Actress, dancer, poet, painter… Academy Award® winning actress Juliette Binoche (The English Patient) has more than one trick up her sleeve. In September 2009, her various talents will converge in New York City and Brooklyn in “In-I & Jubilations,” a month-long series of artistic events that include dance performances (Akram Khan’s “In-I” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music), a film retrospective (also at BAM), book signings (of her art book Portraits In-Eyes), a new film release (Paris by Cédric Klapisch), a documentary about Juliette Binoche produced by her sister Marion Stalens (Juliette Binoche: Sketches for a Portrait at the French Institute Alliance Française) and an exhibition of her portraits and poetry at the Cultural Services of the French Embassy. This exhibit, “In-Eyes,” will include 58 ink washes on paper as well as poems, all created and selected by Juliette Binoche. It will be her first-ever art show on American soil and will offer a unique opportunity to discover a new facet of this multi-talented French artist.

Ever since receiving a commission from the Cahiers du Cinéma for a series of portraits in July 2007, Ms. Binoche has not stopped painting during her movie shoots. But she had been painting off set for far longer, and first showed her work publicly in the 1990s (in 1991 her art work was featured in the movie The Lovers on the Bridge, in which she starred as a painter, and in 1993 she exhibited a series of work done in collaboration with French artist Christian Fenouillat). Favoring portraits, Ms. Binoche has not only depicted many of the famous directors with whom she has worked but also characters she has played, in what is a rather unique spin on the self-portrait tradition. “In-Eyes” will feature 29 triptychs, each including one of these “in character” self-portraits, a portrait of the related movie’s director, and a poem addressed to the director. These works offer a personal view, full of emotion, of the key encounters that have influenced Juliette Binoche’s movie career.

Speaking of her art, Juliette Binoche explains, “The heat and emotion to be generated, like the physical stamina to be supplied, are part of an actor’s life. Whatever was left over, whatever surged forth despite myself, and whatever I had hoped for, I then put down on paper. None of it is definitive; it’s just a record—a fleeting and subjective perception—of one moment in life. Technique simply came with the desire to paint, without preconceptions.”

source:  artdaily.org

Not content to beat out Lauren Bacall for an Oscar, to be France’s highest paying actress, strip down for French “Playboy” at 44, or to somehow never age (we’d like a peek inside her medicine cabinet), Juliette Binoche lands in Gotham in a couple weeks to show off her many other talents — dancer, poet, painter, etc. – and generall to make us feel like slackers. Here’s where to catch her:

• “In-Eyes” brings together 58 of Binoche’s ink-wash portraits (many of herself and her co-stars of various film projects) and poems, on display at the Cultural Services of the French Embassy (9/10-10/9). On 9/11, she’ll be at the Lincoln Triangle Barnes & Noble presenting the accompanying book “Portraits – In-Eyes.” [more]
• Binoche and Akram Khan perform their passionate contemporary dance piece for two, “In-I,” as part of the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s 2009 Next Wave Festival, starting 9/15. [more]
• BAMCinématek will present Rendez-Vous With Juliette Binoche, a 14-film retrospective including “Damage,” “Lovers on the Bridge” and a sneak preview of her new feelgood movie “Paris” (which opens in public release on 9/18), after which she and director Cédric Klapisch will do a Q&A. Runs 9/11-30. [more]
• At Florence Gould Hall, Charlie Rose will host a screening of the documentary “Juliette Binoche, Sketches for a Portrait,” an intimate look at the actress’ life and artistic process made by her sister, Marion Stalens. Binoche and Stalens will be on hand to discuss. 9/8. [more]

source:  nbcnewyork.com

ranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami’s latest production Certified Copy will be screened at the 2010 Cannes film festival, reports say.

According to Mehr News Agency, Kiarostami has finished shooting his first film outside Iran and is planning to present it at next year’s Cannes.

Produced by France’s MK2, Certified Copy started shooting after a 14-month delay on June 8, 2009, in the Chianti countryside in Tuscany, Italy.

The love story stars the Academy Award winning French actress Juliette Binoche and will be in French and in English in parts.

Filmmaker, painter, designer and photographer, Kiarostami has received many prestigious international awards, including the 1997 Cannes Golden Palm award and the 2008 Glory to the Filmmaker award of the Venice Film Festival.

He has also held a photo exhibition at Beijing’s Imperial City Art Museum.

Kiarostami has staged Mozart’s comic opera buffa, Cosi Fan Tutte at London’s Coliseum Theater and the 2008 Festival of Lyric Art in Aix-en-provence in France.

source:  presstv.ir

HONG KONG (AP) — Oscar-winning French actress Juliette Binoche says touring for her dance collaboration with Britain choreographer Akram Khan was so exhausting she’s unlikely to take part in a similar project again.

Binoche told a press conference Tuesday that working on the modern dance performance “In-I” was a great learning experience but physically taxing, joking that she thought about giving up “because it’s so difficult” but couldn’t because she signed a contract.

“I learned to bend. I learned to shut my mouth because as an actress I was commenting a lot about what I was feeling,” said Binoche, who won a best supporting actress Oscar for the 1996 romance “The English Patient.”

But asked if she would sign up for another dance project, the 44-year-old actress shook her head quickly and said, “I don’t think so.”

“I’m really enjoying it,” Binoche said, but adding, “I’m suffering.”

Khan, who has choreographed for Australian pop star Kylie Minogue and French ballerina Sylvie Guillem, said it was a refreshing experience working with Binoche because she had no formal dance training, likening her to a “blank canvass.”

“When I’m working with, for example, a ballet dancer, then you start from a reference of ballet. You start with a vocabulary and sometimes the knowledge becomes a curse,” Khan said.

“In-I,” which had its world premiere at the National Theatre in London on Sept. 18, is making its Asian debut in Hong Kong Wednesday as part of the Hong Kong Arts Festival before moving on to Tokyo, Seoul and Shanghai.

source: The Associated Press

French actress Juliette Binoche will come to Shanghai to perform on the stage of the Shanghai Oriental Art Center on March 27 and 28.

The performance, entitled “In-I,” will combine various disciplines such as mime, comedy, dance, song and the spoken word.

The performance premiered in London last year, but this is the first time the 44-year-old actress has appeared on stage in Shanghai.

“It’s classical dance combined with modern dance, film and opera,” says Binoche. “‘In-I’ asks, what is love? Love should be an adventure in our hearts.”

The performance is co-directed by Binoche and Akram Khan, a leading London-based dancer and choreographer. Sculptor Anish Kapoor will design the sets.

Binoche first attracted attention when she appeared alongside Daniel Day-Lewis in “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” (1988) at the age of 23.

She is known worldwide for her roles in films such as “Three Colors: Blue” (1993), “Chocolate” (2000) and “Hidden” (2005).

Binoche was the second French actress to win an Oscar, being honored by the Academy as Best Supporting Actress in 1997 for her role in “The English Patient.”

Binoche has also published a book of poetry, featuring her own illustrations, and exhibited her paintings in Paris.

source: english.eastday.com