France's cultural exception debate resurfaces amid crisis

The concept of 'l'exception culturelle française' was championed and secured by Paris during broad trade negotiations in the 1990s. Three years ago at the Cannes Film Festival closing ceremony, Justine Triet, who had just won the Palme d'Or for 'Anatomie d'une chute', denounced the 'commodification of culture'. The question remains whether culture can remain an exception in times of crisis. Journalist Laurent Joffrin and journalist-filmmaker Marie-Laurence Rincé discussed this on RFI with Nathalie Amar. The documentary 'Exception culturelle, la bataille qui a sauvé le cinéma français' is available on France Télévisions. The program also featured a literary segment from Ambroise Kom of Librairie des Peuples Noirs in Yaoundé, Cameroon, recommending 'Mystères et légendes du Cameroun' by Atol Ketchiemen, which explores the fantastic and irrational aspects of Cameroonian culture. Fanny Bleichner presented My Comedy School, a project enabling teenagers to create and perform short plays on sensitive topics like harassment and fights at Théâtre des Mathurins in Paris.