Literature, cuisine, music, films, visual arts and theater will top the agenda of the French Culture Festival -Francofonia 2014-, set for the Cuban capital from March 15 through 23, with the eastern city of Santiago of Cuba as a sub-venue.

French cultural attaché to Havana, Camille Barnaud, said that this new edition celebrates the common language, peace and diversity shared by the 77 countries that make up the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (International Organization of French speaking countries). Lectures by French Academy member and well-known award-winning writer, Dominique Fernandez, will be among the top activities on the Festival schedule. The French Academy is one of the five oldest such institutions in France dedicated to the study of French.

Fernandez is the author of books, such as Porporino, and others, and is a columnist in French publications, such as Le Nouvel Observateur. Theater presentations are set as part of an artistic exchange where four renowned Cuban directors will stage works by Canadian and French playwrights. The newly renovated Marti Theater will be the venue of the festival’s opening.

Film lovers will also have the opportunity of seeing what's new in the film industry of Belgium, Canada, France and Switzerland, along with photo exhibitions, singing competitions, concerts, food exhibits and cuisine shows. Havana’s Alliance Française (French Alliance), the Napoleonic Museum, the National Fine Arts Museum, and the Infanta Multipurpose Movie Theater Complex will be the main venues. Santiago de Cuba will also be receiving guests March 17-26, as an expression of the eastern city’s close connection with French.