Easter parties aplenty!

Chester Francis-Jackson, Contributor

My dears, the Easter holidays are upon us and the talk across the length and breadth of this here fair land, by all and sundry, is where the best parties are for the holidays.

Dears, no answer to that question here, but for this here scribe, it's all about destination Negril. But mind you, it's not all about Negril either, from Port Antonio to Negril, and all the fab stops in between - especially the town of eight rivers - fabulous Ocho Rios, and the very cosmopolitan mecca of tourism - Montego Bay. Dears, let the parade of Easter parties begin!

And while many are all a-twitter about their partying choices for the holiday, dears, last week it was all about international culture. The French Ambassador Ginette de Matha played host to a charming cocktail reception at her official residence, the very fabulous estate over there in the Golden Triangle that is home to the French embassy. Along with her diplomatic colleagues, the Belgian Ambassador Godlieve van den Bergh and Canadian High Commissioner Robert Ready, they ushered in the official opening of the 2013 Francophone Film Festival.

Now dears, the annual Francophone Film Festival is one of the signature social and cultural events, celebrating not just French film-making exploits, cinematography, special effects and technology at home in France and across the French-speaking world, the event is a celebration of French culture and lifestyle. It is, in effect, one of the primary sources of bonding for many Francophiles here in Jamaica and the French diaspora.

And with Ambassador de Matha especially keen on uniting the people of the Caribbean, irrespective of language, with culture as the mode of unification, the Francophone Film Festival represents a splendid vehicular opportunity to harness the francophone energy in the region, as well as promote francophone culture to the wider Caribbean community!

And so it was my dears that two Thursdays ago, the epicentre of all things French and francophone, was the Hillcrest Avenue estate. Francophiles were out in fab numbers, along with leading members of the diplomatic and consular corps, for the cocktail launch, and it made for a charmingly fabulous outing!

Dears, Ambassador de Matha was definitely glowing as she warmly welcomed guests to her residence, before presenting them to her francophone co-hosts, before guests joined in the cocktail laa-dee-dahing. There were bilingual welcomes and exhortations from all three ambassadors, and dears, with French being the lingua franca of the evening, there was no escaping the cosmo air and flair that attended the affaire!

Cocktails and official welcomes out of the way, it was then on to the opening movie - Le nom des gens (2010). It is a film about a young, extroverted left-wing activist who sleeps with her political opponents to convert them to her cause and is quite successful at it until she meets her match. It made for quite an opener, but what an evening!

Dears, it really was akin to dinner and a movie, and it made for quite a charming outing with State Minister Sharon Ffolkes-Abrahams; Opposition Senator Kamina Johnson-Smith and husband, the dapper Jason ; Chief of state protocol Ambassador Elinor Felix; dean of the diplomatic corps Cuban Ambassador Yuri gala Lopez; United States Ambassador Pamela Bridgewater; Ambassador Josef Beck of Germany; Ambassador Celsa Nuño of Spain, and her husband Alex Crowther. Also Ambassador Jorge Constantino, of Panama; Ambassador Antonio da Costa of Brazil and his fabulous wife Sylvia Ruschel de Leonie-Ramos; Ambassador Ariel Fernandez of Argentina; High Commissioner Mathu Joyini of South Africa; High Commissioner Pratap Singh of India; Honorary Consul of Iceland Robert MacMillan; Drs Dhiru and Laura Tanna, and Michael Faulkner, general manager Total Jamaica. Also out to enjoy the film was KIA Motors honcho Dwight Moore; the lovely Myrtha Desulme, looking as fab as ever; Film Commissioner Kim-Marie Spence; Pierre and Karlene Lemaire; independent television producer Tommy Ricketts; and the lovely Nicola Campbell and Salima Amiraly, of the French Embassy; plus a number of others.