The quartier de Gobelins in the heart of the 13th arrondissement on the left bank of the Seine river is not only the historic center of tapestry-making in the capital but the modern day home of the École de l’image where digital artists weave together sounds and images to create beautiful stories and more¹The 13th is also home to Paris’s quartier asiatique or Chinatown.

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École de l’image

“GOBELINS se distingue dans le paysage des industries créatives par son positionnement original : une école qui forme à tous les métiers de la création visuelle, de laconception à la production de l’image sous toutes ses formes (fixe, animée, interactive, 3D), de l’imprimerie 4.0 à la Réalité Virtuelle.”²GOBELIS sets itself apart in the landscape of creative arts by it’s unique position: a school dedicated to developing all the visual arts, from conception to production of images of all forms (still, animated, interactive, 3D), from ‘printing 4.0’ to Virtual Reality

Each year, for their final projects, students in film produce a court métrage or short film to showcase their talents. Below I’ve collected a few that feature narration and dialogue in French for you to practice your skills. Each of the films has subtitles available in English, but try and watch them a few times first without and see how much you can understand. Then, if you need to, turn on the subtitles and watch them. After, try and watch again without the subtitles!

You can find these and many more on the school’s official YouTube channel. Are there others that you would recommend? Or do you prefer one of these? Let me know in the comments!

Christmas keeps coming

Les décorations de Noël continue to spread. Over at Les Galeries Lafayette, les vitrines feature une “fabuleuse épopée [qui] démarre avec le réveil des jouets, qui se réunissent ensuite lors d’un banquets, chantent une Chorale avant d’embarquer à bord du traîneau du Père Noël pour une tournée rocambolesque”.³fantastic epic [which] begins with the toys waking up, then gathering for a feast, singing a Christmas song before leaving abord Santa’s sleigh for a topsy-turvy trip Autour du sapin géant, “le Père Noël joue les cosmonautes [et] le sapin s’anime toutes les 30 minutes nous offrant un spectacle son et lumières.⁴Around the giant Christmas tree, Santa plays at astronaut [and] the tree comes to life every 30 minutes with a sound and light show

At Bercy Village “un ciel de 1200 parapluies scintillent”⁵1200 umbrellas sparkle in the sky, “[l]es Champs-Elysées ont revêtu leurs habits de fête […] avec le lancement des illuminations [en compagnie de] la chanteuse Clara Luciani, marraine de l’événement⁶the Champs-Élysées donned their party clothes […] with the annual kickoff of the holiday lights [accompanied by] the singer Clara Luciana, godmother of the event, and in the Tuileries Garden le marché de Noël est de retour⁷the Christmas market is back.

Le saviez-vous?

In 1976, then President “Valéry Giscard d’Estaing avait décidé d’apporter des modifications aux couleurs [du drapeau français … ] éclaircissant le rouge et le bleu”⁸decided to bring some changes to the colors [of the French flag] lightening the red and the blue, bringing the blue closer to that of the drapeau of the European Union.

Last year, without any public announcement, President Emmanuel Macron ordered that the drapeaux de l’Elysée be updated with a darker blue, currently used by the French Navy, “qui avait été choisi par la Convention en 1794”⁹chosen by the Convention in 1794. “Il revient donc aujourd’hui à sa nuance d’origine, bleu marine, ou bleu sombre.”¹⁰It returns today to its original shade, navy blue, or dark blue

You can read all about it here.

French Culture – Music for the classes

Rainbows

• 1
  The 13th is also home to Paris’s quartier asiatique or Chinatown
• 2
  GOBELIS sets itself apart in the landscape of creative arts by it’s unique position: a school dedicated to developing all the visual arts, from conception to production of images of all forms (still, animated, interactive, 3D), from ‘printing 4.0’ to Virtual Reality
• 3
  fantastic epic [which] begins with the toys waking up, then gathering for a feast, singing a Christmas song before leaving abord Santa’s sleigh for a topsy-turvy trip
• 4
  Around the giant Christmas tree, Santa plays at astronaut [and] the tree comes to life every 30 minutes with a sound and light show
• 5
  1200 umbrellas sparkle in the sky
• 6
  the Champs-Élysées donned their party clothes […] with the annual kickoff of the holiday lights [accompanied by] the singer Clara Luciana, godmother of the event
• 7
  the Christmas market is back
• 8
  decided to bring some changes to the colors [of the French flag] lightening the red and the blue
• 9
  chosen by the Convention in 1794
• 10
  It returns today to its original shade, navy blue, or dark blue