As the largest French cultural happening outside of France, and also the largest overseas festival in China, the curtain comes up on the 8th annual Croisements Festival this weekend. From April 11 to June 3, the festival will offer myriad cultural activities in many artistic disciplines including cinema, theater, dance, painting, literature, circus and street arts.

The event will also feature training programs, workshops and seminars for both Chinese and overseas students and professionals.

According to an introduction by Emmanuel Lenain, the French Consul General in Shanghai, the festival this year will stage 77 events, totaling 160 performances in more than 20 Chinese cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Chengdu.

The Global Times has found a few of the more talked-about events that will be taking place in Shanghai.

Exhibition highlights

From Gesture to Language, at the Rockbund Art Museum, opening April 28, is one of the art exhibition highlights this year.

The exhibition mainly focuses on the graphic arts and the practice of writing in China and the West. Presenting contemporary engraving artworks from the Louvre in Paris, as well as many Chinese artists' works, the exhibition describes a journey that combines "powerful visual and textual constructions in Western and Chinese contemporary art."

From May 23 to 26 life-sized luminous mannequins displayed outside downtown's Sinan Mansions will surprise passers-by by imploring them to engage in a discussion. This installation, The Standing Men, was one of the highlights at last year's Festival of Lights in Lyon.

Meanwhile the appearance of a pianist and cellist at the Shanghai Concert Hall on June 17 may lead you to believe a serious, classical concert will be taking place. In fact this is a comedy duo which will treat the audience to some French-style humor.  

Created in the early 19th century, the National Orchestra of the Capitole of Toulouse began by performing French opera music in its early days, and now promotes all kinds of French music. This symphony orchestra is currently headed by the Russian conductor, Tugan Sokhiev, who will lead the ensemble on May 13 at the Shanghai Oriental Art Center.

Les Tambours du Bronx (The Drums of the Bronx) is a French industrial percussion band created in 1987. The 17 members communicate a boundless energy through their afrobeat, hip-hop, rock, metal and techno sounds, using only steel drums as instruments. They will perform on May 18 and 19 at the Shanghai Culture Square.

Music extravaganza

The Fête de la Musique has been staged in Shanghai every summer since 2010. And its fourth incarnation will start with an opening concert on June 22. For the next two days, music fans can enjoy classical, jazz, rock, electro-pop and folk music from both Chinese and overseas artists at venues around the city. The shows are free and open to all.

Cinema is always a major part of the Croisements Festival. And this year eight French films all made in 2012 will be screened at the Shanghai International Film Festival which begins in mid-June. Among them will be Amour which won the Best Foreign Language Film at the recent Academy Awards.

French director, Chris Marker (1921-2012) wrote more than 50 shorts and feature films and was also a photographer, multimedia artist and film essayist. And a year after his death, Shanghai will hold a series of screenings of his films (May 20 to 27) spanning the period from the 1950s right up to the digital age.

Literary events are also becoming a more prominent part of the Croisements Festival, and this year three French writers, Serge Bramly, Philippe Djian and Frederic Beigbeder, will attend the festival in Shanghai, each giving lectures at the Rockbund Art Museum on April 27 and 28.

Bramly is an ardent international traveler, and several of his novels have been inspired by these journeys. He is also the author of numerous essays, including one about Shanghai, Le Voyage de Shanghai (The Trip from Shanghai).

For more detailed information, addresses and schedules of the 2013 Croisements Festival, please visit: www.faguowenhua.com/croisements.