Paris 2024

[baron-pierreIV]

5 hours ago, Cyriln said:

A five-episode documentary series, that will be focused on the organization of the Games, is also planned. The first three episodes will be broadcasted before the Olympics. As for the film, it is scheduled to be released on January 2025.

https://www.leparisien.fr/jo-paris-2024/jo-paris-2024-les-freres-naudet-realiseront-une-serie-et-un-film-sur-les-coulisses-des-jeux-21-05-2024-HOIWOSFPB5BQPOZAQR6U2LN2DY.php

That's really STRETCHING it.  The making of an Olympic Games does not warrant a 5-episode series.  Someone's OVER-thinking this.  Watch Leni Reifenstahl's OLYMPIA.  After 1-hour, my eyes just started to glaze over.   You can only memorialize so much and care about them. 

[StefanMUC]

The less Riefenstahl the better for an Olympics documentary, I say.

[Sir Rols]

I’m not sure about general appeal, especially outside France, but for us here it could be quite interesting seeing the behind the scenes of an Olympics organisation.

[sebastien1214]

14 hours ago, baron-pierreIV said:

That's really STRETCHING it.  The making of an Olympic Games does not warrant a 5-episode series.  Someone's OVER-thinking this.  Watch Leni Reifenstahl's OLYMPIA.  After 1-hour, my eyes just started to glaze over.   You can only memorialize so much and care about them. 

8 hours ago, Sir Rols said:

I’m not sure about general appeal, especially outside France, but for us here it could be quite interesting seeing the behind the scenes of an Olympics organisation.

We will have a total of a film + a documentary series of 5 episodes + a documentary on the organization of the opening ceremony. I'm not sure that for the general public it's actually very attractive. But for those who are very interested in the subject, it may provide some interesting information. 

I'm just a little disappointed that the official film is made by documentary filmmakers, and not "really" filmmakers. In fact, I would have preferred that for the film we entrusted it to a "real" filmmaker, with a real artistic proposal; we still have a strong tradition in France of filmmakers with our own cinema that we develop ourselves independently of the American market. There, I'm afraid that in the end the film will also take a documentary approach, even though there will already be a series of 5 episodes on it. 

(in addition, the two selected directors are best known and renowned for their documentaries on... September 11, 2001 and November 13, 2015, it's not a very happy filmography)

Other news : only one month left before seeing Macron bathe in the Seine

https://www.leparisien.fr/paris-75/jo-paris-2024-anne-hidalgo-plongera-dans-la-seine-le-23-juin-emmanuel-macron-aussi-attendu-22-05-2024-GX2BB7NSHNGZ3HRIN7PV6JM2QE.php

 

[baron-pierreIV]

1 hour ago, sebastien1214 said:

I'm just a little disappointed that the official film is made by documentary filmmakers, and not "really" filmmakers. In fact, I would have preferred that for the film we entrusted it to a "real" filmmaker, with a real artistic proposal; we still have a strong tradition in France of filmmakers with our own cinema that we develop ourselves independently of the American market. There, I'm afraid that in the end the film will also take a documentary approach, even though there will already be a series of 5 episodes on it. 

That's how it should be.  This is NOT fiction they are covering -- nor for anyone's entertainment.  And I am sure they either sought guidance from the IOC, or the IOC made sure they picked documentarians vs. "narrative-spinners."  It is a record of history and it should help the Games organizers who will follow.  If they can be told in an entertaining and imaginative way, then all the better -- but it has to be grounded in reality.  (Reifenstahl having missed the Lighting of the Flame in Olympia, sort of "re-told" the Lighting and if I recall correctly, reset it at Delphi.  And then she & her crew created that "fake" stone which still sits at the entrance in Delphi which claims that the 5 rings first appeared in ancient Greece.)  

[Sir Rols]

I don’t think this has been posted yet:

Paris 2024 inaugurates Games' Pride House
Must say, I like the rainbow version of the logo 

 

Of course, that sparked the conservative alt-righters into a huff (and, yes, this is an ITG article, but couldn’t find the equivalent elsewhere)

Conservative pressure group petitions against Pride House at Paris 2024 Olympics

Edited May 22, 2024 by Sir Rols

[Sir Rols]

7 hours ago, sebastien1214 said:

There, I'm afraid that in the end the film will also take a documentary approach,

As Baron pointed out, that really the point of these “official” films of the games, but as he also said, this can, and has, been done before in innovative and creative ways (or so I believe, I confess the only such film I’ve actually watched is “Olympia” which I saw once in a film class and it is every bit as boring and tedious as Baron noted).

7 hours ago, sebastien1214 said:

We will have a total of a film + a documentary series of 5 episodes + a documentary on the organization of the opening ceremony.

Now THAT will really give the ceremony fans here something to devour!

[sebastien1214]

6 hours ago, baron-pierreIV said:

That's how it should be.  This is NOT fiction they are covering -- nor for anyone's entertainment.  And I am sure they either sought guidance from the IOC, or the IOC made sure they picked documentarians vs. "narrative-spinners."  It is a record of history and it should help the Games organizers who will follow.  If they can be told in an entertaining and imaginative way, then all the better -- but it has to be grounded in reality.  (Reifenstahl having missed the Lighting of the Flame in Olympia, sort of "re-told" the Lighting and if I recall correctly, reset it at Delphi.  And then she & her crew created that "fake" stone which still sits at the entrance in Delphi which claims that the 5 rings first appeared in ancient Greece.)  

Yes, it's true that normally the principle of Olympic Games films is to make them a sort of documentary. But precisely, since the IOC agreed to make an additional series for the first time, I think it would have been wise to seize the opportunity for the film to be less of a documentary, but rather truly an artistic thing, to propose something really new; because there we risk having two different contents which in the end will be quite repeated in the idea. And of course the idea is not to make fiction, to make a blockbuster, but we can absolutely make original, very artistic works, by telling real stories. But the profile of the two directors selected makes me think that unfortunately we will not go in this direction. And that would perhaps allow the film to “sell” better, or at least to be more watched. (this may be a bad idea; but I think it has the merit of being tested, from the moment we guarantee the presence of a documentary work with the series; like that we remain in a certain way in the "tradition")

[Sir Rols]

15 minutes ago, sebastien1214 said:

we risk having two different contents which in the end will be quite repeated in the idea.

I don’t think they’ll be duplicates. The “official” films aren’t usually about the organisation of the games per se, but rather the athletes and sporting performances - either following a number of individual athletes journeys, or documenting the sporting highlights and achievements at the games. So it’s not likely to as much about Paris, as about the sporting experience - which, after all, is ultimately the raison d’être of the games.

[sebastien1214]

The podiums have just been revealed. The Olympic version:

And the Paralympics version :

[baron-pierreIV]

OK -- but nothing to get excited about.  I'm happy with the heights.  Sometimes, the officials draping the medals are short people and when you have very tall athletes bending down for that, it makes for an ungainly sight -- so lower podia are better all=around.  2nd thing Paris 2024 got right in my book.  

[FYI]

Quote

The right-wing pressure groups mission statement is "Defending life, family, and freedom across the world".

Now there's an oxymoron if I ever heard one. 

Quote

When we focus on a specific group, we are unconsciously moving towards exclusion, rather than inclusion.

So say the big cry babies of "cancel culture".

Quote

It is not a question of discrimination. It is a call to preserve the spirit of the Olympic Games celebrity unity and diversity.

Obviously these people have no clue about "the spirit" of the Olympic Games then.

[Sir Rols]

Is it any wonder the alt-right has problems with the Olympics? It pretty much stands for everything they despise - internationalism, diversity, fair play….

[sebastien1214]

From what I understand, the petition comes from conservative Catholic activists. In any case no media talks about it in France, which says a lot about the "success" of this petition; which is not surprising given that Catholic activists are an endangered species here in France. And for the rest, when it comes to protesting against anything directly or indirectly linked to the Olympics, we know how to be much more imaginative.

https://www.20minutes.fr/arts-stars/web/4092739-20240524-paris-pourquoi-veulent-tous-aller-chier-seine-23-juin

[baron-pierreIV]

Did/does Paris have an Official Cultural Olympiad this year (i.e., a whole cultural program set up and run by the COJO)?  

[cfm Jeremie]

Yes.

Here is the dedicated website : Olympiade Culturelle (paris2024.org)

[baron-pierreIV]

5 hours ago, cfm Jeremie said:

Yes.

Here is the dedicated website : Olympiade Culturelle (paris2024.org)

Merci, Jeremie.  

[sebastien1214]

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/29/world/europe/olympics-food-french-cuisine.html

A NYT article on athletes' meals during the Olympics.

[Sir Rols]

8 hours ago, sebastien1214 said:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/29/world/europe/olympics-food-french-cuisine.html

A NYT article on athletes' meals during the Olympics.

Nice take on it at The Guardian:

French fries: why chips are off the menu at the Paris Olympics

No pommes frites, boeuf bourgignon, fois gras or wine????? Why bother?

[Sir Rols]

Just found this on Facebook

[sebastien1214]

The transformation of the Paris La Défense Arena for swimming events is underway

And the climbing walls at Le Bourget have been revealed (only the holds are missing)

https://www.instagram.com/p/C7nxA6GIuBY/

 

[sebastien1214]

On 5/31/2024 at 12:47 PM, Sir Rols said:

Just found this on Facebook

An article on this subject, precisely.

https://www.leparisien.fr/jo-paris-2024/une-prouesse-technique-la-tour-eiffel-va-se-parer-des-anneaux-olympiques-01-06-2024-CNHWYDPTS5DKFNFQP63DDNZAI4.php

With the photo of these rings :

[Sir Rols]

44 minutes ago, sebastien1214 said:

An article on this subject, precisely.

https://www.leparisien.fr/jo-paris-2024/une-prouesse-technique-la-tour-eiffel-va-se-parer-des-anneaux-olympiques-01-06-2024-CNHWYDPTS5DKFNFQP63DDNZAI4.php

So, the rings will sit between the first and second levels then, in the middle arches then?

[sebastien1214]

3 minutes ago, Sir Rols said:

So, the rings will sit between the first and second levels then, in the middle arches then?

Yes. They had initially thought of putting it under the first floor, but there were too many constraints with the wind.

[sebastien1214]

A map of the location of the “country houses” during these Olympic Games:

With the article that goes with it:

https://www.leparisien.fr/jo-paris-2024/casa-italia-team-usa-house-maison-belge-pendant-les-jo-paris-2024-la-fete-sera-aussi-internationale-02-06-2024-DBXIKLPARJEDHMN3NVQKPH56AQ.php

I wonder if the map shows all the countries or only part of it (but I imagine that it's all the countries, I suspect that Tonga will not have a dedicated place). In any case I can't find the list anywhere other than this article. Surprised not to see India elsewhere.