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Lefort, Gérard
4 articles of this author have been cited in the European Press Review so far.
Paris exhibits the Nazi occupation in colour
The historical library in Paris is hosting an exhibit of colour photos taken during the Nazi occupation. Gerard Lefort is surprised by the effect colour has on a period typically photographed in black and white. "We scrutinise even more the faces, the clothes, the gestures and the attitudes. All these civilians who could have been our grandparents become intimate. And Paris, how we can see yesterday today, right down to the details. ... But we have to ask why the Nazis would have prevented such optimistic images, which reinforce the propaganda of Paris as normal under occupation. In a library that considers itself 'historical', an extra pedagogical effort wouldn't have been excessive in this more than sensitive matter. ... The exhibit isn't any less worthy of being seen: it renders tangible, even physical, the stupor of being occupied and instils, before as now, a desire to resist."
» full article (external link, French)
More from the press review on the subject » Exhibitions / Museums, » History, » Germany, » France
How to ensure exceptional French film
On March 27th, a group of 13 professionals from the French film industry published a report containing propositions for how to improve public financing of films. For Gérard Lefort, while the box office is looking good, "the French exception is nonetheless a little hackneyed, diminished even to the extent that a large proportion of subsidies are no longer given to those who take the risk of making alternative films, while mainstream television channels have, by force of cost inflation, become the biggest producers of French film. ... The manifesto is of particular importance because it federates the different trades of the film industry, from screen-writing through to distribution and exportation. It also represents a coming of age with adult propositions being made after a period of adolescent, churlishness and moaning. This well-documented report is a goldmine of ideas for reform. To discuss them and apply some would be an exemplary demonstration of modern cultural policy."
» full article (external link, French)
More from the press review on the subject » Film, » France
Maurice Béjart takes the final bow
Gérard Lefort looks back over the career of French choreographer Maurice Béjart, who died on November 22nd. "To measure the sheer power of the thunderbolt whose echoes rumbled on for 40 years, let us go back to the 'Mass for Present Times' staged at the Palais des Papes [Popes' Palace] in Avignon in August 1967. On stage young men and women gyrated furiously and beautifully. From the amplifiers blared the electronic rock music of Pierre Henry, which included 'Too Fortiche'. Too much, indeed. Although May 1968 had not yet arrived, liberation had. It was the liberation of dance which, in France at any rate, was still associated with the 'Nutcracker Suite' ... But the Maurice Béjart phenomenon went beyond questions of taste. He did not content himself with bringing modern dance to a much wider public. He was also one of the first choreographers to invite globalisation to dance with work whose inspiration ranged from Rajasthan to Japan's kabuki theatre."
» full article (external link, French)
More from the press review on the subject » Public Culture, » France
The opening of the FIAC in Paris
Henri-François Debailleux and Gérard Lefort paid a visit to the 33rd International Contemporary Arts Fair (FIAC), that opens this Thursday, October 26th. The event moved this year to the Grand Palais and the Cour Carrée in the Louvre, after having been organised on the outskirts of Paris for ten years. "Because of limited space in the Grand Palais, the event was forced to split into two and thus to install a marquee in the Louvre courtyard. The spectator-visitor is thus obliged to follow an itinerary that goes from one to the other. ... The idea is to present modern art and contemporary art in the first and emerging contemporary art in the second. ... This is indeed the 'emerging' problem of this 2006 FIAC: a very distinct scission and a lack of mixing which prevents real confrontation between the very 'classical' modern and the very 'contemporary' modern."
» full article (external link, French)
More from the press review on the subject » Exhibitions / Museums, » Fine Arts, » France
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