FESTIVALS 2022 THE GUIDE


then of course there’s always the chance to go movie star-spotting. www.festival-cannes.com


Avignon Festival Festival d’Avignon July 7–26, 2022 “Every year in July, Avignon becomes a city-theatre, transforming its architectural heritage into various majestic and surprising performance venues, welcoming tens of thousands of theatre-lovers of all ages.” That’s the message from the organisers of the annual Festival d’Avignon arts festival, held against the backdrop of this magnificent medieval city. Founded in 1947, it stages 300 performances of 50 different shows, and a further 400 events at more than 20 venues across town. Among the arts on show through lectures, workshops and exhibitions are cinema, theatre, dance and music. www.festival-avignon.com


Mimos July 6–10, 2022 There’s no doubt the art of mime is an acquired taste. But if there’s one nation that leads the way – thanks in no small part to the world-famous artist Marcel Marceau – it’s got to be France. This summer, the Mimos festival takes place over five days in the streets, public gardens and concert halls of Périgueux. First staged in 1983, it covers all forms of mime, from corporeal mime and physical theatre to dance, circus acts and puppetry. www.mimos.fr


Cannes hosts the world’s best-known and most important film festival


Festival International Montpellier Danse June 17–July 3, 2022 You’ll see just about every form of contemporary dance you can think of at this amazing annual festival in Montpellier in Hérault, Occitanie. Now on its 42nd edition, it stages dance shows at venues all around the city. Among the 20 or so


choreographers invited this year are Ohad Naharin, Philippe Decouflé, Bouchra Ouizguen and Noé Soulier. www.montpellierdanse.com


Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival Festival du Court Métrage de


Clermont-Ferrand January 2023


This is surely one of the world’s most important festivals for short films. Established in the 1980s, it now attracts over 100,000 film buffs every year who get their brief but regular doses of cinema at dozens of venues all over town. Many film directors who first gained notoriety at this event have gone on to successful careers in mainstream cinema. www.clermont-filmfest.com


Le Voyage à Nantes Summer 2022


For two months every summer, the Voyage à Nantes event sees 40 historical and modern sites across the city make up a poetic trail which can be traced by following the green line along the ground. Art becomes immersed in the town itself as the city hosts both permanent and temporary artworks, and best of all, admission is free! www.levoyageanantes.fr


FOOD AND DRINK FESTIVALS Fête du Cognac July 28–30, 2022


Drop into Les Machines de l’Île during the annual Voyage à Nantes programme


Held each July in the town that gave the famous brandy its name, the Cognac Festival


proudly presents the latest vintage with plenty of tastings and merrymaking. It’s not all about the local tipple of choice, though. The seven bars of the Fête du Cognac also serve Charentais wines and Pineau, the regional apéritif. There are also oysters and mussels from the Charentais coast to scoff, as well as in-season melons, the best local meats and cheeses and the local cagouille snails. After you’ve dined you can dance the calories away at the various concerts staged around town. This year, top French DJs Étienne de Crécy and Synapson are doing sets. www.lafeteducognac.fr


Goût du Large festival Le Goût du Large November, 2022


Port-en-Bessin-Huppain is Normandy’s leading producer of coquilles Saint-Jacques. (That’s scallops to you and me.) To celebrate this fact, every year in November it stages a festival called Le Goût du Large when seafood fans turn up to taste the bivalve molluscs, and discover the secrets of scallop fishing. To aid digestion, there are also lots of sailors singing sea shanties. www.portenbessin-huppain.fr


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