Journée française: A French day in Chemnitz
Various events planned for 12 April
On Friday, 12 April, Chemnitz celebrates the Journée française. The day is all about France and aims to bring the culture of our neighbouring country France to life and make Franco-German exchange accessible to all citizens. A film screening, a literary discussion and a concert are planned. The Journée française is organised by the Institut français Sachsen and the City of Chemnitz.
A free screening of the French film "Fifi" in the original language with German subtitles will begin at 12 noon in the Metropol cinema: This is set in Nancy, where 15-year-old Sophie, called Fifi, is stuck in her social housing project in a chaotic family atmosphere. When she bumps into her old friend Jade, who is about to go on holiday, Fifi secretly takes the keys to her pretty house in the city centre, which has been abandoned for the summer. There she unexpectedly meets 23-year-old Stéphane, Jade's older brother. Instead of driving her away, he allows her to seek refuge there whenever she wants.
Afterwards, cinema-goers can discuss the film with Violaine Varin, director of the Institut français Sachsen.
The Journée française will be a guest at the Chemnitz City Library at 5 pm. A literary discussion with Jérémie Dres will take place in the youth area of the library. He is the author of the graphic novels "Nous n'irons pas voir Auschwitz" (Cambourakis, 2011), "Si je t'oublie Alexandrie" (Steinkis, 2016) and "Le jour où j'ai rencontré Ben Laden" (Delcourt, 2021).
Prior to this, Jérémie Dres will be a guest at the Goethe-Gymnasium, where he will lead a workshop in which pupils in year 9 will draw a comic based on their own photo from the family album.
From 8.30 pm, the French day will come to a symbolic close with a concert in the Weltecho, where the band Terne from Chemnitz's twin city Mulhouse will meet and play together with the Chemnitz band Destinyday. While the French are dedicated to post-punk, steeped in sweat and melancholy, the Chemnitz musicians combine hard riffs and melodic hooks with soaring, powerful and bold vocal lines. Admission costs 8 euros, more can be donated for the bands.
On the morning of the Journée française, Lord Mayor Sven Schulze and the Chemnitz Chamber of Industry and Commerce will be inviting business representatives to a business breakfast. Over croissants, they will be able to talk to Bertrand Le Tallec and Manuela Saccomano from the Economic Department of the French Embassy in Berlin. In the evening, there will also be an exchange programme for interested cultural players in the town hall. This will shed light on Franco-German relations and new contacts can be made in order to develop future projects.
www.chemnitz.de/europa