Juliette Binoche and Akram Khan will answer the question "what is love?" in their dance "In-I." [File photo]

Beijing and Shanghai audiences are in for a rare treat when Academy Award-winning French actress Juliette Binoche ("The Unbearable Lightness of Being", "Chocolat") takes center stage at the Shanghai Oriental Art Center on March 27 and 28 and at the Meilanfang Theater in Beijing from April 3 to 5.

As part of the annual three-month Festival Croisements that began on Monday, Binoche will dance to the choreography of the London-based Akram Khan in the show "In-I." An honorary patron of the 2009 French Movie Festival, Binoche, who won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for "The English Patient" (1996), will show she is equally adept at dancing. "In-I" combines modern dance, film and opera and premiered last September in London. The show has Binoche and Khan answering the question "what is love?" as interpreted through the struggles of a modern couple.

The Festival Croisements commemorates the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and France, and is sponsored by the French Embassy and the French Cultural Center in China.

Now in its fourth year, it will feature 100 different events ranging from dance and theater to music, photographs and art exhibitions in more than 20 cities around China. Alluding to this year's additional events, French ambassador to China Herve Ladsous said: "We are promoting communication between the two countries. Both of our countries have rich cultures. The festival will not only present traditional cultures, but also modern and futuristic ones."

The festival will bring the French lifestyle closer to the Chinese, and also strengthen people-people ties with artists of both countries working on the same projects.

For example, for the graffiti exhibition, two French graffiti and street art groups will send their most famous pieces to China, to give people here a feel of French-style graffiti.

Sanlitun Village in Beijing and Babu Gallery in Shenzhen will host the works of Surface Active and TT Crew works on May 23 and from May 25-29.

Surface Active collects major figures of French street art, including Jef Aerosol, Speedy Graphito and Jean Faucheur, each of whom has his own unique style. TT Crew will bring four of France's top graffiti artists, who will join their Chinese counterparts to demonstrate their work on site.

Yann Tiersen, a French multi-instrumentalist, will perform at Yugongyishan in Beijing on June 19 and 20; at Yuehu in Wuhan, Hubei province the very next day; and at the Shanghai Concert Hall on June 23. Tiersen's soundtrack for Jean-Pierre Jeunet's film Amelie won him many Chinese fans and much acclaim.

Festival Croisements will also have Beijing band Yin San'er and French band Big Red come together for an exceptional urban music fest. Their hip-hop concert will be held at Yugongyishan on May 23.

(China Daily March 11, 2009)