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Month: August 2021

Josephine Baker entering Pantheon 45 years after death

by: Stephanie Horsman
24/08/2021

Performer, resistance fighter and equality campaigner Josephine Baker, who rests in Monaco’s cemetery, will be the first black woman to be inducted into France’s national monument, the Pantheon. 

The legendary Josephine Baker, who broke racial barriers in 1920’s Paris and spent her life campaigning for racial equality, as well as thwarting the Nazis during World War II, is to be inducted into the Panthéon memorial monument in Paris on 30th November, it was announced on Sunday.

Baker lived in Roquebrune from 1968 until her death in 1975 at the age of 68 and she is interred at the Monaco Cemetery.

Born in St Louis, Missouri in the United States as Freda Josephine McDonald, she rose to international stardom in the 1920’s and 30s as a singer and dancer in Paris. She was the most successful American working in the French capital and was described by Ernest Hemingway as “the most sensational woman anyone ever saw.”

As wildly popular as she was, she was not afraid to stick her neck out for a cause she believed in. She notoriously used her celebrity connections during World War II to gather information on German troop movements, which she cleverly passed on discreetly written on musical scores.

She also was an outspoken anti-racism campaigner and famously marched on Washington alongside Dr Martin Luther King, Jr on the day of his “I have a dream” speech. To this end, she also adopted 12 children of different races and nationalities, calling them her “rainbow tribe”.

Her inclusion at the Panthéon puts her in with the good and the great of France, including Marie Curie, Alexandre Dumas and Victor Hugo. She is only the sixth woman, and the first black woman, to be inducted.

The decision was handed down from the Elysée by President Macron, following a request from the Baker family, initiated in 2013 and supported by several known personages. Additionally, a petition launched two years ago, in favour of the pantheonization of the star, saw nearly 38,000 signatures collected. 

Baker’s remains will stay in her beloved Monaco, but she will be remembered on the 30th of November in Paris with a plaque according to her son, Claude Bouillon-Baker.

In early August, the National Council announced that Josephine Baker would be one of three females to have a street named after them in the Principality.

 
RELATED STORIES: 

Female figures honoured in Monaco

 
 

Var blaze “under control” as fundraiser launched for victims

by: Stephanie Horsman
24/08/2021

The fire that has been raging in the Var since last Monday destroying 7,000 hectares is said to be under control, but still not entirely extinguished. Meanwhile, local mayors have started a fundraising campaign for victims. 

The massive blaze that ravaged the Var over the past week, taking lives and properties and devastating a fragile environment, is now no longer spreading.

“The fire is under control. It is contained in its current envelope thanks to the work of the teams on the ground”, explained the emergency services who worked to create a barrier “as tight as possible.”

There are still 400 firefighters on hand to fully put out the fire. This phase of the operation is set to last several days.

Local mayors in the department, led by Dean of Mayors Suzanne Riboux, have launched a collection campaign for the affected municipalities, setting up a dedicated account. The funds collected will be distributed according to need through the social assistance office.

“The drama experienced in recent days by the municipalities of Gonfaron, Le Luc, Les Mayons, Vidauban, Le Cannet des Maures, La Garde-Freinet, the Plan de la Tour, Cavalaire, Cogolin, la Mole, and Gassin affects everyone between us in our hearts as mayors of the Var,” said Mayor of Toulon Hubert Falco in a press release.

“Our department has always been united in its territorial diversity. Today, it is our duty to come together, to be more united than ever in the face of this appalling disaster,” he went on to say.

Meanwhile, a 56-year-old man was arrested over the weekend for attempting to light a fire just off a departmental road near the Varois town of Cavalaire-sur-Mer. A man was spotted by holidaymakers around 1pm on the 21st of August trying to start a blaze in the forest. The tourists immediately put out the fire with car mats and water bottles, then pursued and caught the suspect before calling the police. The man is currently in custody.

Philippe Leonelli, the mayor of Cavalaire-sur-Mer, intends to give a medal to the quick-thinking tourists, who by their action prevented another catastrophic blaze. “They saved, I think, an economy, a place of biodiversity. The wind was on the wrong side, so when we see the state of the hill today after a very dry summer, it could have been a disaster.”

 
 
 
Photo by Henrique Malaguti
 
 
 

Black market for health passes booming

by: Stephanie Horsman
24/08/2021

People are forking over hundreds of euros for fake health passes from online black marketeers who are offering passes via email in as little as eight hours.
A flourishing black market for health passes has sprung up in France since the government said that they would be required for entry to restaurants, cafes, public transport and several other public venues.
The decision caused a swirl of controversy and spurred five straight weekends of protests.
Now, with the black-market passes, those who are unwilling to be vaccinated are seeing another way to have their cake and eat it, too. The market for the counterfeit passes has turned up on Snapchat and other social media sites advertising the fake passes. Accounts only last for a few days, in order to keep one step ahead of the authorities, but pop up under different account names constantly
The ads purport, “Your health pass by email in eight to 10 hours maximum”, “Vaccination is optional thanks to our service” or “Say no to the vaccine and get a health pass without getting vaccinated.”
One 28-year-old event planner told AFP he received his pass for €350, despite being able to get the real thing for free. He says he is not part of the anti-vax brigade, but he simply doesn’t think young people need it.
“If Covid-19 still exists when I’m 50 or 60, then yes, I’ll get vaccinated,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Counterfeiters collect real information from clients, including their valid French health care system numbers, then pass them on to obliging doctor friends who input them into the system or they hack into the system and change information to make it look as if the client had been jabbed.
Prices for the service are ranging from €145 to €350 and payments are made on untraceable French mobile apps or by using pre-paid cards or vouchers.
The national health system has made complaints to the police and offered tips about people exhibiting suspicious behaviour. If caught, the fraudsters face up to five years behind bars and a fine up to €150,000. End users face prison sentences up to three years. Several people have already been charged, including a woman who worked at a vaccination centre selling passes and is now serving a year’s home detention.
 
 
Photo by Mat Napo on Unsplash
 
 
 

Covid-19: Monaco pushes for increased testing

by: Stephanie Horsman
24/08/2021

In preparation for the return to school in September, the government is asking that all people coming back from summer holidays, even those vaccinated, get a Covid test to prevent the spread of the virus throughout the Principality.

September is synonymous with back-to-school and back to work. With that in mind, the government of Monaco released a statement Monday saying that it “strongly recommends” that residents, employees and students in the Principality take a Covid test before heading back to work and school, especially if they are returning from holidays abroad.

Regular screenings can help break the chain of contamination, preventing spikes in new cases and lessening the chances of people to becoming ill. It will also ensure, says the government, that the academic year begins in a most positive way, under the best sanitary conditions possible.

From 23rd August to 11th September the government is offering free PCR screening tests without the need to go to a doctor for a prescription. The testing will take place at the National Screening Centre headquartered at the Rainier III Auditorium.

Though the tests are free, an appointment is necessary. To obtain a time slot, people are asked to call 92 05 55 00 and leave a message. Someone from the centre will return the call and set up a time.

In the week leading to 22nd August, Monaco’s incidence rate had remained stable at 192. The positivity rate among those tested has dropped slightly from 4% at the end of July to 2.97%.

 
 

Relive the Monaco Streaming Festival this week

by: Katie Lister
23/08/2021

In July, the Monaco Streaming Film Festival (MCSFF) took its first steps on the red carpet and successfully launched its inaugural year at the Grimaldi forum while livestreamed worldwide for a global audience to partake in the action on the ground.

Those who missed it are in luck as this Tuesday 24th and Wednesday 25th August the festival will livestream a free all-access reprise of the best keynote speeches and panel discussions from the conference half of the original four-day event, along with highlights from the awards night.

In collaboration with entertainment media partner Variety and other partners, the two-day event is chock-full of content worth tuning in to and intake all of the valuable industry insight. The hybrid summit-meets-film festival in July brought together film, media, technology leaders and talent to discuss everything surrounding the technology-driven streaming industry as it stands and where it is headed.

The Monaco Streaming Film Festival – in conjunction with Grundy Media Ltd. (The Reg Grundy Innovation Award), The Princess Grace Foundation, The White Feather Foundation and The GEMA Foundation, was born out of the fact that there was no international festival in existence that celebrated and centered the conversation around the dominating streaming sector. Nor was there a festival that leveraged the power of streaming technology to bring it to the masses of film and content lovers worldwide in real-time. The annual awards in Hollywood – the Oscars, the Golden Globes, the SAG Awards – have been churning out Netflix, HBO Max, and Amazon Studios nominations and wins.

The streaming sector deserved a festival of its own to reflect the sign of the times and to flow with the ever-evolving content landscape. The festival has also taken a new, more dynamic approach by including other channels of content storytelling including YouTube and social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Facebook.

“For the first festival of its kind we are delighted that it turned out to be such a success with so many participating in-person and online,” says Christian Moore, the festival’s Co-Founder and Founder of GEMA Foundation.  “We aim to draw on the experience and make our next festivals even more beneficial and impactful.”

The Monaco Streaming Film Festival and Grundy Media, an iconic brand in global entertainment, have joined forces with a shared belief that bold vision and precise execution can forever enhance the media industry to move people on a global scale.

​​“From the start, we envisioned a media event that would be as modern and connective as the world of streaming and was totally in line with Reg Grundy’s personal visions,” said Jo Cullen-Cronshaw, CEO of RG Capital Group and Director of Grundy Media Ltd.  “We couldn’t be more pleased with the level of success the Festival and our Reg Grundy Innovation Award achieved. It’s exciting to connect with an even larger audience who we hope to see live at the Festival in 2022.”

Economically speaking, the Principality of Monaco has the potential to greatly benefit from the festival by not only drawing in local business and tourism surrounding the in-person festival every year, but also on a global scale through the festival’s streaming platform open to a worldwide audience.

“The film industry has undergone a significant shift as the streaming services sector continues to grow its market share. Streaming services have become a viewer’s preferred way to experience favourite films, shows and documentaries, to watch YouTube and to create or engage with social media content. The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated streaming dominance due to the global community being hunkered down at home for the bulk of the past one and a half years.

The market for streaming services grew by 37% in 2020, with most of the growth coming from Disney+ which hit over 73 million subscribers in its first year. The global video streaming market was valued at USD 39.610 billion in the year 2018, USD 50.11 billion in 2020, and is expected to reach USD 102.0971 billion by 2023, growing at 20.8% CAGR.  Innovations, such as blockchain technology and artificial intelligence, to improve video quality are expected to boost the market growth.

‘No Time To Die’ premier in London and Monaco

Actor Daniel Craig has a lot to be happy about these days, partly thanks to his alter-ego James Bond, and partly because of his streaming platform-related projects and successes.
Firstly, the Bond part: the long-awaited world premiere of ‘No Time To Die’ – the 25th film from the Bond franchise – will at last take place in London on 28th September. We are most certain that Craig is breathing a sigh of relief along with Bond film lovers worldwide that his final act as 007 is finally coming to light after one and a half years of several premiere date delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The next day on 29th September, Monaco will play host to an exclusive screening of the film followed by a Casino Royale Dinatoire at the Casino de Monte-Carlo. The exclusive 007 Monaco evening – deemed ‘The World’s Most Immersive James Bond Experience’ – will celebrate the film’s Director and Princess Grace Award Winner Cary Joji Fukunaga as Guest of Honour, while also celebrating the life of former Bond and long-time Monaco resident Sir Roger Moore who passed away in 2017.

Proceeds from the evening will benefit the Princess Grace Foundation-USA. The event is sponsored by and partnered with the Société des Bains de Mer, Blackwell Rum and the Monaco Ambassadors Club, and proudly supported by Monaco Life as a media partner.

Daniel Craig capitalising on streaming

Daniel Craig is cashing in big-time as of late thanks to the streaming sector. It goes without saying that James Bond films, which release only in cinemas, are always massive box office successes revenue-wise. Craig’s streaming platform projects are raking in the dough even more so. According to Variety last week, he has reportedly made to-date a cool $100-million just from the yet-to-be-released sequels to Rian Johnson’s Netflix film Knives Out.

Netflix compensates movie stars for the projected back-end box office participation they would reap if their movies were released exclusively in theaters. This combined with all of his other year-to-date earnings have made him the world’s highest-paid actor this year.

The streaming sector is worth investing time into, learning about, and taking part in as it is clearly thriving and its future is so blindingly bright.

Most poignantly: streaming content has the constant attention of billions of people worldwide morning, noon and night, and attention is one of the most valuable currencies.
Register here and watch (for free) the best takeaways from the Monaco Streaming Film Festival’s inaugural year for free this Tuesday and Wednesday: https://live.streamingff.com/

Katie Lister is the Monaco Streaming Festival’s founding Head of Marketing and Partnerships. 

Everything you need to know about La Vita Monte-Carlo

by: Cassandra Tanti
23/08/2021

In keeping with its ‘Life is an art’ concept, Monte-Carlo SBM will stage La Vita Monte-Carlo in September with a month-long programme that covers all of life’s pleasures.  
The luxurious Monte-Carlo lifestyle would not be possible without experiences such as drinking or lunching on a terrace, strolling along the seafront, listening to a concert, shopping, enjoying incredible encounters or basking in the thrill of the game.
So, from mid-September to mid-November, La Vita Monte-Carlo will host unique events at various SBM resorts.
It all kicks off on 10th September with the La Vita Monte-Carlo Gala Dinner in the Salle Empire at the Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo. The next day will see the Monte-Carlo Vendanges with three unmissable wine-themed encounters hosted by the Hôtel Hermitage Monte-Carlo. La Vita Monte-Carlo will light up autumn in the Monte-Carlo Société des Bains de Mer Group establishments until 10th November with various exciting events.
La Vita Monte-Carlo: exclusive ‘Candlelight’ evening at the Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo
The Salle Empire will be the opening scene for La Vita Monte-Carlo, hosting a candlelit gala dinner with a unique floral backdrop on 10th September at the Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo. During this special dinner, coordinated by Chef Franck Cerutti and his teams, La Vita Monte-Carlo will shine the spotlight on Monte-Carlo savoir-vivre and three talented young female artists: young Monegasque prodigy, pianist Stella Almondo, who, at just 15, will entertain with the classic notes of Chopin which will unfold into Jazz. She’ll then hand over the reins to the young DJ Irène Drésel, a rising star on the new French electronic scene, who will lift the mood with a hypnotic set before returning to close the evening with one last performance. Finally, singer Elodie Frégé’s beautiful and captivating voice will ring out around the Salle Empire during this spectacular evening.
La Vita Monte-Carlo: vendanges at the Hôtel Hermitage Monte-Carlo
After the music comes the Vendanges Monte-Carlo. From 11th September, real grape vines will run freely in front of and inside the Hôtel Hermitage Monte-Carlo, passing through the lobby and corridors en route to the Yannick Alléno restaurant.
With special significance at Monte-Carlo Société des Bains de Mer, this theme has inspired a number of prestigious events:
Thursday 16th September – ‘Champagne: a new destiny’ tasting convention
Head to the Salle Belle Epoque at the Hôtel Hermitage Monte-Carlo to sample the finest champagnes, served by Frédéric Rouzaud himself, Chair and owner of Louis Roederer, who will explain the revolution currently transforming Champagne.
Saturday 18th September – 300% Dinner at the Yannick Alléno restaurant at the Hôtel Hermitage Monte-Carlo
100% Yannick Alléno, there in person to prepare the dinner, 100% Chapoutier whose excellence dates back to 1808, and 100% Parker, i.e. only wines with the top score, the Holy Grail, from the famous American critic.
Friday 24th September – ‘Creating an original, high-quality wine cellar’ tasting convention
Tasting session hosted by Angélique de Lencquesaing, founder of the Ideal Wine site. An opportunity to discover rare wines and wonders far off the beaten track, and to rediscover the essentials.
La Vita Monte-Carlo: Tropical and Havana Night at the Monte-Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort
The Monte-Carlo Bay Hotel and Resort invites guests on a fun and relaxing journey through La Vita Monte-Carlo with two unique events:
Friday 17th September – Tropical Night at the lagoonside
The programme includes a sensory awakening with live DJing by Mr Jaz with support from artist Micael Sene, magical close-ups with Simeon Wolfgang, aquatic ballet and fireworks. Chef Marcel Ravin will take charge in the kitchen, creating daring flavours to tantalise the taste buds and whisk guests more than 8,000 km away from Monaco… to the Amazon rainforest.
Saturday 9th October – Blue Gin Havana Night
With Latin tunes and Cuban flavours. The chance to sip a creative rum-based cocktail, discover the secrets of cigar smoking or take your first salsa steps.
Preview 8th September
Monte-Carlo Beach will host a preview of La Vita Monte-Carlo with a picnic on 8th September at Domaine d’Agerbol, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin – the garden that supplies the starred Elsa restaurant with organic products.