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Day: 12 April 2021

Monaco to host world’s first international streaming film festival

by: Cassandra Tanti
12/04/2021

The Principality will roll out the red carpet for the pioneering new Monaco Streaming Film Festival this summer, drawing industry heavyweights for a dynamic “festival-meets-summit” experience and an awards ceremony to celebrate the best in the streaming industry.
It was announced on Monday that the inaugural edition of the Monaco Streaming Film Festival (MCSFF) will take place from 3rd to 6th July at the Grimaldi Forum, just ahead of the Cannes Film Festival, allowing organisers to capitalise on the world’s most famous film festival while drawing attention to the future of the industry.
The event was co-founded by Netflix Founding VP Mitch Lowe and, with over 200 streaming platforms available to viewers globally, it will play an important role in bringing together content creators and talent, media and technology innovators in an industry that has hit overdrive with the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We believe the industry has blossomed during the pandemic and offers the public access to exciting international content at a time when they need the world of entertainment and choice to come to them through their streaming platforms,” Tony Davis, CEO and Founder of MCSFF, told Monaco Life. “We aim to create an accessible and inclusive event that will support all content creators wishing to produce and showcase their work.”
The four-day hybrid festival includes premiers, an awards night, VIP receptions, a marketplace and a conference featuring talks by key personalities including Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak.
Organisers will leverage streaming technology to power the event, opening it to a global audience with a significant portion of virtual-only content and remote panels. The Grimaldi Forum’s new LED TV “wall” and broadcast studio will play a key part in helping to deliver the technology-driven festival.
The MCSFF is being organised in conjunction with major Hollywood streaming studios, the Princess Grace Foundation USA and the Global Environment Movement Association (GEMA) Foundation.
“It is important to show and bring to light the elements of our environment which are of great concern as well as all the solutions and efforts around solving them,” GEMA Co-Founder and Managing Partner Christian Moore told Monaco Life. “The MCSFF will play an important role in highlighting film makers and documentarians who bring these subjects to light.”
The festival will also present the first ever Princess Grace Award of Monaco, celebrating Princess Grace’s legacy in the film industry.
 
READ ALSO: New video wall for hybrid events
 
Photo of the Grimaldi Forum by Monaco Life
 
 
 

Monaco creates short May break

by: Stephanie Horsman
12/04/2021

The government has taken on the advice of the parents’ association and will offer students three additional vacation days in May to make up for the abrupt change in the spring break schedule.
After talks with the Parents of Students of Monaco Association on 6th April, the Monegasque government has decided to give students a bonus week of holidays in May.
No classes will be held in the Principality from Monday 17th May to Wednesday 19th May inclusive. Add to this the two scheduled vacation days of the 20th and 21st, which are traditionally offered for better organisation of the Grand Prix weekend, and students will have an entire additional week off school.
The leisure centre will be open to accommodate students on the newly appointed dates.
The decision was made to allow families to spend more time together, as well as to give students a beneficial half term break, outside the one currently in effect until 26th April.
The half term break was originally scheduled for 22nd April to 10th May but was brought forward when France went into lockdown and mandated all students take half term at the same time this year rather than the usual staggered system. Monaco habitually follows the same holiday schedule as the neighbouring Alpes-Maritimes region.
Without this extra time allowed by the Monegasque government, students would be required to attend school from 26th April until the end of the school year in July, with the exception of a few days off for public holidays and events.
Meanwhile, Prince Albert visited Saint Charles school on Thursday to learn more about the Principality’s new education tool My Class being utilised by students in CM1 and CM2. The innovative digital tool aims to teach children the French language using cartoons. The programme can also be used by parents for homework.
 
 
Photo of Prince Albert and Isabelle Bonnal, Commissioner General in charge of National Education, participating in a class at Saint Charles, by Eric Mathon / Prince’s Palace
 
 
 

France aims to ban short haul flights

by: Stephanie Horsman
12/04/2021

French lawmakers on Saturday voted to scrap flights on routes that could be covered by train in under two and a half hours, as the government aims to expand its climate bill despite the airline industry struggling through the pandemic.
The National Assembly’s new proposal to stop certain short hop domestic airline routes has echoes of the Citizen’s Convention for the Climate demands, though it is not quite as stringent as the original. The Citizen’s Convention had lobbied for national flights to be stopped on routes where the train journey is less than four hours.
The government set a maximum of two and half hours.
“We chose (the threshold of) two hours and 30 minutes because four hours dries up often landlocked territories such as the great Massif Central. It would be unfair in terms of territorial equity,” explained Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, France’s Minister for Transport.
The bill follows one introduced in May 2020 that forced Air France to drop certain routes in return for financial support. The state recently committed to a €4 billion bailout for the national carrier.
Industry Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher dismissed criticism from the aviation industry that a pandemic recovery was not the time to ban some domestic flights, and said there was no contradiction between the bailout and the climate bill.
“We know that aviation is a contributor of carbon dioxide and that because of climate change we must reduce emissions,” she told Europe 1 radio. “Equally, we must support our companies and not let them fall by the wayside.”
The measure was far from universally popular though, as parliament members from the southwest, namely Toulouse where Airbus and many subcontractors are located, had concerns about “disproportionate human cost” and cited the possibility of job losses in the sector.
On the other side of the argument, ecologists say the bill doesn’t go far enough and are pleading for the legislature to reconsider the initial four-hour radius.
A threshold of four hours would eradicate the most greenhouse gas-emitting lines such as Paris-Nice, Paris-Toulouse and Paris-Marseille, insisted Danièle Obono from the LFI party.
The bill also provides for a gradual offsetting of carbon emissions by domestic flights and a ban on the expansion of airport facilities if they lead to an increase in emissions.
The bill will go to the Senate before a third and final vote in the lower house, where French President Emmanuel Macron’s ruling party and allies dominate.
 
Photo by Samuel hb
 
 

AS Monaco trounce Dijon

by: Stephanie Horsman
12/04/2021

With double trouble coming from Wissam Ben Yedder and a third goal for good measure from Stevan Jovetić, AS Monaco are now a single point from second place Paris Saint-Germain in Ligue 1 action.
The Red and Whites have kept their third place position in Ligue 1, one point ahead of Lyon and one behind PSG, after their three to nil victory over Dijon on Sunday at Stade Louis II.
The match was hardly a forgone conclusion as the Monaco side played a rather sloppy first half, finding it difficult to take many opportunities against a strong Dijon defence. It looked like Guillermo Maripán was going to open scoring at 24 minutes in from an assist by Aleksandr Golovin, only to have it disappointingly called offside. Then a few minutes later, there was hope that Stevan Jovetić would make the grade, but he was blocked by Dijon’s excellent goalkeeper, Saturnin Allagbe.
Despite having 65% possession of the ball, the Dijon team gave them few chances to convert in the whole first half.
After the break, things got far more interesting. Jovetić, who had a fantastic night, opened scoring at the 50 minute mark, scoring his fifth goal this season. This opened the flood gates and soon after, Caio Henrique made an attempt on goal that wasn’t a success but was good for keeping momentum going.
Maripán had another thwarted attempt at the 57-minute mark, but the team were rewarded five minutes later as Wissam Ben Yedder doubled the score for Monaco. This was followed a quarter of an hour later as Ben Yedder converted again at the 90-minute mark from a penalty shot, giving him his 17th goal of this season.
“It is true that the first half was difficult as Dijon defended well with a low block. We had few chances,” said Coach Niko Kovac. “In the second half, we were able to come back and score quickly thanks to a penalty, and we obtained many more chances. The victory was deserved.”
Monaco face off against Bordeaux next Sunday at the Stade Matmut-Atlantique where fans will see if they can keep the magic going.
 
Monaco Life with AS Monaco press release, photo by AS Monaco
 
 
 
 

Monaco's contribution to the Gardens of Artists

by: Cassandra Tanti
12/04/2021

Monaco’s Urban Planning Department is taking part in the Côte d’Azur Garden Festival with its creation ‘The reflection of infinity’.
The Côte d’Azur Garden Festival will take place from 9th May to 11th June and Monaco will have its own installation in the Principality from Saturday 3rd April on the terraces of the Monte-Carlo Casino.
This 3rd edition of the festival revolves around the theme ‘Gardens of Artists’, and designer Timothée Roche describes his creation for Monaco as follows:
The reflection of infinity
Under the scorching Mediterranean sun, a space takes shape.
Vertical and bushy silhouettes paint the landscape that we discover.
Other shapes, this time geometric and angular, provide an architectural reading of this place.
Colours, reliefs, materials, all different, make up this paradise setting.
In this garden, ideas appear clear and limpid to us like the water that envelops the visitor and softens the temperature of the steep coasts.
Imagine then projecting onto the reflections of a misted glass the foreshadowing of a visit to infinity.