The film was about food, wine, love and friendship, but the mood of last night’s film screening was sombre yet hopeful after the recent terror attacks in Paris.
AccorHotels, together with ATOUT France, put on an exclusive film screening of the French comedy “Barbecue” at the Dendy Opera Quays last night. The attendees, a mix of travel and media personal – including representatives of British Airways and Tempo Holidays, and of course, KarryOn – were treated to delectable French patisseries and champagne by French waiting staff before the start of the film.
A comedy starring French stars Lambert Wilson, Franck Dubosc and Florence Foresti, the film was directed by Eric Lavaine and tells the story of a middle-aged man coming to terms with life and love (it’s a French movie, after all) after suffering a heart attack. The death scare forces the film’s protagonist to reevaluate everything he holds dear in life, often to hilarious ends.
But the evening was imbued with a tinge of sadness in the wake of the recent terror attacks in Paris, with ATOUT France – France Tourism Development Agency, lamenting over the attacks which killed over 130 people on 13 November.
Speaking in front of the seated audience in the cinema, just minutes before the start of the film, Patrick Benhamou, director of ATOUT France in Australia, paid his condolences to the victims of the attacks, before concluding with a “Vive la France” to audience applause.
The travel industry is still coming to terms with the recent attacks in Paris, but the importance of travelling in the face of terrorism is now probably even more important than ever.
