Ukraine plunging into the inimitable cultural environment of the Francophonie
The International Day of Francophonie is traditionally marked on March 20. This day to celebrate the French language is a high-profile cultural event for the many members and observer states of the international organization known as La Francophonie. This institution promotes not only French culture but also democracy, respect for cultural diversity, and peace.
“Although La Francophonie is primarily a linguistic community, it is increasingly promoting cooperation among its members in fields that have no direct bearing on the French language, such as culture and education. It is also about developing more active economic exchanges,” said Michel Hugues Fantou, first counselor at the French Embassy in Ukraine.
La Francophonie is a large organization with a membership of 68 countries, including 55 members and 13 observers. In 2007 alone Francophonie members held 1,264 events in 113 countries.
Ukraine joined the list of Francophone countries as an observer only in 2006. Today, for the second year in a row, Ukraine will see a number of interesting “French-flavored” events taking place between March 14 and 21, including the first festival of French-language films dubbed “The Territory of Cinema,” which will screen eight new movies that have won awards at various international film festivals. Besides Kyiv, the French films will also be shown in Lviv, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, and Kharkiv. Another significant event is an exclusive performance of Georges Bizet’s Carmen at the National Opera of Ukraine, starring Isabelle Guillot and Jacque-Greg Belobo.
Among the other major events during Francophonie is an international festival of theaters in Dnipropetrovsk, with the participation of Philippe Fargeau, a French dramatist and producer of classical and modern plays, as well as another cinematic event — a mini film festival in which Ukrainian students have been participating for the second year in a row. This is a competition of digital films shot with cell phones and photo— and video cameras.
As its cultural partner La Francophonie chose the Ukrainian singer Oleh Skrypka, who lived in Paris in the 1990s and has quite a good command of French.
“I am mentally applauding the fact that many different countries can unite in this beautiful art action by offering their own values,” Skrypka said at the opening ceremony of Francophonie. “For us, French is the language of diplomacy, communication, art, and love. This is the way to represent one’s country — not with rockets, gas, or pseudo-folk art. I think we have much to learn.
“In the early 20th century and earlier, many Ukrainians and people of Ukrainian origin made a tremendous contribution to the beautiful French culture,” he went on to say. “Among them are the dancers Vaslav Nijinsky and Serge Lifar, the singers Serge Gainsbourg and Joe Dassin — they all had Ukrainian roots. We should strengthen these ties and learn a lot by joining the Francophonie system because it is far better than the UN or NATO, at least for me as an artist.”
The wise French are spreading their language and cultural heritage all over the world by linking it with such globally important ideas as democracy, peace, equality, and tolerance. “This international action invites everybody to join this celebration of the French language and foster interest in its richness, variety, and viability,” the Francophonie press release states.
This is an opportunity for Ukraine to learn, and the answer to all those who are surprised that somebody is trying to protect the official state language in Ukraine. I wonder if one day the Ukrainian language will be heard as loudly in the international arena as French. If we never succeed in persuading ourselves that our mother tongue is rich, multifaceted, and viable, nobody else will ever do this for us, especially at the international level.
