lundi 30 mars 2009

Le compositeur de musiques de films Maurice Jarre est mort


Maurice Jarre, mort à Los Angeles des suites d'un cancer à l'âge de 84 ans dans la nuit de samedi à dimanche, est l'auteur de nombreuses musiques mythiques de films, parmi lesquels Docteur Jivago, Lawrence d'Arabie et Paris brûle-t-il ?.
Compositeur le plus récompensé par les Oscars avec trois statuettes pour Lawrence d'Arabie (1962), Docteur Jivago (1965) et La Route des Indes (1984), Maurice Jarre a signé plus de 150 musiques de films pour les plus grands réalisateurs : John Frankenheimer, Alfred Hitchcock, John Huston ou Luchino Visconti.
Le musicien avait signé sa première musique de film en 1952 à la demande du cinéaste Georges Franju pour le court-métrage Hôtel des Invalides. Maurice Jarre, qui s'était installé aux Etats-Unis au milieu des années 60 puis en Suisse avant de revenir à Los Angeles, a également signé les musiques des films Le Président (Henri Verneuil), Jésus de Nazareth (Franco Zeffirelli, 1976), Witness (Peter Weir, 1985) et Le Cercle des poètes disparus (Peter Weir, 1989).
Le compositeur avait fêté ses cinquante ans de carrière en 2006 en donnant à l'Auditorium de Lyon, sa ville natale, un concert retraçant ses plus grandes œuvres, en présence de son fils, le musicien Jean-Michel Jarre. Sa vocation était née, quand il était enfant, de l'écoute d'un enregistrement de la 2e Rhapsodie hongroise de Liszt par Léopold Stokowski. Après des études musicales, il était devenu percussionniste-timbalier et avait formé en 1946 un duo avec le compositeur Pierre Boulez pour la compagnie de Théâtre Renaud-Barrault. Cinq ans plus tard, Jean Vilar lui commandait la partition du Prince de Hombourg, joué au Festival d'Avignon par Gérard Philipe et Jeanne Moreau.
Maurice Jarre a composé et écrit aussi plusieurs ballets pour l'Opéra de Paris, notamment Notre-Dame-de Paris. En février dernier, lors de sa dernière apparition publique en Europe, il avait reçu un Ours d'or au Festival de Berlin pour l'ensemble de sa carrière.




Article de Paris Match

vendredi 27 mars 2009

Film event: free screening & more!

This just in, from the French Consulate of Houston! Read on...

The cultural department of the General Consulate of France in Houston organizes an exceptional event ; a free screening of French short films on the occasion of the Houston International Film Festival on Friday, April 24 at the AMC Theater (2949 Dunvale, Houston, TX 77063) at 1:00 pm. The duration of the show is 1h05. Those films are made in a very up-to-date style, well-liked by young people.

We are delighted to invite you and your students to enjoy, at no cost, this rare selection of recent shorts, produced during the past three years. All students from 12 years-old onwards are welcome. The films are truly entertaining and educational as well. This event could be very interesting for French learners but also for a larger public as all films are presented with English subtitles.

I attached the program to the present mail. You may prepare this viewing by making your students guess the subjects of the films based on the titles and pictures.Three of the 6 films presented will be available on DVD to teachers as well as teachers' notes and worksheets in order to study them in class. (NB: for the original attached content, contact Mme Maurannes).

To make a reservation for your class, please send me an email with the following information:

Your name:
Your address: (if you wish to receive the DVD)
Your school:
Number of students (and classes) you would like to bring:

It’s as simple as that!

Marie Maurannes
Attachée culturelle adjointe
Chargée de la coopération éducative et linguistique
Consulat Général de France
777 Post Oak Blvd, suite 600
Houston, TX 77056
713 985 3273
adjoint.culture@consulfrance-houston.org

Qui sommes-nous?

We are the Houston Chapter of the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF-Houston). The American Association of Teachers of French (AATF) was founded in 1927 and is the largest national association of French teachers in the world with nearly 10,000 members. Our members are French teachers at all levels and include approximately 3/4 secondary teachers and 1/4 post-secondary. We also have a growing number of French teachers in immersion settings and in the elementary grades. As a professional association, we seek to address the concerns of our members which include: promoting the study of languages in general and French in particular; facilitating the implementation of national and state standards in the classroom; improving the training of French teachers by encouraging minimum levels of language and cultural proficiency, and exposure to the French-speaking world through study abroad opportunities; creating opportunities and finding resources for practicing teachers to update their skills and improve their teaching; and, finally, encouraging the use of new technologies in the teaching of French and actively developing materials to support this use. Our regional representative to the national office is Dr. Jacqueline Thomas of Texas A&M University at Kingsville.

Officers of AATF-Houston

Roya Razavipour MCARTHUR, President
rrazavipour@gmail.com



Dore Sulistyo, Vice President
GUNDORE@sbcglobal.net



Johan P. Vergult, Grand Concours Director
Johan.Vergult@springbranchisd.com



Kathy KOCH, Secretary



Gerri MANLOVE, Treasurer
gembus@earthlink.net



Claude BOUTIN, Destination France Program Administrator
cgboutin@yahoo.com


Marci Pampe, Webmaster
mpampe@sbcglobal.net




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