Tazeen Akhtar
A week long cultural festival of Francophonie concluded on April 26 in Islamabad. The festival started on April 19 with participation from 7 member countries where French is spoken. French Embassy led the festival while Bulgaria, Belgium, Egypt, Greece, Canada, Morocco, Romania, Tunisia embassies took part enthusiastically.
During the festival, the movies from the French speaking countries were screened to introduce their history, heritage, culture, traditions and life styles with Pakistani and international guests invited by the respective embassies on their choice and selection.
Alliance Française d’Islamabad hosted different events throughout the week and invited a large number of citizens of twin cities to meet and greet the artists and learners of French language in Islamabad. Mr. Ali Bhatti and his staff amicably organized the events enhancing the interest of the guests to know more about French culture and traditions.
Francophonie Talents, a lively celebration of French language and culture was the main activity as part of the Concours de la Francophonie 2025 on 18 April. It was exciting evening of games, delicious food, fun activities, and vibrant performances by French learners and teachers.
The guests celebrated the diversity and creativity of the Francophonie community together. In the talent side, Alliance Française provided opportunity to the ammature artists to express their talent. Finally , a jury announced the winners in different categories who were rewarded in the final day event held at Hotel Movenpick on 26 April.
The embassies screened their movies and introduced their culture and heritage at the events held during the week.
On April 19, the Romanian Embassy screened the movie ” The New Year that Never Came” by Bogdan Muresanu that was produced on how the living in Romania was during Soviet Era. DHM Eduard PREDA briefed the guests about the movie and share his own experiences as a kid of the then Romania.
The 138-minute movie showed how the Romanians coped with the dark days of Communism under the dictatorial rule of Nicolae Ceaușescu that lasted for almost twenty-five years (1965 to 1989).
Ambassador of France, Mr Nicolas Galey graced this opening event with his presence. He addressed the guests and said, “This is the largest-scale collaboration for the first time in Pakistan and a powerful demonstration of the unifying values of the La Francophonie: Solidarity, cultural dialogue and the joy of coming together around a shared language and creative expressions.”
He thanked Centaurus Group’s CEO Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan, President Sardar Rashid Ilyas and the General Manager (GM) of Movenpick Nicolas Verdun for their cooperation and support. He also appreciated the Centaurus Cineplex Director Aamir S Haider for his collaboration with the organizers of the Film Mela to make it a success.
Newly opened Hotel Movenpick and Centaurus Mall Islamabad collaborated with the embassies to screen their movies at the Cineplex and show case the stalls of the embassies at the final day.
Vietnam Embassy also participated in the festive activities of the Francophone. The embassy screened award winning movie “Yellow Flowers on Green Grass” on 21 April 2025. The embassy presented traditional cuisine at the final ceremony held at Movenpick on 26 April 2025.
Ambassador Pham Anh Tuan and staff were present on both days during their event. A large number of guests were present and they appreciated the movie and the food served by the Vietnam Embassy Islamabad.
On 26th April, at Movenpick, Morocco held two stalls , one about their culture and heritage and the other of their traditional food. Ambassador Mohamed Karmoun and his staff was also present.
Tunisian food stall was an attraction there because the beautiful acting ambassador Ms Dorsaf Maaroufi Arfaoui was presenting the traditional food to the guests herself. The embassy screened Tunisian movie ““Manca Moro: Arabic Makrona”, by the Tunisian director Reem Al-Tamimi” on 27th April.
At the final event the acting ambassador of France, Ambassadors of Vietnam and Morocco, acting Ambassador Tunisia and diplomats from the other participating countries made a joint appearance at the stage and expressed their bonds with French language and culture.
Chairman Pakistan International Airlines, Mr. Aamir Hayat was also present at the concluding event. He presented air ticket Islamabad Paris to the winner of talent competition held at Alliance Française d’Islamabad during the festive week.
In the Francophonie Talent for children Syeda Aroush Raza Jaffery presented a poem while Robin Amoun performed on piano. In the contest for youth, Osama Hussain Chaudhry, a standup comdeian, Aahil Saleem Nasir poetry reading and singer Noor Nawaz also earned huge applause and prizes.
French CdA Mr. Jean Charles Allard in his address said, “Approximately 350 Million people speak French in five continents. Ours is a community of values and a culture of diversities.”
Ambassador Pham Anh Tuan, Canadian First Secretary Fenny Hum, Belgian First Secretary Laurent de Greef, Canadian CdA Ms Christian Tremblay, Romanian DHM Eduard PREDA, Tunisian CdA Dorsaf Maaroufi were present at the final event.
Here it is worth noting that during whole week , there was not proper, unified, one place arrangement to engage the media persons to all events.
