Traditions

French

  • Amanda Seyfried takes on religious radicalism and celibacy in new role
    She’s played the blushing bride in "Mamma Mia!" and the sidekick to the high-school bully in "Mean Girls". Now Amanda Seyfried takes on the role of Ann Lee, the 18th-century religious leader who founded the Shaker movement in the United States. Eve Jackson hears from Seyfried about the role at the Paris premiere of The […]
  • Music show: Tuareg music pioneers Tinariwen return with new album
    Winners of a Grammy Award in 2011, Tinariwen are back with their 10th album, "Hoggar", marking a career that spans 45 years. The album is a return to their roots for these passionate defenders of nomadic culture and their people. Sonia Patricelli and Aurore Dupuis report.
  • Novelist Dinaw Mengestu on the battle for freedom of expression
    As he takes on the presidency of PEN America, Dinaw Mengestu explains why defending a plurality of voices is crucial at a time of censorship and revisionism. He also discusses how the organisation is working to rebuild its credibility after criticism over its failure to condemn the war in Gaza in 2023. The award-winning author’s […]
  • Lost page of ancient Greek text by Archimedes resurfaces in France
    One of three missing pages from Archimedes' palimpsest, a 10th century manuscript containing several copies of the Greek scientist's ancient texts, has been found by a researcher in the archives of a museum in the French city of Blois.
  • Film show: 'The Bride!' puts Frankenstein in the shade
    Jessie Buckley takes the title role in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s 21st-century retelling of a 1930s silent movie, and film critic Emma Jones explains why her performance alone is worth the ticket price. We also discuss some of the criticism the film has received for its feminist stance and assess Christian Bale’s turn as the lab-made monster. […]
  • Alison Bechdel on 'The True Story of the Bechdel Test'
    “The Bechdel Test” started as a joke in one of her comic strips before becoming one of the most famous measures of gender representation in film. Now, acclaimed American cartoonist Alison Bechdel has joined forces with French critic Iris Brey for their new essay, “La Véritable Histoire du test de Bechdel”. FRANCE 24’s Charli James […]

India

  • 1200+ historic ‘Survey of India’ maps – searchable, digitised, and free to access.
    The Survey of India was established in 1767 – just a decade after the Battle of Plassey (1757), which reshaped political power in the subcontinent. In other words, mapping came on the heels of conquest, as British authorities sought to document and manage the land they now ruled. What began as military and administrative necessity soon became one […]
  • Social Media has changed : what comes next for museums, libraries & cultural institutions?
    The original promise of social media platforms was not only reach, but connection. For cultural institutions, they offered a way to speak in a more relatable voice, connect with audiences and invite participation (beyond the limits of geography). Until around 2022, this felt genuinely transformative. At a time when many institutional websites were clunky and newsletters […]
  • Colonial Photographs of Kerala: Unnamed People and Forgotten Lives in the Archive
    In Kerala’s colonial photography archives, people gaze back at us – some named, categorized, but many left entirely unrecorded. These photographs from British-era Kerala capture moments of stillness: people working, posing, witnessing. But behind each frame lies a pressing question that colonial visual records often fail to answer: who were these people? Hands crossed; gaze […]
  • Looking at Colonial Photographs : Memory, Posture, & Place
    Have archival photographs ever looked back at you? Dragged you into its frames? Made you pause not just to see, but to feel, to guess, to remember, or to imagine? There is a strange alchemy when one is looking at colonial photographs. A photograph can certainly freeze time. It can, however, also disrupt time. It […]
  • When the Queen Becomes Colonial Mother: Nationhood and Empire under Victoria Regina
    In 1877, when Queen Victoria (r. 1837–1901) assumed the title of Kaisar-i-Hind, British officials sought to monumentalize her as a figure of peace and imperial stability. In India, however, her image emerged as a divine sovereign across sections of society. Her likeness appeared as traditional handmade dolls, in temple reliefs and reports from the late […]
  • Mumbai’s Bandstands: Where Music, Culture and Community Converged
    For most residents of Mumbai, the word ‘bandstand’ evokes the popular image of Bandra’s seaside promenade, fondly referred to as just the ‘bandstand’ in the neighbourhood. But for an older generation, it also recalls the city’s once-ubiquitous spaces for live music – structures that stood in gardens, maidans, and neighbourhood parks. As Mumbai grows into […]

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