Ollia Horton    For the first time since its inception in , the Venice Biennale contemporary art fair has invited the West African nation of Benin to host a pavilion. Curator Azu Nwagbogu and his team of four artists have created a warm, homely space where visitors are encouraged to slow down, reconnect with...

Susan Owensby    This week on The Sound Kitchen you’ll hear the answer to the question about the Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony. There’s a surprise guest with good news, The Listener’s Corner with Paul Myers, a delicious dessert from Erwan Rome on Music from Erwan, and of course, the new quiz and bonus...

RFI    After a marathon restoration effort, visionary French director Abel Gance’s silent masterpiece Napoleon will return to the big screen at the Cannes Film Festival in May nearly years after it was made.

Susan Owensby    This week on The Sound Kitchen you’ll hear the answer to the question about French girls, maths, and the role model in a recent French film. There’s The Sound Kitchen mailbag, The Listener’s Corner with Paul Myers, a delicious dessert from Erwan Rome on Music from Erwan, and of course, the...

RFI    Nineteen films have been picked to compete for the coveted Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in the south of France in May. The prize can give a major boost for arthouse films such as last year’s winner Anatomy of a Fall that went on to win an avalanche of awards, including best original...

Melissa Chemam    Visitors to Marseille’s art venue, La Friche la Belle de Mai, can expect visual arts, performances, films and more in a gigantic space at the heart of the mediterranean city. Until June, they can also discover the work of the overseas French artists shaping the latest programme: A Field of Islands...

RFI    France’s National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research Inrap says it has unearthed the remains of a medieval castle in Vannes, on the coast of Brittany. Unexpected discoveries have allowed archaeologists to sketch out the year old structure and its internal life for the first time...

Ollia Horton    As France gears up for the Olympics, the L’Oeil Urbain Urban Eye photo festival is celebrating sport not only as competition, but as a form of social engagement.

Susan Owensby    This week on The Sound Kitchen you’ll hear the answer to the question about the Africa Cup of Nations trophy. There’s The Listener’s Corner with Paul Myers, a delicious dessert from Erwan Rome on Music from Erwan, and of course, the new quiz and bonus question, so click on the Play button...

RFI    Guadeloupe born author Maryse Condé, who best known for novels tackling the legacy of slavery and colonialism in Africa and the Caribbean, has died aged of .

RFI    Antique art dealers in France are campaigning against forthcoming EU regulations that aim to restrict illicit imports of cultural artefacts, but which critics say risk criminalising legitimate traders too.

Susan Owensby    This week on The Sound Kitchen, a special treat: You’ll hear about the European final from one of the world’s most prestigious cooking competitions. Just click on the Play button above and enjoy

RFI    Works by the early th century Jewish artist Ary Arcadie Lochakov are being sent from San Francisco back to Paris, where they’ll be housed at the Museum of Jewish Art and History. There are few clues as to how the artworks mysteriously appeared in the US, eight decades after Lochakov’s death in...

Susan Owensby    This week on The Sound Kitchen, a special treat: RFI English listeners’ musical requests. Just click on the Play button above and enjoy

RFI    Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, the latest instalment of the post apocalyptic franchise by Australian director George Miller, will get its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on May, organisers have said.

David Roe    This week is the Semaine de la francophonie. To mark it, RFI language services have focused on bilingual French dictionaries in their given languages and looked at how those dictionaries evolved. The English service took a look at Randle Cotgrave, an English lexicographer who lived during the late...

Ollia Horton    Moto Hagio is a unique figure in the male dominated world of Japanese manga, breaking down barriers and revolutionising the comic book genre since the s. France honoured her with an award and exhibition at the Angoulême International Comics Festival in January.

Ollia Horton with RFI    Olympic organisers this week unveiled the official Olympic Games tapestry based on a design by Franco Iranian artist Marjane Satrapi. The brightly coloured triptych gives pride of place to the Eiffel tower and two new urban sports incorporated into the competition.

Susan Owensby    This week on The Sound Kitchen you’ll hear the answer to the question about the delayed presidential election in Senegal. There’s a history lesson about Lithuanian’s love of books and their language , there are your answers to the bonus question on The Listener’s Corner, and of course, a...

RFI    French actress Camille Cottin, star of Netflix hit Call My Agent, is to be the host of the th Cannes Film Festival in May.

RFI    French director Justine Triet won the Oscar for best original screenplay with her film Anatomy of a Fall at the th Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday. Meanwhile, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer swept the board with seven trophies including best picture and best director.

Susan Owensby    This week on The Sound Kitchen you’ll hear the answer to the question about the French farmer’s political action campaign and the other European farmers who have joined in. There’s On This Day, The Listener’s Corner, Ollia Horton’s Happy Moment and Erwan Rome’s Music from Erwan all...

Ollia Horton    Director Amjad Al Rasheed’s first feature film, Inshallah a Boy, tells the story of a mother standing up to Jordan’s archaic, patriarchal inheritance laws. Carried charismatically by award winning actress Mouna Hawa, the film also addresses broader issues of gender inequality.

Susan Owensby    This week on The Sound Kitchen, a special treat: RFI English listeners’ musical requests. Just click on the Play button above and enjoy

RFI    Canadian arthouse filmmaker and actor Xavier Dolan has been chosen to head up the jury of the Une Certain Regard category at the th Cannes Film Festival in May.

Ollia Horton    The first thing that stands out about Lorenzo Mattotti’s works is the explosion of vibrant colours and shapes. Each drawing is full of eye catching detail, and it’s hard to know where to look.

Isabelle Martinetti    Takagi Akimitsu, one of the most prolific and well known crime novelists of th century Japan, was also a brilliant photographer. A French book depicting his photos from s Tokyo was recently on display at the International Tattoo Fair in Paris.

RFI    Dahomey, a documentary by Franco Senegalese director Mati Diop probing the thorny issues surrounding Europe’s return of looted antiquities to Africa, won the Berlin Film Festival’s top prize Saturday.

RFI    Actress Judith Godrèche received a standing ovation at the César Awards on Friday as she spoke out against sexual violence in the French film industry. Meanwhile, Cannes Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall dominated the event with six trophies, including best film, giving it new momentum ahead...

Melissa Chemam with RFI    Black History month took root in the US in the s before becoming a national event by the mid s. Some members of the African diaspora in France have been trying to import it and, in the last decade, have succeeded in establishing a homegrown version.