The Lithuanian Season in France, which starts this autumn, has attracted more than 500 artists, experts and performers from both countries, who will organise over 300 different events in different cities, from poetry readings at the Pompidou Art Centre to photography exhibitions in Paris metro stations.

In all, some 130 projects have been selected to be presented in 30 French cities between September 12 and the end of the year.

“In the run-up to the Season, we have watched existing partnerships grow stronger and new ones forge. This creates a huge effect, and we have experienced that culture opens the door to themes and areas that are not related to culture, but are relevant and meaningful,” Julija Reklaitė, head of the Lithuanian Culture Institute, said in a statement on Monday.

According to Virginija Vitkienė, commissioner of the Lithuanian Season in France 2024, the events will allow the French to get to know Lithuanian culture, art and history in more detail, and will open up even wider opportunities for long-term partnership between the two countries.

“It is particularly pleasing that the programme is dominated by contemporary art, new forms of theatre, music projects, meetings with writers and thinkers, debate cycles dictated by geopolitical realities, economic and educational events, and, of course, gastronomy projects, which will allow people not only to see, to hear, but also to taste Lithuania,” said Vitkienė.

The opening weekend of the season from September 12–14 will be packed with events in Paris. The Pompidou Centre, in collaboration with the MO Museum in Vilnius, will open an exhibition showcasing Lithuania’s art since the 1960s.

The opening weekend will also see the celebration of Poetry Day at the Pompidou Centre, featuring the poems of Jonas Mekas and new French translations of his poetry, concerts by Lithuanian choirs in public spaces in Paris, and the premiere of a new work by Lina Lapelytė.

Radio Vilnius will be inviting Parisians to to the Gaite Lyrique cultural centre with a programme of Lithuanian electronic music artists.

A joint project of the National Library of France, the Paris Metro, the Lithuanian Union of Photographers and Kaunas Photography Gallery will start on September 12 and will last until the end of the Lithuanian season in seven Paris metro stations that will be decorated with large-format works by Lithuanian photographers.

In the run-up to the Season, between April and June, the Embassy of Lithuania in France is organising dozens of events under the name of the Prelude to the Season.

The Lithuanian Season in France is implemented by the Lithuanian Culture Institute and the French Institute in Paris.

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Also read | Apple iPhone 14 is available for Rs 30,210 only on Amazon; know how to grab the deal

“He has always told me to speak my mind, even when one of his friends made a slightly inappropriate comment to me when I was 12 years old. I called him out on it, and my dad heard it and he said to his friend: ‘Well, that’s made you look stupid, hasn’t it?’ To his own friend! I could see my dad giving him a steely glare. I thought: ‘My dad’s got my back,’” Hannah recalled.

“I think it’s important that when you see someone behaving badly, you call them out and batter them over the head with it,” Hannah added. “I had an incident fairly recently where I heard a sound guy on set say something that I didn’t like to someone, so I said, down my microphone in front of everyone: ‘Do you want to repeat that?’” 

“And then I repeated what he had said to the person,” she continued. “He started trying to fluff the situation, so I said: ‘No, if you are going to be the big man, come and say it on this microphone.’ They marched him out of the place before he’d even started the gig, and the producers bought the person that he’d been rude to a bottle of Champagne with his wages for the night.”

John Plunkett. Updated April 15th, 2024

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Hannah Waddingham dressed down a photographer at the Olivier Awards who asked her to “show me leg”.

The Ted Lasso star, who recently opened up about a harrowing experience on the set of Game of Thrones, hosted the London ceremony, which took place on Sunday (14 April) and saw Sunset Boulevard take home seven trophies.

Before the event began, Waddingham posed for photographs outside the Royal Albert Hall, but was left visibly frustrated by a comment made by a member of the press, whom she proceeded to call out.

After a photographer appeared to shout “show me leg” in her direction, Waddingham could be heard replying, in footage captured by a bystander and shared on X/Twitter: “Oh my God, you’d never say that to a man.

“Don’t be a d***, otherwise I’ll move off. Don’t say ‘show me leg.’ No.”

Waddingham was cheered and applauded as she walked away, shaking her head disapprovingly.

The 2024 event, celebrating the best in theatre, marked the second time Waddingham has hosted.

Nicole Scherzinger’s Sunset Boulevard swept the Olivier Awards with seven wins. The former Pussycat Dolls singer taking home the trophy for Best Actress in a Musical, with her co-star Tom Francis, winning Best Actor

Sarah Snook, the Australian star of Succession, beat out fierce competition from Sarah Jessica Parker, Sheridan Smith, and Sophie Okonedo to win Best Actress for her role in The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Waddingham recently said she had “no time” for criticism of her Mission: Impossible co-star Tom Cruise.

The actor filmed scenes alongside the controversial Hollywood star for the concluding instalment of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, which is set to be released in 2025,

After recalling how she spent “five intense days” with Cruise on the USS George HW Bush fighter carrier, Waddingham said during a TV appearance over Christmas “I have to say, I have a real problem with anybody that goes at him now.”

She continued: “He is without doubt one of the loveliest and encouraging, positive and inspiring human beings I have ever met. Isn’t he gorgeous? I have no time for anyone saying anything about him.”