Rebirth for Bastille Day: Canberra’s French quarter celebrates re-opening
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We can’t go to France yet, but the Alliance Francaise de Canberra offers you the next best thing—your own little taste of France in Canberra.
For 75 years, the Alliance Francaise has welcomed Canberrans. Its building in Turner has been a busy hub of students coming and going to French classes, a place for socialising with other Canberrans over wine tasting and regional themed dinners.
It’s been a little corner of France in Canberra where all the staff greet you with a “bonjour” as you walk in the door and the smell of croissants fills the air during class break.
But for the last two months its halls have been eerily silent.
Two months ago the Alliance Francaise had to move all of its activities hastily online in response to the COVID-19 crisis. The building that so hummed with activity was put into hibernation.
The curtains closed, the gardener told to come less often, the cleaning staff even less regularly. Even the beloved French Film Festival run by the Alliance Francaise each year became a victim to the Coronavirus and was brought to a speedy end just days after its opening.
Students and teachers learned to meet each other in virtual classrooms. Wine tasting went online with a crafty combination of delivering bottles to doorsteps and then meeting online for a guided tasting. But although this has kept connections alive, everyone has agreed it’s not as good as the real thing. There is no substitute for being with people in person.
There is a thirst for being in each other’s company. And it is about to be quenched—with French champagne!
Each 14 July, France celebrates its national day with fireworks and fairs. This year, for the Alliance Francaise de Canberra, the day will have even greater significance. It is re-opening its doors… and re-launching the French Film Festival!
On Saturday 11 July, the Alliance Francaise will be celebrating Bastille Day in a very memorable way: hosting a grand Bastille Day dinner to celebrate the re-opening of its building with a menu very much à la française. Chef Christophe from local restaurant the Très Bon will be regaling guests with French Onion soup, French lamb casserole (navarin) and a delicious baked cherry dessert called clafoutis.
“It’s very important that we are able to hold an event for Bastille Day because the Alliance Francaise has an unbroken record of doing so each year since we were formed in 1943,” says Alliance Francaise Director, Patrice Gilles. “We don’t want 2020 to be any different.”
But there will be some inevitable differences. Never before have Bastille Dinner guests had to be seated 1.5m from each other at tables, or have the numbers limited to 40 in the grand hall. There will be hand sanitiser as table decorations and that double French-style kiss will be sadly absent.
But there will be one tradition that will be firmly guarded: a glass of real French sparkling on arrival! And another tradition will also be firmly upheld—fun, French food and frivolity.
There will be the usual French-themed quiz with prizes to be won and Francophone tunes from local duo Martini Republic (renamed for the season as Quarantini Republic) to set a Frenchy mood.
There will also be a special sneak-peak into the re-launched French Film Festival.
We can’t go to France yet, but the Alliance Francaise de Canberra offers you the next best thing—your own little taste of France in Canberra. And its doors are now open to welcome you.
Happy Bastille Day!
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