The 'Foire Saint-Nicolas'

Is On the Wrong Page

Paris:- Saturday, 28. November 1998:- I grabbed a little poster and every time I looked at it, I wondered if it had something to do with the Madeleine.

Now that I read its every word, 'La Bourse' stands out, followed by 'Foire Saint-Nicolas.' This is supposed to be on the Christmas Program IV page. No matter - it's here now and it's on until Sunday, 6. December, from 10:00 to 19:30. Métro: Bourse. Subtitled: 'Art et Artisanat,' it features the usual items of a Christmas Fair in an unusual part of town - where the money is.

This festival usually takes place in the Centre Georges Pompdiou, but it is closed and the Ville de Paris 'Forum des Images' is open. This edition has a series of 'desert' films, starting off with Bunuel's 'Simon de Désert.' Another series is on 'art,' by Alain Resnais. There are also films in competition and a 'Panorama du Film Sur l'Art.' A full program, in other words.

For the complete program and other information about this festival, call Info. Tel.: 01 44 78 43 60. There will also be a debate, entitled 'How to Film Art' in salle 100, on Saturday, 12. December, from 11:00 to 12:00.

Forum des Images - CyberPort
Videothèque de Paris, Forumdes Halles, porte Saint-Eustache, Paris 1. From Tuesday, 8. December to Tuesday, 15. December. Info. Tel.: 01 44 76 62 00.

This is a tour of the famous Rex cinema; which shows its backstage, projection room - its 'behind the scenes' in other words. Paris' answer the Florida's Universal Studios amusement park, on a somewhat smaller scale, but on the handy-to-reach Boulevard Poisonnière, Paris 2. Métro: Bonne Nouvelle. From Wednesday to Saturday and public holidays, 11:00 to 17:00. Entry: 40 francs adults and 35 francs for kids 12 and under; under three, free. Info. Tel.: 08 36 68 05 96, which is an expensive toll number.

The full name of this film festival is 'Rencontres Cinèmatographiques de la Seine-Saint-Denis' and its subtitle is 'Résistances.' The program, which continues until Wednesday, 1. December, features not only 'resistance' films, but also possibilities to meet their makers, talk about the films, participate in conferences and see exhibitions.

What I do not have is the exact location - perhaps there are more than one - therefore call, Info. Tel.: 01 48 02 49 61. It is also possible that one ticket buys two entries. Montreuil; métro: Mairie de Montreuil.

This is not an event, but a Japanese 'events' magazine which I picked up at the Paris Tourist Office. In what little English there is in it, it is called 'Le Magazine Japonais de Paris' and the number is 287. The PTO does not ask for its nominal 10 franc cover price. About 30 pages; just about all of it in Japanese, except for the many brand names sprinkled within the many glossy ads. It is a good read, but turning the pages from right to left takes a bit of getting used to.

I wasn't aware that Picasso has his own 'national' museum - as opposed to city museum - in Paris. Not many people born in Malaga have anything like it here, or in Malaga itself. On top of this, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City has lent the Picasso museum in Paris ten paintings and 15 designs - to which are added 20 designs from this museum, to make a complete Picasso exhibition.

Musée Picasso, Hôtel de Salé, 5. rue Thorigny, Paris 3. On view until Monday, 25. January. Info. Tel.: 01 42 71 25 21.

For the holiday season - and for philatelists - the Poste is offering a new book. From what I can gather, it contains illustrated histories surrounding the new stamps issued in 1998. In addition, it contains 323 francs' worth of actual stamps. If ordered before 7. December, the price is 419 francs: after that it costs 459 francs. The book comes in a prestige box.

'La Poste's services for philatelists are accessible by the Web to interested collectors. Although it is not explicit that La Poste takes foreign orders, it does offer information about its subscription service in English, German, Spanish and Italian, in addition to French. La Poste also accepts payments made with Visa or Mastercard.

The modern art galleries grouped in the rue Louise Weiss, Paris 13, are planning a new collection of exhibitions. The new series starts Saturday, 5. December and runs through to Saturday, 23. January - with a break from 24. December to 4. January for hols. Opening hours are usually from 14:00 to 19:00 daily, except for Mondays. The image here is by Jean-Pierre Khazem and you can see the original of it at the Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, which is at number 30. All galleries: métro Chevaleret.

Image: © Jean-Pierre Khazem

Russian soul - Russian icons, from the collection of the Kolomiensky Museum in Moscow; featuring about 50 icons and other items on view outside Russia for the first time. An added attraction of this exhibition is that it is located on the top of the Grande Arche at La Défense, and the entry price of 60 francs includes the elevator ride up to the top. Open daily from 10:00 to 18:00. Métro and RER: Grande Arche de la Défense. The view is free.

This is a 'detail' from the ongoing 'Festival d'Automne' and it is at MC 93 Bobigny - in Seine-Saint-Denis again! - production. Along with it being an 'Italian Autumn' in Paris, it is also a bit of an oriental one.

Thus 'Peony Pavillon' has a Chinese author - Tang Xianzu - an English translator - Cyril Circh - with music by Tan Dun, and the director is Peter Sellars; who I am pretty sure is French. In very tiny print, a note says it is in Chinese and English, with French 'over-titles,' whatever these may be. This may be Chinese opera as many of the performers are Chinese and some of them are tenors. Two of the musicians are Chinese too.

This show runs from Friday, 4. December until Monday, 22. December.

The MC93 in Bobigny is a busy place. Also playing is 'Aimer Sa Mère,' directed by Alfredo Arias, with Mairlú Marini. One day Mr. Arias saw a graffiti which said, "Mange tes parents" and this piece is the result. It runs until Sunday, 20. December; from Tuesday to Saturday, at 20:30 and on Sundays at 15:30. Reservations and Info. Tel.: 01 41 60 72 72.

The MC93 in Bobigny is also alert. Last week I couldn't find its exact location - where is Bobigny? - but MC93 found me. Their address: 1. boulevard Lénine, 93000 Bobigny.

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky wrote to his niece in 1869 to say he thought this story might be a total failure - with a near seven-week run booked for it, it looks like the producers think otherwise.

Théâtre 14 J. M. Serreau
20. avenue Marc Sangnier, Paris 14. Métro: Porte de Vanves. From Tuesday, 24. November to Sunday, 10. January. Info. Tel.: 01 45 45 49 77.

This annual event kicked off late last month, starting with Edmond Bacot and Olivier Mériel's photos of Victor Hugo, which can be seen at the Maison de Victor Hugo in the Place des Vosges, until 24. January 1999.

Photos and Books for Kids: - originals of photos or sculptures done to illustrate children's books, by authors such as Franck Horvat, Véronique Willemin, Joëlle Leblond and Nathalie Rizzoni.

Until Saturday, 12. December, at the Bibliothèque André Malraux, 78. boulevard Raspail, Paris 6. Métro: Rennes or Saint-Placide. Info. Tel.: 01 45 44 53 85.

'Ceci est Paris,' another theme show, is in the city's own home of cultural affairs, at their hôtel at 31. rue des Francs-Bourgeois in the fourth. Until Wednesday, 25. November.

Altogether, during November there will be 79 photo exhibitions at 61 locations around Paris. This will not be entirely 'Paris-in-love- with-itself' - there will also be photos of old Moscow, and an exhibition of soviet views of themselves from 1917 to 1981.

There are too many individual events and locations for them to list here. Luckily we have the Web and the Mois de la Photo has its own site, where there should be a complete program.

If you arein Paris, some of the contents of the Web site above can been seen hanging on walls at the Maison Européenne de la Photo, 5-7. rue de Fourcy, Paris 4. Métro: Saint-Paul or Pont-Marie. Info. Tel.: 01 44 78 75 07.