WEEK-LONG FRENCH FEST IN DELHI

New Delhi: An upcoming festival celebrating the diversity of Francophone communities across the world, will seek to promote French culture through discussions, music, theatre and art shows. The week-long Francophonie Festival, set to begin from today at Alliance Francaise here, is aimed at marking the coming together of around 63 governments of countries where the French language is spoken. “The term Francophonie was first coined in 1880 by the French geographer Onesime Reclus. It encompassed all efforts to promote the language and the values it conveyed, and till date is used to link the Francophonie Community from all across the world. “The event aims at bringing together different and diverse cultures from all over the world by the use of a single language — French, thus creating a bond between people from different countries,” organisers said. Embassies of six countries will come together at the festival to present their respective cultures and shed light on their rich traditions and culinary specialities. Participating countries will include Switzerland, Canada, Madagascar, Belgium, and Luxembourg, apart from France. Other attractions will include a performance of Alfred de Musset’s French classic Les caprices de Marianne by students of a French school here, an exhibition of celebrated French artist Vincent Gagliardi’s selected engravings as well as mixed media works, along with The Franchophonie Mela that will host games and dance. —