French Spring

Such is the truly French title of this comprehensive and multigenre festival that will last throughout April in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv, Odesa, Donetsk, and Dnipropetrovsk.

Without doubt this festival is unique, in both scope and representation. The homeland of Diderot and Moli О re will demonstrate its best cultural traditions sparkling with genuine quality and skill.

It will begin with a premiere — rather a return premiere — as the National Opera will host a soiree on April 1, commemorating the great twentieth century choreographer Serge Lifar, once a resident of Kyiv. The soiree will feature scenes from archival films about the maestro, and will climax in the premiere of one his classic renditions, Edouard Lalo’s Suite en Blanc. The legendary ballet, using Lifar’s neoclassic al techniques, was revived by French choreographers Christiane Vlassi, prima ballerina of the Paris Opera, and its premier danseur Gilbert Mayer.

At the same time, the National Music Academy will appear on Independence Square, looking very unusual. For three nights, April 1-3, the square will serve as a giant screen for a laser show by the Scherzo group, a recognized expert on visual effects, including the highlighting of the Eiffel Tower during the centennial festivities, illumination of the Amiens Cathedral, and cooperation with celebrities like the stage director Philippe Genti and modeler Paco Rabana.

The festival will also have room for traditional creative forms. The Kyiv Center of Modern Art will host the display “Where are the Women?”, as of April 5, featuring works by 10 contemporary French women artists. The National Art Museum will have an exhibit titled “Bulgakov or the Spirit of Freedom,” by figural narrative leaders (a very special Gallic version of pop art), April 2-23. Their number one figure, Le Boul’ch, will have a personal exhibit at the French Cultural Center, opening April 3.

Cinephiles will have a feast. The first pleasant surprise will be a retrospective of movies starring Fanny Ardant, an excellent actress and charming woman. She will open the presentation (April 2) and may agree to meet with journalists. The program includes her famous roles in Franco Zeffirelli’s Callas Forever, Francois Ozon’s 8 Women, Francois Truffaut’s Finally Sunday and Woman Next Door, Gabriel Aghion’s Le Libertin, Ann Fontaine’s Natalie. On April 17, they will be offered a Long Night of Shorts: six hours of French shorts at the Ukraine Movie Theater, and on April 23-28, at that same theater they will be able to attend a festival of previews, including Denys Arkand’s Oscar-winning non-English film Les Invasions barbares (Barbarian Invasions), Patrice Chereau’s drama Son Frere (His Brother), and Claude Miller’s Little Thief.

Theatergoers will also have enough to entertain themselves. Kyiv’s experimental producer Dmytro Bohomazov will premiere the first Ukrainian version of Bernard-Marie Koltes’s Roberto Zukko. The greatest thing, of course, will be the French Unicorn Theater with its show conveying the aesthetics of a medieval marketplace circus (Ivan Franko Theater, April 27).

There will be enough jazz and classical music, with the Octovoice, a BB- Bikini Ukrainian-French concert, two music soirees at the National Philharmonic Society (the Ukrainian symphony orchestra will play French music), a meeting with the French writer and traveler Gilles Lapouge, ceremonies of awarding prizes, lectures on art economy.

And a greater part of all this luxury will be enjoyed by the Ukrainian province; moreover, the populace will watch some exclusive shows. Thus, a very interesting dance group known as Kublai Khan Investigations will tour Kharkiv, Lviv, and Dnipropetrovsk, but not Kyiv. The capital’s cinephiles will sigh with envy, knowing that the itinerant festival New Names in Cinematography will stop in Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Lviv; the most interesting Digital Video Art and Placards-to-be-read exhibits will be in Odesa; several excellent modern French photo shows will be held in Lviv, Donetsk, and Kharkiv.

This will be the first time in the history of Ukrainian-French relations that the latter country will be represented on such a large scope in ours. Even now the event can be described as a great breakthrough, a sure sign that Ukraine is coming closer to Europe, becoming its equal component.

The Day will, of course, do its best to provide regular and detailed coverage of the French Spring come April.