March in Beijing: 3 festivals to feed your brain

There is something in the air right now and no, I am not talking about the pollution or the nasty aromas of Stinky Tofu. It seems like the Gods above decreed that March be the month of culture in Beijing: There are no less than 3 festivals taking place right now so the hardest thing is actually figuring out where to go and what to do:

The Jue Festival: Art Meets Music

As Pete De Mola put it, Beijing & Shanghai decide to play nice for the sake of culture/fun/education and give us a chance to appreciate what each other has to offer before going back to the usual mudslinging. There are a whole bunch of events taking place in both cities and we live in Beijing does a great job of summing things up here.

The Bookworm Literary Festival 2010: It’s more than just books.

Ok, so Peter Hessler canceled and a few other authors didn’t show up. Still, this is as much creative brain power as you’ll get in Beijing at any point in time. I’m particulary excited about the “food writing session” with Eileen Wen Mooney whose knowledge of Chinese Cuisine humbles me as well as “The Book is Dead” with Danwei’s Jeremy Goldkorn
There are also podcasts of all the sessions over on City Weekend’s website so that you can catchup on those sold out events.

2010 Francophone Festival: get the berets and the baguettes out

God bless the French! They keep everyone entertained and love them or hate them, we still like to have them around. That said, this festival is not about the French themselves but about the language that many countries around the world speak. This is the yearly celebration and a chance to catch some fantastic indie movies from all over Africa, France and even Canuckstan subtitled. All the events are free including a few concerts and I’ll be posting a English translation of the schedule soon. more info here about the movies and events in Beijing.

my oh my, so many things, so little time.