

The exhibition also shows the local history with a short film on Mont Dol (you know the mountain we have between Cancale, the oyster city and the Mont Saint Michel !) where the remains of mammoths have been found during the 19th century. It ends with a long movie whose hero is ... this big animal, which is a good resumé of everything we have learned visiting the expo.

I (we) really liked it but we were almost alone in the expo. But the problem with Champs Libres is often the same, rooms are small and sounds clink…

I needed to concentrate to hear the soundtrack for the documentary on Mount Dol, (which I found rather interesting), especially when my nephew was listening to the weather report next to me.

The children and the mammoths?

From 6 years old, indicates the brochure. My young acolyte found it nice to try the trunk or to see a baby mammoth… a real one named Dami and usually living in a Belgian Museum. He did like to touch elephant skin and to compare it to the missing pachyderm.
My young friend was really interested in the life of mammoths. So he loved the exhibition. But sometimes it is nice to help the child through : lots to read… less in English though !!
The film at the end of the exhibition sums up the entire expo and it is so real, you feel like being back some thousands years ago…

In short, the adult (I) was not bored (not at all) and my nephew either. We did enjoy it. Not in front of the same things or stands, but whatever.
At the exit, a "true woolly mammoth" is watching you...

4 € for adults and 3 for 8 years old and older.
From Tuesday to Sunday (12h - 19h on weekdays and 14-19 on weekends), 21h night until Tuesday. Until March 7, 2010.

Read it in French : Les mammouths arrivent et reviennent à Rennes, une exposition à l'Espace des Sciences aux Champs Libres

This year, the Palais des Arts is celebrating its 20th anniversary ... and for this event it hosts part of the private collections of the François Pinault Foundation.

Do you know François Pinault ? He is THE famous Breton billionaire. Autodidact, art lover… and football fan ... He is the main sponsor of the foot ball team Stade Rennais.

So for its 20th birthday, Dinard has decided to expose the collections of this man… who usually shows them in Venice, yes, in Italy.

About 60 works by thirty artists * ...



Qui a peur des artistes ? Who is afraid of artists?

Not me, except when I look at the picture, it reminds me of Verdun (horrible battle of the 1st World War wtih thousands of deads), the soldier buried standing (alive?) ...
But everyone sees what he wants : I thought it was a commercial for Hunger in Africa ... someone said...

Annoying the poster? And the title?

What is art done for?

- To have fun ? (123 points)
- To ask questions ? (54321 points)
– To understand the world ? (393 points)
– To criticize it ? (3131 points)
– To be nice (333 points)
- To mess around ? (731 points)
- Do nothing ? (34536 points) -
- To laugh and have fun (0.333333333333)
- To be moral ? (321 points)
- To be green ? (369 points)
- What else ?
- To share (4.50 euros full price, the show last year was free)

If your score is 3 points or more, go ahead!

The exhibition shows contemporary art : portraits, contemporary art paintings, photography, photo-collages, drawings, video, sculpture, abstract works ... All art forms are represented ... Each room has a title ...for example-War Consumption Revolt.
Well, not easy to give my opinion. Jeff Wall bothers with the photo showing the ambush in Afghanistan. Further it is even more violent (the video ...). It is the same artist Adel Abdessemed who made the funny pictures on the opposite wall!
The most famous : la nona hora ((the ninth hour is the name for the prayer that is recited at the ninth hour of the day, usually around 3PM to commemorate the moment when Christ died on the Cross) by Maurizio Cattelan. The most famous or the one everybody talked about ? Write your comment for that work !

And next to it, nobody screamed at Damien Hirst, the greens don’t like contemporary art ? But I do not know anything about insects ...

In short, everyone has his reading and interpretation ... Make your own opinion ... because as François Pinault said and I translate : ... The art has led me to wonder more. To keep my eyes open on the world and its evolutions, to be more attentive to the change of the world ...

This summer, if you don’t have time to visit the Palazzo Grazzi museum or the new one at Punta della Dogana (Venice, Italy), where the rest of the collections are, or if you missed the exhibition in Moscow (a certain state of world), go to ... Dinard from 14 June to 13 September from 11 am to 19 pm and night (21h) on Friday.
Pictures are not allowed...

* Josef Albers, Dan Flavin, Agnes Martin, Lucio Fontana, Piero Manzoni, Lee Ufans, Pierre Soulages, Charles Matton, Takashi Murakami, Paul McCarthy, Yan Pei-Ming Martial Raysse, Ed Ruscha, Adel Abdessemed, Andreas Gursky, Barbara Kruger , Cindy Sherman, Jeff Wall, Jiechang Yang, Chen Zhen. Subodh Gupta, Mike Kelley, Bharti Kher, Takashi Murakami, Julie Mehretu, Luc Tuymans, Maurizio Cattelan, Paul Fryer, Damien Hirst, Claude Lêvêque, Yan Pei-Ming, Andres Serrano. Subodh Gupta, Mike Kelley, Bharti Kher, Takashi Murakami, Julie Mehretu, Luc Tuymans, Maurizio Cattelan, Paul Fryer, Damien Hirst, Claude Lévêque, Yan Pei-Ming, Andres Serrano.

... You like wine .... natural and good ones ... and local food, typical local meals... Then follow me... to Vini Circus ...

In the French village Dingé or Hédé (it's like good wine, it depends on the year) since 2004, April begins with a party for wine lovers ... and good food amateurs.
There is a lot to do during the week end : from Friday evening 7 pm to Monday 1 am, all sorts of things are possible. During the day, you'll learn, while sipping a glass, the French cuisine's secrets thanks to cooking demonstrations with French famous chefs. Or, if you're there just as a wine fan, follow the wine talks that bring together specialists speaking about their favorite drink.

There are numerous exhibitors: fifty vineyards (no Bretons, thank God, they do not know how to make wine! …). There are also breweries, cider producers... and representatives of other local French specialities ... butter, oysters, charcuterie (prepared meats products), bread ... The exhibition is international ... Exhibitors from Italy and Belgium are also presents...
Artists and sculptors are also here with their creations.

3 nights of festivities will take place during the wine weekend ... concerts (programme is on their website) and especially winemakers menu ... For two evening meals and nights (Saturday and Sunday until 2 am)... Not to be missed ...

So, after a perfect dinner and the best wines you have ever tasted … you have to come back home... No worry... if you're staying in a nice hotel in Rennes, you are spoiled … On the way in, you take the train at the gare de Rennes, someone will pick you up at the station of Montreuil sur Ille ... and after the meal, at 2 am , there is a departure by bus which goes directly back to the Breton capital (I mean Rennes …).
A shuttle service also brings back home the other festival lovers ... 15 km around. Better though, the wine is at will ...

Read this article in French : Festival des vins et des bonnes choses : Vini Circus

La fête des mégalithes...

Pleslin-Trigavou is a small village that got married several years ago. Yes, these two parishes wanted to be one and each had a beautiful heritage to give as a dowry : Pleslin is the 3rd megalithic site in Brittany (it has 4000 years) and hundreds of bronze axes were found in Trigavou last century, which are 3000 years ....

A union of history and heritage, so ...

Have you heard of la fête des mégalithes end of july ?
And do you know what it celebrates ?
Is it to honor the fairies?
Or to commemorate the druids?
Or to perpetuate a tradition of the nineteenth century?

The megalithic site, listed since 1887, is certainly very different from the Neolithic period : we can see now 65 standing stones, arranged in 5 rows and oriented as in Carnac, East – West but it used to be different. Because today the stones are lying, they were menhirs (standing stones). And therefore the site looks like a field of rocks (Champ de Roches) and is less impressive…

Imagine if all those tons were standing ...

How did they get here, these stones ? It is the eternal question, the Neolithic suspense... but I have a clue: the Mont Saint Michel ...

Oh, it already existed!
That's the story : The fairies were carrying stones to build the Mont-Saint-Michel. Tired-it 's heavy-, they got rid of them here in the Field rocks.



Next to it a collection of oak trees (lots of different species) remind us that standing stones are also the domain of druids. Later around 300 BC, Celts reused the standing stones and this Champ des Roches will be the place for new beliefs … Legends and myths will also survive till now… Probably rituals that might seem strange today took place then.
Through these rituals the Celts tried to communicate with the supernatural and the Other World.

Opposite, there is a large area to maintain the tradition?



Around 1850, a very old tradition was the pretext for a village fête for the inhabitants of Pleslin and other neighbours during the day of Saint John and Saint Peter. Celebrations, banquets were probably too pagan for the priests of the parish who tried unsuccessfully to stop these rites.

So la Fête des mégalithes, what is it done for ?

Read it in French : Les menhirs de Pleslin-Trigavou, Cotes-d'armor, Bretagne

You may have come to France, or even Brittany to enjoy music festivals? Yes, Small Britain is the best place for live music... the region where there is the more important number of music festivals in France. The biggest, les vieilles charrues, gathers more than 200 000 visitors … and it's money worth... Famous international bands (old and young ones) and French singers will sing for you for a nice price !!!
And maybe, if you went to listen live music in Breton festivals, you've noticed that your glass was refundable! Using and using it again and again !



Festivals lovers know or imagine the quantity of plastic cups used on an outdoor demonstration ... Thousands of plastic glasses are used on those week ends... and sometimes (at best) they end up in a bin ? Or (at worst) on the floor...

And we have a local figure who is fed up of this mess of plastic and is looking for a solution... to fight this over-consumption of oil... Bruno, the boss of a pub (le sablier) in Rennes.

He began to work (voluntarily) with a supplier of glasses in the South ... of France. Who had a product made in Spain with the C E symbol (made in China not to be confused with our symbol European CE! It is almost the same... just the gap between the letters is wider!) ...
But it is a nonsense: to sell a « green » product that is not produced locally, that needs to parcourir miles to be washed and again ...... No, no, really, green washing will not go on with him!
He needs a more logical solution, a local one, a real green cup... produced here with recyclable plastic... And he did it !

The adventure began some months ago with a plastic food industry, Française des Plastiques, (located in Louvigné de Bais a few miles from Rennes), that makes the precious « container » with .... ITS waste, ITS defective products...The raw material is there, the cup Esprit planète is born ... The glass is recyclable and manufactured here. ... It is also washed in Brittany ... and the festivals love it ( Bobital, Reggae Summer Fest...).

And for good reason ... it has lots of advantages:
It can be rented or purchased by the event organizers. It can be used many times up to a 100th. You can customize it.



The principle: a deposit of 1 euro, you get a cup documented and reusable. For hot or cold drinks. Washable again and again.
The only problem : the tab. Because of it the glass is not 100% recyclable but 30 %. The tab does not hold when it is a 100%. But Bruno is looking for a solution... And he will find one !
Cheers



Read it in French : Festival du gobelet réutilisable en Bretagne : esprit planete détrone le verre en plastique à usage unique

If you’re bored during this Chrismas time, I’ve got something for you… Specially because the weather is really mild now in Brittany. You should harvest rose hips, but the good ones, the useful ones used for jam or itching powder…



The fruits of dog roses are usually used to make jam, syrup, liqueur or herbal tea. The fruit is an incredibly high source of Vitamin C (20 times more than lemon) and therefore really helpful for whom is suffering from a lack of vitamin C.
The dog rose produces an orange to red fruit, that looks like an olive. The fruits of the rose tree are round. You can harvest them as early as october, but the longer you wait, the sweeter they will be. They grow in hedges, coastlines… and at my neighbour’s…



And if you wait for the first frost, it will be easier to peel them…
Because that ‘s the main problem with rose hips… Inside the fruit, tiny fine hairs that are used as itching powder and if you don’t carefully remove them while making your jam… You’ll have an itching "posterieur"…



I’ll soon give you my jam recipe as soon as I've some time before me... It is long to peel... Till then, you can keep them in the freezer...

Read it in French : Le cynorrhodon en Bretagne : fruit du rosier ou de l'églantier

Have you ever been to Saint Malo, the fortified city ? I'm sure you did. But did you look on your left and attracted by the small fortified peninsula of Aleth, did you run there to enjoy a nice walk and a beautiful view on Dinard and the Rance estuary. Follow me, I’ll show you the place…



Saint Servan is the quarter of Saint Malo that begins the Rance estuary. It is less known, less visited but really nice.

Remind of its history : Aleth – that’s the old name of the place- was occupied long before the creation of Saint Malo. It became a bishopric during the VIth century when Malo, the future Saint, arrived from Great Britain to bring back some order in the religious life of the promontory and to convert it. Aleth suffered many attacks during that period and many times was burnt or destroyed. It was much later during the XIIth century that it was transfered to the actual Saint Malo.

If you come from Saint Malo for the walk, you’ll go along a long beach (plage des Sablons), that leads you to the sailing harbour (800 boats)



and soon you’ll see steps for the pathway around the peninsula.

On the path, a piece of walls, remains of the Roman period.



The Coriosolites, one of the tribes of Armorica, were already living there before the Roman occupation. Then Caesar conquered Armorica (56 AD). And they let some traces because they were building in stones…

Go on and you soon meet a fortress from the XVIII th century. Going up the stairs you are on the Memorial 39-45, going down you have a monument dedicated to Charcot (1867-1936). First name Jean Baptiste.



He is famous in France. Do you know why ? Guess and find the odd one out in the following quotes :

He is known because he is a medical doctor
He is famous because he is a polar scientist and the leader of the first polar expeditions
He divorced the granddaughter of Victor Hugo, a famous French writer
He was a rugby champion
The name of his ship was “Why not?”
He loved gulls
He died on a shipwreck as he was going back to Saint Malo




So, the winner is… Sorry, there is no odd ones.

He was a very famous polar explorer, he discovered new countries, drew new maps, studied tides, polar wildlife and flora. He has had 4 ships called Pourquoi pas ? (Why not) and the unique survivor of the wreck told that Charcot released the mascot of the ship, Rita the seagull before the wreck.

Let’s go back to the cliffpath, you’ll see 8 metal pillboxes,



that are 30 cm thick but quite destroyed by the war 39-45. They were joined by underground galleries.

You’re now walking along the Rance estuary, in front of you Dinard.



Behind you in the distance the cape Fréhel.

In the middle of the peninsula, a camping place. A dam, the tidal power plant cuts the Rance estuary on your left. Leaving the path, visit the village of Saint Servan, it is worth it.



Read it in French : Balade dans un quartier de Saint Malo : la cité d'Aleth à Saint Servan (Bretagne, France)

You want to know if the notions of sustainable development, organic food or ecological houses mean something in France. You should go to this fair.

It gathers biological farmers and organic wine producers, representatives of natural health products or cosmetics and bio fibres exhibitors …



Ecological houses, solar energy or water filters are also represented during this week end.

It takes place in the Parc expo (Parc des Expositions de Rennes Saint Jacques) from Februar 27th to March 1st. Open from 10 am to 7 pm Friday, Saturday and Sunday, it is open till 10 pm on Friday night. 4 euros (for those who are more than 12 years old).