The Bastille Day French Festival welcomes Peugeot!
We are delighted to announce Peugeot as the naming sponsor of the Bastille Day French Festival this year! What could be more fitting than a French brand whose spirit is as revolutionary as that of La République Française?
Did you know a premium French brand is the oldest car company in existence? Did you know that brand is Peugeot? This proudly pioneering French company was founded in 1810, originally as a steel foundry, in the town of Valentigney in Franche-Comté. Much has changed in the intervening years!
Renowned for style and French flair, it’s appropriate that the nineteenth-century fashion for crinolines brought Peugeot into vehicle manufacturing. Why? Well crinolines are made of hoops of steel rods; this led to them making bicycles – a skill they still possess today - and from there, automobiles.
The first Peugeot car was produced in 1889: a steam powered tricycle. By 1890 their innovative spirit had already moved to petrol. Peugeot was also a forerunner in the electric car game, pioneering vehicles since 1941! It’s a high-technology arena in which they will soon have an increasing Australian presence, with the 2022 launch of an all-new electric vehicle. Bravo Peugeot!
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Our commitment to keeping you safe
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The Bastille Day French Festival is committed to keeping our community safe and will be delivered in line with Public Health Orders and advice provided by the state government to ensure it is COVIDSafe. However we can all do our part in stopping the spread and QR check in will be required at Fed Square, along with physical distancing.
We will be implementing our COVIDSafe plan to ensure a safe and wonderful Festival for everyone.
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Announcing our Les Lumières Talks
We are thrilled to announce this year's Les Lumières Talks, to be held at
The Edge, Fed Square.
A key feature of the Bastille Day French Festival, this series of talks, titled Les Lumières, (the Lights), focus not only on history but also on topical issues that are relevant to all of us. Especially relevant as the French Revolution and its values of Liberty, Equality Fraternity came about at the end of a century of Enlightenment [Le Siècle des Lumières].
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Les Lumières Bleu; What are the most common French clichés?
Saturday 17 July, 2.30pm
“French men all wear berets. All French people listen to accordion music and eat gourmet meals. The French are good lovers. Everyone in France rides a bicycle with a baguette in their basket.”
Three French expats, Véronique Duché (Professor of French, University of Melbourne), Anne-Sophie Pink (Head Education AFM) and Cecile Plaa (Coordinator Education AFM), and an Anthropologist, Tom McNamara (LaTrobe University), will explore what are the most common and what is their impact.
Join us for enlightening, lively, fun and myth-busting discussion sponsored by The University of Melbourne and in collaboration with Alliance Française de Melbourne.
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Les Lumières Rouge; The French Revolution and its relevance to today
Saturday 17 July, 11am
What does an event that happened over 200 years ago, across the other side of the world, have to do with today?
We have all heard the stories of ‘let them eat cake’ and heard our own versions of the storming of the Bastille, but what really happened and how has the revolution affected modern society?
A world authority on the French Revolution and nineteenth-century France, Prof Peter McPhee will explore how the Revolution is still relevant today.
Prof McPhee, one of Australia’s most eminent academics, has focused his research on the study of change and continuity in regional and rural France during and following the French Revolution.
Join us for this enlightening and fascinating talk supported by The University of Melbourne.
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Les Lumières Blanc; A Revolution in Painting - The French Impressionists
Friday 16 July, 12pm
Monet, Renoir, Degas, Cézanne – we all know their work but what is the story that lies behind the Impressionist movement?
As the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) welcomes its winter exhibition, French Impressionism, presenting more than 100 masterworks of French impressionism from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), Dr Ted Gott will discuss the role of key French painters who initiated an artistic revolution in the history of painting.
Join us for this enlightening, lively and engaging talk.
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Les Lumières Vert; Can we achieve net zero carbon emission without decline?
Friday 16 July, 4.30pm
Presenting a dynamic discussion between panelists Dr Katie Allen MP, Louise Davidson (CEO Australian Council of Superannuation Investors), Augustin Honorat (CEO of Engie) and Shane Walden (CEO of ANL), we'll ask ‘can we achieve net-zero carbon emission without decline’?
Key players from the energy and transportation sectors, at the forefront of the energy transition, will debate with financiers and government members on whether the historical relationship between GDP and environmental impact can be weakened and effectively severed. Can we deploy new technologies and shift the nature of our consumption and lifestyle while continuing to grow GDP, even in a wealthy country such as Australia?
Join us for this enlightening and informative talk sponsored by ANL and supported by the French Australian Chamber of Commerce.
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