Special Film Event: When the City Bites by Dominique Cabrera

Please note the different time and location for this film screening: Thursday, December 3, 6 pm – Cowin Center at Teacher’s college 525 West 120th Street, 147 Horace Mann

The Screening will be followed by a moderated discussion with director Dominique Cabrera

Special Film Event co-sponsored by the African Diaspora Film Festival
Reception following at the Maison Française, Buell Hall, 2nd floor.

Sara, a budding artist, arrives at Charles de Gaulle airport from Brazzaville and falls into prostitution. Sara meets Tramson, a former youth worker, Read more »

A conversation on the work of Marcel Proust with Antoine Compagnon and Adam Gopnik – Video

The Maison Française was pleased to partner with the French-American Foundation and the Proust Society of America, a program of the Center for fiction, to bring you this conversation on the work of Marcel Proust between Antoine Compagnon (Columbia University, Collège de France) and acclaimed journalist, lecturer and author, Adam Gopnik.

First part of 5:

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A Conversation on the Work of Marcel Proust with Antoine Compagnon and Adam Gopnik

The Maison Française was pleased to partner with the French-American Foundation and the Proust Society of America, a program of the Center for Fiction, to bring you this conversation on the work of Marcel Proust between Professor Antoine Compagnon (Columbia University, Collège de France) and acclaimed journalist, lecturer and author Adam Gopnik.

all rights reserved d kelly photography

U.S. and European Union in a Time of Change: Is Obama’s Victory Misunderstood in Europe? A talk by Walter Russell Mead and Yannick Mireur – October 8, 2009

First part of 10:

Barack Obama’s election has created high expectations in Europe, and has fueled hopes that the new administration would bring about major changes compared to the Bush administration.  To what extent has American domestic and foreign policy really begun to change nine months after President Obama took office? Does Europe misconstrue the underlying forces in American society and politics that limit the extent of change possible under President Obama? From environmental to economic and security issues, Professors Walter Russell Mead and Yannick Mireur will compare and contrast changes and continuities in the Bush and Obama administrations, and will discuss the meaning of the Euro-U.S. alliance under the Obama administration and explore the viability of a unified West in a multi-polar world.

In addition, Walter Mead recently wrote about the importance of France in the context of Franco-American relations on his blog. If you want more information about this post, go to: http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2009/12/03/america-needs-france/.

If you want to watch the end of the conference, click on the following link:

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“Highway to Health”: a French look at U.S. Health Care Reform – A talk by Patrick Morvan – September 21, 2009 – Part 2

II. – SPECIFIC TOPICS

13. – The proposed U.S. health care reform is designed to eliminate the problems that “ail” the system. This reform has naturally led to a host of questions and concerns. Political controversy aside, it is instructive to take a closer look at some of the issues that have been a source of longstanding controversy, both in the U.S. and in France.

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“Highway to Health”: a French look at U.S. Health Care Reform – A talk by Patrick Morvan – September 21, 2009 – Part 1

Photo Patrick Morvan

Patrick Morvan

Law Professor – Panthéon Assas University (Paris)

Member of the IODE (CNRS – Rennes I University)

Here is the retranscription of his talk.

INTRODUCTION

1. – There is no doubt that the proposed reform of the American health care system is an inflammatory and divisive issue in the U.S. The question of health care reform heated up even more this summer. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton – and his wife Hillary – were unsuccessful in their 1994 attempt to establish universal health care for all Americans. President Obama has learned the political lessons of this failure. While he has clearly made health care reform one of his top priorities, he did not deliver a bill drafted in secret to the lawmakers as a “fait accompli” but instead articulated the broad principles and left the details to Congress.

The risk is as great as the plan is ambitious: while the economic downturn is now favorable to a reform that the majority of Americans – at least before the summer – were in favor of, opponents of Barack Obama would like nothing more than to hand him a stinging political defeat on this issue. A defeat on health care would be particularly sweet given that President Obama has already presented the America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 (the “AAHC”) as the landmark act of his presidency, and that there is a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives and Senate. The AAHC is thus a strategic target, even before assessing the need for health care legislation in America.

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Welcome to the Events Blog of the Maison Française at Columbia University!

logoWelcome to the Events Blog of the Maison Française at Columbia University!

We are currently developing a new website that will feature more audiovisual materials and recordings of our events.  In the meantime,  we wanted to create this Events Blog to share information and recordings of recent events at the Maison Française.   This isn’t meant to be a typical blog with daily or weekly commentaries—unfortunately we don’t have a staff of bloggers in place for that!—but it is instead a place where you can read about, see, and listen to many of the exciting happenings taking place here every week at the Maison Française.

We hope you will join us soon for one of our upcoming events.