French Culture Now

Segolene Royal leads French socialist party
BBC. Nov. 8, 2008
The former French presidential candidate, Segolene Royal, defeated by Nicolas Sarkozy in last year's election, has taken an early lead in the race to become leader of the Socialist Party. Ms Royal, came first in a ballot of the party's 233,000 members on the programmes of the six hopefuls, with 29% of the vote, four points more than Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe and former minister Martine Aubry.

Obama�s victory shames France�s racist record
WallstreetJournal. Nov.7, 2008
Barack Obama's election as US President has galvanised France, which brags of its egalitarian tradition but where racism is so institutionalized that there are virtually no people of color in the top ranks of politics, business, or government. "The U.S population has grown with Obama, they have overcome their prejudices....Such an experience is impossible in France,� says Christiane Taubira, a black politician from French Guiana.

Sarkozy's French tax cuts helped the richest
Forbes. Nov. 8, 2008
President Nicolas Sarkozy's income tax reform benefitted the richest households in France, according to an official report on Thursday by National statistics office INSEE, which may fuel criticism of his flagship tax package.

France tries to seduce American screenwriters
AFP. Nov. 7, 2008
This November Film France, which promotes movie shoots, is offering a deluxe tour de France for ten lucky American screenwriters linked to top directors and big studios in hopes of inspiring them to set more movies in France. "If we want to see more films shot on location in France, then we need more screenplays set in France," said Film France�s Franck Priot. But sceptics see this junket as a waste of French taxpayers money, since Hollywood screenwriters already know plenty about France through their location scouts. As one critic observed, even scripts set in France are often filmed in cheaper locations. France needs to offer the tax breaks and cheap film crews which make places like Canada, Germany, and North Africa preferable for movie-making.

France�s cinema of flattery and escapism
New York Times. Nov. 8, 2008
New York Times film critic Michael Kimmelman offers a scathing summary of the French film industry. French films remain sentimental and dishonest, offering diversion, self-flattery and escapist fiction about the country, its history, and people. French films refuse to examine tough issues like contemporary French politics, scandals and unrest. The cause seems to be a mixture of industry self-censorship linked to government funding, harsh libel laws, and a general fear of offending the ruling powers and national vanity.

Criticism of Le Cl�zio�s Nobel prize
TLS. Nov. 8, 2008
Jean-Marie Le Cl�zio has won the Nobel Prize, but not the unanimous support of his fellow writers. French author Fr�d�ric-Yves Jeannet opines in Le Monde that Le Cl�zio a verbose writer of banal bestsellers, and says the awarding of the prize to him has �put French literature back several decades."

Pro-wine demonstrations held across France
Decanter. Oct. 31, 200 8
Winemakers, growers and representatives of the French wine sector descended onto the streets yesterday to protest against Sarkozy government�s legislative threats to the industry. The demonstrators drew attention to the censorship of wine in the press, the proposed tax raises on wine, the ban on wine advertising on the internet, and the possible banning of free wine tastings to the public. Bordeaux mayor Alain Juppe agreed, saying that, 'prohibition doesn't work'.

A Dozen Beaujolais Bargains
BusinessWeek. Oct. 30, 2008
Le Beaujolais nouveau est arriv�! A guide to which wines offer a good price and good drinking. The Beaujolais region in central France is suffering a profound economic crisis. Largely because of the Beaujolais nouveau craze every November, that image of exuberant, frothy, simple wines has clearly led the vast majority of consumers to think of these wines as one-dimensional. In fact, there are some remarkable and serious wines from Beaujolais.

Air France warns on profits as air travel numbers fall
Independent. Nov. 3, 2008
Air France-KLM, Europe's largest airline, issued a profits warning yesterday against a backdrop of figuresshowing the first monthly decline in worldwide air travel since 2003. The French-Dutch group said it will find it "very difficult" to meet its full-year profit target of �1bn in light of current economic conditions.

France�s railway buys cabs for passengers
Telegraph. Nov. 3, 2008
Tourists have long complained about the dearth of taxis in the capital. With 16,000 vehicles in Paris - barely higher than the 14,000 driving around in 1937 � and drivers fiercely opposed to a rise in their numbers, SNCF has decided to take the bull by the horns: it will pay 200 retiring drivers the full cost of a licence - about 200,000 euros - to have its own fleet of chauffeur-driven vehicles just for rail passengers.

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