Category: Media

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French Movie Recommendation: Ma vie de courgette (2016)

Ma vie de courgette is a Swiss-French stop-motion film that won critical acclaim. The film was screened at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award.

It is a dramatic comedy that follows a nine year-old boy named Courgette who moves to an orphanage.

This movie is available on streaming sites like Netflix under its English name, My life as a zucchini. Audio can be set to French or English.

 

P.S. If voice actors are your jam, you may be interested to know that the audio cast is star-studded. This film employs the talents of Nick Offerman, Ellen Page, Will Forte, and more. Enjoy!

 

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Radio Ambulante

Radio Ambulante is an award-winning podcast series which tells Latin American stories, covering a range of issues from immigration to bee-keeping. They have thousands of episodes to choose from, allowing listeners to filter by country, topic, and length. Most episodes are both in Spanish and English, which makes Radio Ambulante suitable for both beginners and advanced Spanish students.

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LightSpeed Spanish – Podcast

With sections ranging from beginner to advanced, this podcast covers a wide variety of topics, most of which center around using Spanish in everyday life. The episodes are mostly 10-15 minutes long and gradually move from using some English to explain ideas to speaking exclusively in Spanish. The hosts do a great job of explaining their ideas and topics for every level learner.

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La Casa de las Flores, Netflix Series

This brand-new Netflix telenovela, already critically and popularly acclaimed, revolves around a powerful family in Mexico City, attempting to preserve its image after the father’s mistress hangs herself from the family’s house, uncovering the family’s dirty secrets. While inhabiting the best tradition of hyperbolic and postmodern Mexican telenovelas, this series offers an original dark comedy twist. The spoken Spanish is clear yet abundant in colloquialisms.

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Têtes à claques, French Youtube channel

Têtes à claques
https://www.youtube.com/user/salamboproductions/featured

This is a channel (and a website) of humorous short videos in French that has been producing animated videos since forever. Some of them are easier to understand than others, but most have an option for English subtitles just in case. The sense of humor may not be to everyone’s taste, but there are a lot of real gems! Some recommendations from your Langlabbies include:

the Will Waller 2006: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJgQCbRsq-I and

Le Body Toner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdKjpvnrhkU

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2 Easy French movies for beginners

Les Choristes (2004) – A musical film about a choir teacher hired to teach boys at a French private school. This comedic gem is a classic for French language learners.

Kirikou et la sorcière (1998) – Animated version of a west African folktale. You can stream it on Youtube here.

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French Podcasts for Beginners

Here are some podcasts which would be excellent for beginning French learners:

How Are You? 28min: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/cbf-1-01-how-are-you/id263170419?i=1000163412494&mt=2.
This podcast is from Coffee Break French, which has several seasons of podcasts for learning French for beginners. The first episode introduces the phrase “ça va?” and its possible responses. Although the host is non-native (and has a Scottish accent), his pronunciation is not bad. Expressions are introduced in French and English, with plenty of room to practice and repeat phrases.

The Alphabet 12min: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/5-a-look-at-the-alphabet/id160256534?i=1000010654926&mt=2.
This Podcast, presented by Learn French by Podcast, introduces the French alphabet and pronunciation in French. The speakers use French and English to describe the pronunciation of each letter, including words which use those letters.

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Taxi (DVD available at the IMC)

The famous Iranian director Jafar Panahi is currently on house arrest in Tehran and forbidden from making movies. So he plants a hidden camera in his car (you will spend the entire movie wondering if his passengers are actors or not!) as he drives around Tehran posing as a taxi driver. The pseudo-documentary he creates is as much an act of defiance against the censoring of the state, as it is a piece of art. Panahi portrays the insouciant and the devout, the young and the old, the smuggler and the moralist who somehow manage to poke fun at the overbearing Iranian regime and speak out although they are being silenced.

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Algarabía

Algarabía is a Mexico City-based magazine with a distinct quirky and ironic style. They publish pieces on science, language, history, art, and, according to their website, “little explored aspects of cotidianity.” Examples of their articles (which can be found on their website) include “Position Changes in Erotic Art”, “People don’t know how to drink coffee”, and “The Science on Cursing”.  Better suited for advanced Spanish learners, articles in this magazine are characterized by  playful yet accessible prose. Their series on etymologies is particularly good; sometimes poignant, often hilarious, always informative.