This Oct 3-Nov 17, be transported to France sans the expensive airfare as the annual Voilah! France Singapore Festival returns to present a multitude of French-inspired events and exhibitions, encompassing everything from food to art.
This year, the festival also announced local veteran actress Janice Koh as the patron for Voilah! 2019. Known for being part of the star-studded cast of hit rom-com Crazy Rich Asians, Koh also starred in The Reunification of the Two Koreas, where she worked with French playwright Joel Pommerat and French director Jacques Vincey, making her a well-suited representative of the title.
With over 50 programmes spanning nearly seven weeks, there truly is something for everyone. Music lovers are encouraged to attend the festival’s opening performance by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, featuring French cellist Gautier Capucon and led by esteemed conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy.
Art connoisseurs should head to the National Museum of Singapore for Life Underground; an exhibition by Parisian filmmaker and artist Herve Cohen, that allows guests to journey through the subways of the world to find personal stories about the many passengers travelling globally, before checking out digital frescoes that’ll be projected onto buildings and facades at Armenian Street, by French artist Julien Nonnon in his work, Revisiting Dicard and Duvaucel.
Meanwhile, foodies can savour fine wines and exquisite nosh at Xperience Restaurant’s Provincial Pairings Dinner. The modern European fine dining establishment will be serving an indulgent 5-course degustation dinner, to be paired with premium wines from Champagne, Burgundy and Bordeaux. Those who want to get their hands dirty can join artisan butter maker Jean-Yves Bordier in churning and making butter at his workshop, Butter & Cheese Discovery with Jean-Yves Bordier.
The festival will also take it to the heartlands of Tampines this year, for Une Petite Nuit Au Lit by theatre group Cie Cahin-Caha, which offers a very experimental performance about sleeping, dreaming and everything that happens when the sun sets.
And in conjunction with Voilah!, the French Film Festival will make its return with several French cult classics, as well as some recent releases—but more on that later. The vast array of French events should more than suffice for now.
Voilah! France Singapore Festival 2019 will run from Oct 3-Nov 17 at various locations around Singapore. More information here.
