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PODCAST

Spotlight on France

Interested in France? Let us be your ears and eyes on the ground. Hosts Sarah Elzas and Alison Hird introduce you to the people who make France what it is, and who want to change it - to give you a fuller picture of this country at the heart of Europe. Spotlight on France is a podcast, in English, from Radio France International, out Thursdays.

news & politics

All Episodes

00:32:44

Podcast: Restituting human remains, street-naming,...

Spotlight on France ·

2024/09/26

A shamanic ceremony in Paris prepares human remains to return to French Guiana. French villages finally get street names. And the 1970s court case that changed France's approach to prosecuting rape. Native Americans from French Guiana and Suriname were recently in Paris to demand the restitution of the remains of six of their ancestors who died after being exhibited in so-called human zoos. Corinnne Toka Devilliers, whose great-grandmother Moliko was exhibited at the capital's Jardin d’Acclimatation

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00:28:35

Podcast: Inclusive sports, Deaflympics, compromise in...

Spotlight on France ·

2024/09/12

How the Paris Paralympics have boosted interest in inclusive sports in France. A look back at the origins of the first international games for deaf athletes, 100 years ago. And why it’s difficult, but necessary, for France’s deeply divided National Assembly to embrace the art of compromise. The Paralympics in Paris shone a light on disability and the challenges disabled people in France face in getting access to sport. Novosports, one of only 40 sports clubs in the capital open to players with

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00:33:52

Podcast: France revives hemp farming, New Romance,...

Spotlight on France ·

2024/07/04

France is reviving its industrial farming of hemp – 'green gold' – in the search for more sustainable, energy-saving building materials. French publishers are flocking to romance, as a new generation of authors are writing for a new and growing audience of young women readers. And when Paris hosted the 1924 Olympics 100 years ago. Hemp farming nearly died out in France in the 1970s but is making a comeback in textiles and the construction industry. Fast-growing, pesticide-free, and a good absorber

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00:34:08

Podcast: Imagining a far-right government in France,...

Spotlight on France ·

2024/06/20

As France heads into snap parliamentary elections with the prospect of the far-right National Rally winning a majority, what powers would its prime minister have, and what would change in France? Also, a look at previous presidents who dissolved parliament and risked getting a result they didn't like. And the story of Jenny Sacerdote – France's Roaring Twenties haute couture designer, whose mould-breaking designs are finally being revived. France’s far-right National Rally (RN) could well win a

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00:26:57

Podcast: D-Day and its aftermath seen through French...

Spotlight on France ·

2024/06/06

The United States played a key role in the Allied effort to liberate Western Europe from the Nazis, but not everyone sees it in the same light. As France marks the 80th anniversary of D-Day, an American veteran reflects on the differing ways the US and France remember the war. Meanwhile, historians recall the large number of civilians killed during the Allied invasion and explain why US soldiers were not always welcomed as heroes. As French President Emmanuel Macron welcomes world leaders, the real

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00:31:15

Podcast: Pro-Palestinian student protests, French...

Spotlight on France ·

2024/05/09

How student protests in support of Palestinians at Paris's political science institute are different from those in the US, a look at France's growing disaffection with Europe, and the long birth of the Channel Tunnel linking France to Britain – 30 years old this week. Student protests against Israel's war in Gaza came to a head in the past week, when the president of the prestigious Sciences Po university called the police to forcibly clear out an occupation of the Paris campus' main building. Some

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00:33:29

Podcast: War on youth, Ionesco in Paris, French...

Spotlight on France ·

2024/04/25

Why French youth are once again under fire as the government vows to crack down on violent crime. The staying power of Ionesco's The Bald Soprano in one of Paris's smallest theatres. And why French women won the right to vote so much later than many of their European neighbours. In recent weeks President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Gabriel Attal have been looking for ways to tackle what Macron has called a wave of ultraviolence sweeping the country. They've put the focus on young people, but

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00:30:18

Podcast: France-Russia relations, hair...

Spotlight on France ·

2024/03/28

How France's new hardline position on Russia marks a major shift away from decades of pro-Russia policies. The fight to make hair discrimination illegal. And why VAT – a tax introduced 70 years ago – is so important to French finances, despite being deeply unequal. French President Emmanuel Macron has recently done a U-turn on Russia: having argued against humiliating Russia following the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, he has now become one of President Vladimir Putin’s biggest critics

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00:28:55

Podcast: Covid obedience, vasectomies in France, was...

Spotlight on France ·

2024/03/14

Four years after the start of the first Covid lockdown in France, what has been the impact? What's stopping more men getting vasectomies in France. And why not everyone wants to accept that Rosa Bonheur, the most famous female painter of the 19th century, was a lesbian. For 55 days, starting 17 March 2020, French citizens were confined to their homes as part of the government's approach to controlling the then little-understood virus sweeping the planet, which we now know as Covid-19. Historian

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00:25:37

Podcast: #MeToo hits French cinema, mobile movie...

Spotlight on France ·

2024/03/01

How a wave of #MeToo allegations against French directors is shaking up the cinema industry; the Cinémobile movie theatre bringing culture to the countryside; and the satirical news rag that appears just once every four years, on 29 February. Seven years after the #MeToo movement shook Hollywood, Judith Godrèche and other actresses in France have broken the omertà around sexual abuse within the French movie industry, accusing several prominent directors of assault. Investigations are underway

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00:31:46

Podcast: French farmers protest, battling the...

Spotlight on France ·

2024/02/01

No quick fix for French farmers who have been protesting by laying siege to Paris. And it's just the latest in a long string of farmers' demonstrations over the last 100 years. Plus, why French girls are faring worse at maths than boys, and what to do about it. Farmers from across France have been rolling their tractors towards Paris to protest against their high costs, low revenues and cheap food imports that undercut their business. The protest movement touches on several fundamental issues such

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00:31:47

Podcast: Fixing France, opposing immigration reforms,...

Spotlight on France ·

2024/01/18

A critique that highlights the gap between France and its ideals. Protests to try and block the new "racist" immigration reforms. And the story of Françoise Giroud, journalist-turned-minister in the 1970s. France is a country of impossible ideals, built on the myth of a Revolution fought to secure Liberté, Égalité and Fraternité, but the reality is that not everyone benefits. This is journalist Nabila Ramdani's take in her new book, Fixing France, which dissects what she sees as France’s failures,

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00:29:39

Podcast: British in France, returning human remains,...

Spotlight on France ·

2023/12/07

How British people in France have been navigating visiting and living in France since Brexit effectively ended their visa-free travel to Europe. What to do with the human remains in French museums? And the story behind Louis XV's third mistress, the Comtesse du Barry, and how her name got associated with foie gras. British people, no longer citizens of the European Union after Brexit, are stuck with the same rules as any other non-EU visitors: without a visa, they can only spend 90 out of 180 days

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00:29:27

Podcast: French rooster revival, thrifting, reporter...

Spotlight on France ·

2023/11/23

The man trying to save France's emblematic Gaulois doré rooster from oblivion. How online platforms are rivaling charity shops as thrifting and second hand products take off. And the story of Albert Londres, who left a lasting mark on French journalism. Since the Middle Ages, the Gallic rooster has been a leading symbol of French identity – found on everything from coins to sports jerseys to church weathervanes and Made in France products. But the breed of chicken itself, la Gauloise Dorée, has been

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00:32:14

Podcast: Israel-Hamas conflict bleeds into France,...

Spotlight on France ·

2023/11/09

France is feeling the shockwaves of the war in Gaza with a rise in Islamophobia and a wave of anti-Semitic attacks that have got the public and politicians worried. Also, bikers rev up to fight school bullying. And the African-American fighter pilot who flew for France in WWI because the US would not take him. The Israel-Hamas war has been imported into French society and politics, with the left unable to agree on how much to denounce Hamas, and the far right using the conflict to further bolster

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00:32:00

Podcast: immigration referendum, childfree in France,...

Spotlight on France ·

2023/10/12

Is a referendum the answer to France's deadlock on immigration reform? Childless by choice in the European country with the highest birthrate. And the story of Félicette – the first cat to fly into space. After the reform of the pension system, the next thorny political issue is immigration, with parliament set to start debating a bill in November. But finding a compromise on such a polarising issue will be difficult. President Emmanuel Macron has floated the idea of a referendum, which could allow

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00:36:08

Podcast: French police go back to school, eating...

Spotlight on France ·

2023/09/28

Police officers join a sociology degree programme and are asked to reflect on their role in society. A French start-up banks on insect protein to feed livestock and pets more sustainably. And the Frenchman whose claim to have cracked the code of hieroglyphics in the 19th century allowed him to decipher the Rosetta Stone. After the riots in June and July, following the fatal police shooting of a young man at a traffic stop, the role of the police in France came under scrutiny. Issues of racism come

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37 results

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