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Since 2022, on the occasion of Francophonie month in March, the Alliance Française de Banjul has been organizing the Cinécole Festival, which consists of showing French-language films in various Gambian classrooms, to familiarize children with the French language in a fun way.
On this occasion, the Alliance takes its equipment to the schools, and shows the films to dozens of pupils. For each school, we show two films: one for young children, and one for teenagers.
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In 2023, we visited four schools (SBEC, St Thérèse, Glory Baptist and the Ecole Française de Banjul) to screen Michel Ocelot’s Les contes de la nuit and Florence Miailhe’s La traversée. In all, more than 350 students were able to discover one of these two films that year!
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In 2024, nearly 300 students benefited from this program! Our team visited four local schools to present the following films: Aya de Yopougon, by Marguerite Abouet and Clément Oubrerie, and Le Pharaon, le Sauvage et la Princesse, by Michel Ocelot.
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The Interschool Theater Festival, or FESTHI, is an unmissable annual event celebrating the theatrical talent of students from different schools. It is organized by the French Embassy in partnership with the Alliances of Senegal and Gambia. Its main objective is to promote French-speaking cultures through the art of theater, offering young people a unique space for cultural expression and discovery.
Each year, FESTHI offers a dynamic platform for young artists to present a play from the “FESTHI” collection. This year, the FESTHI writing residency took place at the Alliance de Banjul, giving some of the students present the opportunity to meet the authors in person, exchanging ideas and inspiration in a spirit of collaboration and artistic sharing.
Once the book has been received, preparation for the performance begins in the schools. For several weeks, students work with their teachers to learn one of the pieces in the collection and prepare to perform it on the Alliance stage.
Finally, in 2024, this opportunity for exchange was crowned by the appearance of the Compagnie Yaak’art. The company, which had come all the way from Senegal for the event, put on two performances for the students in attendance, who were thus both actors and spectators.
To find out more, click here to read the Standard Newspaper article on FESTHI 2024.