There was plenty of festive plate smashing on Saturday night as the Monaco Ambassador’s Club, under the high patronage of Prince Albert II, honoured Monaco resident and Cypriot businessman John Christodoulou with the Goodwill Ambassador’s Award at a lavish ceremony at the Hôtel Hermitage.
John Christodoulou is a low-profile, self-made Cypriot billionaire who has forged an international, privately held real estate empire with a portfolio of residential, hotel, retail and leisure properties in the United Kingdom and Europe. His 74-metre yacht Zeus is a mainstay on the Monaco horizon.
But John Christodoulou is also a well-known philanthropist, backing numerous projects that help improve the lives of vulnerable children through his John Christodoulou Foundation. Most recently, he also supported many projects during the Covid-19 pandemic, funded a new gym facility for staff at Monaco’s Princess Grace Hospital Centre, and offered two of his UK hotels for free to home 750 Ukrainian refugees.
Born in Nicosia, Cyprus, in 1965, Christodoulou has been a Monaco resident for a number of years. On Saturday night, during a gala on the beautiful terraces of the Hermitage Hotel, Prince Albert II and Monaco Ambassadors Club President Christian Moore awarded John Christodoulou with the Goodwill Ambassador’s Award for his achievements and his “unquestionable loyalty to Cyprus”, said Christian Moore.
“It gives me great pleasure to present this year’s Goodwill Ambassador’s Award to John,” said Prince Albert II of Monaco. “He is a great friend, and a great supporter of Monaco and everything that we do here. Thank you so much for that, for all of your philanthropic activities, and for your kindness and outstanding generosity not only to your friends but to all those in need.”
Prince Albert was presented with an award from Cyprus, while Christodoulou was also presented with the Holy Humanitarian Cross by Ieronymos Pyliotis, a representative of the church of Cyprus.
“One of the things we have in common with the church is they are the biggest landlords in the world,” said Christodoulou, laughing. “As a real estate guy, we are trying to get there.”
Privileged guests of the MAC gala were transported to the islands for an evening thanks to a delicious Greek-inspired menu, traditional music and, of course, some celebratory plate smashing.
Upon receiving the Goodwill Ambassador’s Award, John Christodoulou said, “When you live in Monaco, we sometimes take it for granted, but this is the best place to live in Europe. Our Prince is doing an incredible job.”
The Goodwill Ambassador’s Gala was organised by the staff of the Monaco Ambassadors Club including General Secretary Alessandra Sparaco, Club Manager Catherine Bernaz and Event Manager Manon Delpont. It was sponsored by Borsalino and Benedetta Bizzini, with limited edition Monte Cristo hats being been offered to Prince Albert, MAC President Christian Moore, MAC Vice President Mike Powers and John Christodoulou, Goodwill Ambassador 2022.
The Monaco Ambassadors Club will next year be celebrating its 50th anniversary. It was established in 1973 by HSH Princess Grace of Monaco to assemble the rich blend of cultures in the Principality, with each member bringing a particular dynamic to the club and becoming an emissary of Monaco. The next big MAC event on the calendar is the Summer Party, to be held at the stunning La Vigie villa, on 6th July.
Prince Albert officially opened the Top Marques supercar show on Thursday in Monaco ahead of the busy four-day event that features the absolute best in luxury cars and all things automotive.
After two years impacted by the Covid-19 health crisis, Top Marques returns to the Grimaldi Forum from Thursday 9th to Sunday 12th June as big and as bold as ever.
Filling the exhibition centre are the most incredible contemporary cars by everyone from Bentley, Aston Martin and Rolls Royce, to McLaren, Maserati and Lamborghini.
Top Marques is more than just the world’s most prestigious supercar show. Two wheelers also feature heavily, as well as flying craft such as Mc-Clic’s new manned drone, and Monaco-made Esurf, an electric surfboard.
In officially opening this year’s Top Marques ahead of the public at midday, Prince Albert toured the Grimaldi Forum, meeting with exhibitioners and seeing first-hand the incredible vehicles on display, as well as unveiling some world-premiers.
Highlights include the Deus Vayanne, an electric hypercar derived from Formula 1 pedigree by Deus Automobiles, Italdesign, and Williams Advanced Engineering; McLaren’s new supercar Artura – dubbed the supercar for the next generation; and Jetson AeroOne, a one-man electric helicopter, one of three flying machines at this year’s show.
Thierry Boutsen with his winning Shelby Cobra, photo by Monaco Life
For the first time in Top Marques history, the entire ground floor of the Grimaldi Forum has been dedicated to classic cars, organised by Thierry Boutsen from Boutsen Classic Cars – a venture the former F1 driver only started three years ago.
“It is quite an emotional thing, I mean these cars have been living for 60 years and they are still in top condition, sometimes better than new,” Thierry Boutsen told Monaco Life. “Some, like the GT40 for instance, is in exactly the same condition as it was in 1969… the colour, the edging, the gear box … they are all the same. So, all the collectors come here because they have a passion for these types of cars and they can also buy them.”
Some standout favourites for the Belgium, who has enjoyed three Formula 1 successes with Williams-Renault, include the Shelby Cobra that he won the Tour Auto rally in France this year driving.
“Another favourite is the GT40 next to it, a fabulous car built in the 1960s that still looks like a modern car. We have a former F1 Benetton, that Michael Schumacher won the Canadian GP with. We have the jaguar e-type, BMW M1, an old Porsche from 53, and also a 911 which has been totally electrified with a similar system that powers a Tesla today.”
Top Marques runs until Sunday 12th June.
Visit Monaco Life Instagram to see videos of Top Marques 2022, and click on the gallery below to see more of our images…
Top photo: Manuel Vitali, Government Communication Department
Jeff Fahey: “I am still processing the impact of this film”
Monaco Life caught up with Jeff Fahey, star of the screen and stage, during the Monaco Streaming Film Festival to talk about his new film which dramatically tells the story of life during Covid-19 lockdown.
By his own count, Jeff Fahey has featured in over 200 films throughout his 45-year career, amongst them The Lawnmower Man, Eldorado, and Machete. That’s not to mention the roles in television series such as CSI: Miami, Law & Order, Under the Dome and Hawaii Five-0, or his theatre performances like in Twelve Angry Men at the Garrick Theatre in London.
Perhaps less known is his humanitarian efforts, which have led him travel, live and work extensively throughout the developing world, focusing the past 15 years on helping the people of Afghanistan and the Western Sahara.
His latest film, A Bird Flew In, had its premier screening at the Monaco Streaming Film Festival. It is a poignant drama about the need for human intimacy during lockdown, and it follows the lives of a cast and crew who are sent home from a film set to self-isolate in their homes during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The film, Kirsty Bell’s directorial debut, is an examination of what happens when we are freed from external distractions and forced to find meaning in our lives. In future years, it will serve as a powerful representation of a significant time in our history.
Monaco Life: How did you feel about the screening of ‘A Bird Flew In’ in Monaco last night?
Jeff Fahey: Well last night was the first time I have actually seen the film, so I am still processing it to be honest.
We did the film two years ago, in the middle of the pandemic – after the first lockdown and before the second lockdown in London. So, by the very nature of how the film was made, we were all in our own bubbles. The story begins at the last day of filming a movie, so the crew, cast, directors, and producers head off to start their isolation in their homes. With each different story, we see over a matter of months how these people, who are alone or in a couple in their homes, we see the evolution of what is happening to them.
The fascinating thing about seeing the film for the first time at this festival is that I am still figuring out the impact it has had on me. I read the script and did the film a couple of years ago, but I was not with the rest of the actors because they were doing their piece in a different location in their house. All my stuff was shot in this one little apartment with just me. So, two years later, watching this film, I forgot some of the things that happened. I only knew them as part of what I read as a screen play, so I was seeing them for the first time. To visually see how those stories came together, to see the actresses and actors playing these characters that were only in a screenplay to me, then to have the whole impact of the film – I was very much a part of that audience last night.
The screening was followed by a Q&A. How was that for you then?
It was such an emotionally impactful film, so when we did the Q&A afterwards, I wasn’t ready to talk about it because I was still taking it in. I mean – boom – the film ends and you’re on stage with people asking you questions about the film; thank god the producers and director were on stage, because I was still in an emotional state. I was so moved by the other actors and the work that they had done, and the journey that their characters had taken, I wasn’t sure how to talk about it.
How long did the film take to make?
I think they put the whole thing together, from the idea to the start of principal photography, in about four to five months at the most, so it was experimental in many ways.
What made you agree to take part in a film like this?
All of the above. I thought that the idea of doing a film in lockdown was fascinating. By that stage, we all knew of isolation. Some of us have had great joy in this time – lives slowing down and being more reflective, but then there are others for who it has been a tragedy; it was not freedom at all but rather imprisonment and destruction.
Plus, I always enjoy that uphill climb on a little film, for the filmmakers and myself. You have a lot of creative freedom. Then again, you have that when you are working with the right people who are secure and clear enough in what they want. Robert Rodriguez is one of them (Director of Machete). There were many times that Robert would write a scene at lunch and say “let’s try this”, and boom, we’d do that; or let you stay within the story but “swing the cat” a little bit, have some freedom to do some jazz.
Was it important for you to be part of a film that documented such a significant moment of history, of how the story will be told to future generations?
I can honestly say that it may have subconsciously been there, but I didn’t think it out to that point. I thought that it was an interesting view on isolation and character study. It wasn’t something I thought about then, but it is definitely something I think about when discussing the movie now. This will be one of the films that people will be looking at – and there may be many others – but this is their interpretation of these characters. People many years from now may pull it off the shelves somewhere and say “Wow that’s interesting, did that really happen? Were people really that isolated?”, and someone will say “Yeah, they really were”.
When you see that scene where the young girl finds out her mother is not going to make it, and the doctor tells her she cannot come and visit her – things like that were very real for so many people.
What are your thoughts on this year’s Monaco Streaming Film Festival?
This is my first film festival that I have attended in around 20 years. I didn’t avoid them, I was just doing other things and there were plenty of people who did the festival thing. But it is nice to be here in the early stages of the Monaco Streaming Film Festival, the second year, and it is great to be back in an arena that I haven’t been in for a long time.
I am one of the students when it comes to streaming and NFTs for funding, etc., so I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to be part of something and learn in the process, because pretty much everything that I do has been baptism by fire.
You were also presented with the Monaco Streaming Film Festival Humanitarian Award. Can you tell me about your work in that area?
They asked if I would receive the award, and I was actually very close to saying no. I mean, I love that there is someone who wants to give me an award for the work I have been doing in that world for many years, but I have always kept it under the radar, just because I got a lot more done in conflict and post-conflict areas. And then I thought, “Just accept it Jeff, if somebody wants to give you recognition for some things you’ve done, it is wonderful and move forward”. And so how do I feel about it? I am honoured.
Jeff Fahey received the Humanitarian Award at the 2022 Monaco Streaming Film Festival, photo by MSFF
When and why did the humanitarian work begin?
It goes back to my old hippy days. I’ve been going in and out of Afghanistan and that part of the world since the early 70s, and have seen things change. I didn’t go in as a humanitarian, but you just become involved in things, whether it is an orphanage or helping somebody meet someone, then one thing led to another and it evolved. Before I knew it, I was introducing local people in certain parts of Afghanistan to those working with the ambassador, and then in north Africa and Western Sahara, Syria, Jordan, working with different governments and embassies, and it just continues. But I don’t necessarily think of it as humanitarian work, it is just putting good people together and trying to keep bad people out of it, and in the process getting some things done.
What do you love most about being an actor?
I have always been a bit of a gypsy, and I have always said that one of the great joys of being in this industry is to be able to travel the world, to be involved in different stories, working with different film makers, and working in different genres. I love walking towards new adventures, and that’s what my life in this industry has allowed me to do, to stay on this adventure and make a living.
Do you have a favourite genre?
No. Well that’s not true, I try not to talk of favourites, but in film I have to say westerns, because I am fascinated by that period of time.
What then do you enjoy about performing in theatre?
When you are part of a fantastic play, and doing it eight times a week for months at a time, you’re always refining; you’re not changing the story but you’re changing the beats and the rhythms, and the pace even. And what happens is, it changes you. It’s like being a musician and playing a beautiful song with a little bit of difference here and there. The audience doesn’t hear a different song, but you know – through experimenting with this piece of well-written material – that you are refining it. Then, after 100, 200, 300 performances, you really have it going.
There is also an immediacy with theatre; when that curtain goes up you have to have it together, there’s no take two. So, you start prepping, getting into that zone, three or four hours before the curtain rises, every day. And then what happens is, you become one with the audience. You can feel the energy of 750 people, and not the “do they like it or not?” energy, but you can feel an audience when 700 people gasp, or it goes still in that theatre. It is a fascinating thing and quite something to experience.
At almost 70 years of age, you’ve been in the industry for 45 years. What do you consider the key is to success?
Luck and being prepared. There are so many talented people out there who just couldn’t climb that mountain, for one reason or another, because it is a tough industry. I don’t mean luck just like walking down the street and it falling out of the sky, luck in staying in the game.
Top photo of Jeff Fahey by Cassandra Tanti, Monaco Life
Monaco’s main congress and cultural centre, the Grimaldi Forum, is set to grow enormously as it fuses into the new Mareterra eco-district. Here’s what it will look like in just two and a half years’ time.
A year after it celebrates a quarter of a century of existence, the Grimaldi Forum will in 2025 unveil a vast extension, boosting exhibition capacity by an impressive 50%.
The new site, created as part of the land reclamation project, will add an extra 6,000 m2 to the current 35,000 m2 space.
It will consist of three zones: the Diaghilev Gallery, the Carré and Patio Rooms, and the Pinède Hall – the largest of the three spaces. Each will offer plenty of surface area to accommodate exhibition stands and meeting rooms, as well as catering.
In making the most of the Principality’s exceptional location and its 300 days of sunshine per year, 2,000 m2 of outdoor space will also be created, including the new Indigo terrace, the Emeraude Forecourt, the Patio, the Ravel terrace with a view of the open sea, and the covered Patio.
The new dimension is made possible thanks to Mareterra, the new eco-district that is currently under construction by the Monegasque government.
This six-hectare extension of the Principality will offer housing, a car park, shops, restaurants, a pine trees forest and a marina. Answering to very strict environmental requirements, it is part of the Principality’s objective to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
With the 1,500 solar panels installed on the Grimaldi Forum’s roof supplying energy to the surrounding buildings and this new district, it is natural then that the congress and cultural centre, which has been certified ISO 14001 since 2008, is part of this ambitious project.
The recent renovation of the nearby Larvotto beach, with its new shops and restaurants, is an additional asset that will enable congress participants to enjoy all that Monaco has to offer close to the congress centre.
The expansion will allow the Grimaldi Forum to build upon its current ability to host an average of 100 events and 250,000 visitors per year, and will enable more events to be held simultaneously.
Click on the gallery below to see more images of the new-look Grimaldi Forum…
The third edition of the Museum Festival is taking place this Saturday at the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco, and everyone is invited to come and reconnect with the ocean.
In collaboration with the Friends of the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco (AAMOM), the museum is hosting a day of festivities dedicated to the health and beauty of the ocean.
On Saturday 11th June, people aged three to 14 and their families are invited to dive (without a mask) into the marine world through a rich program of activities including workshops, plays, treasure hunts, crafts, and film screenings.
They will also be able to discover ‘Polar Mission’, the new immersive and interactive exhibition at the Oceanographic Museum. From an exploration of the poles to the wildlife they shelter, through to the people who populate and explore them, the public is invited to embark on a mission to the North Pole and the South Pole. Objects and documents, digital content and immersive devices come together and complement each other for a 360° experience.
Admission to the museum is free on Saturday for children under four years old and members of the AAMOM. Adult tickets are €18, and €12 for a child. The festival program is included in the ticket price.
The Oceanographic Museum has unveiled its major new exhibit for the next two years, an immersive experience to the polar regions where visitors are able to discover the beauty, the fragility, and the hope that lies within.
For the next two years, visitors to the Oceanographic Museum can discover the sometimes forbidding, but incredibly fragile, polar regions of our planet. With the inauguration of Polar Mission on Thursday 2nd June, the public can now delve into this crystalline world and learn all about the Arctic and Antarctic from a new perspective.
Through this new major exhibition, the Oceanographic Museum first offers a “one-on-one” journey with polar explorers Jean Malaurie, Frederik Paulsen, Jean-Baptiste Charcot and Matthew Henson, retracing their discoveries, reproducing a polar environment, and showing what a traditional igloo is like.
The objective is to allow visitors to learn more about the way of life of the Inuits and their traditions.
The exhibition then moves through four more spaces to create a real immersion in these remote regions of the globe.
“It is my hope that the emotion aroused by the beauty of the polar regions, together with the awareness of the vital role they play on a global scale, will lead mankind to regard them with respect and caution,” said Prince Albert, “because one thing of which we are now certain is that the future of the poles foreshadows our own.”
In space number three, the challenge is to unlock the secrets of the North and South Poles; not only to understand how they function, but also to realise what tremendous upheavals are taking place there because of climate change. It offers visitors an opportunity to become fully aware of the differences between these two extremes and the crucial role played by them in the planet’s climate balance.
In space number four, visitors physically feel as if they are at the Poles. The wild, grandiose beauty of those icy lands comes to life in a never-before-seen immersive, interactive projection featuring bears, seals, beluga whales, whales, sea elephants, killer whales and penguins. It is a wonderland which culminates in the dreamlike polar aurora, while an audio projection relays the fragility of this ecosystem, and the dangers which threaten these species.
Finally, space number five reveals how far the knowledge of global warming and its consequences have come, how it is impacting biodiversity, and how it is impacting humans.
With the help of an entrance ticket in the form of a press card, the “visitor-reporter” can activate extra content and, at the end of their visit, hand over their report using an interactive terminal. They are also invited, if they so wish, to pledge their support to the Oceanographic Institute and the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation by actively backing measures in favour of the poles, most notably the creation of new Marine Protected Areas in the polar oceans.
“Ecology is a subject that concerns all of humanity,” Mélanie Laurent, who is ambassador of the new exhibition, said.
Explorer Jean-Louis Etienne, who was also on hand, added, “The poles are the lungs of the Earth, their role is essential. They are the main carbon sinks on the planet. They regulate the climate.”
Mathieu Ferragut, CEO of CFM-Indosuez, the main sponsor of the exhibit, concluded by saying that finance is necessary for sustainable development. The bank has been a partner with the museum since January 2020 and has also offered its clients sustainable project inclusion in support of the institution in lieu of fees, which last year contributed €171,000 to the museum.
