Fun-filled Francophonie Festival draws crowd
ISLAMABAD: The embassies of Argentina, Austria, Belgium, France, Switzerland and Tunisia came together to hold the Francophonie Festival at the Centre Culturel Français in Islamabad on Saturday.
The festival celebrated the ‘Semaine de la Francophonie’ or French Language and Francophonie Week which was created in 1995 around March 20, the International Day of the Francophonie.
Held in the Diplomatic Enclave, the festival had a select albeit diverse audience, as guests of the different embassies, students and teachers of French and people associated with the Alliance Francaise attended the day-long event.
Each of the participating embassies had a small pavilion where they displayed materials related to culture and tourism in their countries and had a few treats of cuisine typical to each country.
Argentina for instance shared with visitors, vegetarian and beef empanadas, a fast–food staple in Buenos Aires, Alfajores or Dulce de Leche sandwich cookies rolled in shredded coconut, and Pasta flora, a sweet tart common to Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Egypt and Greece.
The programme for the day included screenings of films from Switzerland, Argentina and Tunisia.
In the Swiss film, Mr Moll and the Chocolate Factory, Papa Moll is left home alone with his children and mayhem results as his children get into a feud with the boys next door.
Los Corroboradores from Argentina and A better Life from Tunisia were also shown.
Uzma Nomani, a visitor to the festival, said: “The event brought together people from Argentina and Austria, and other French-speaking countries, and I was able to talk to them and learn about their countries — a very different experience from searching on the internet.”