The Loulabelle's turns 200 and celebrates with ma belle amie Ruby Boukabou at Cannes!

What a milestone! 200 episodes! And what a great way to celebrate by chatting about the Cannes Film Festival, both this year's event as well as the times Loulabelle has attended with Ruby Boukabou in the past. 

Lou and Ruby have had a number of Cannes highlights over the years, walking the red carpet, meeting iconic actors, or just immersing in the Cannes craziness! We chat about the memorable moments we have experienced there including an amazing speech by Robert De Niro, as well as a beautiful escape from Cannes to the islands off the coast which are full of history and charming calmness.

Ruby Boukabou is an accomplished author as well as a tap dancer extraordinaire, a journalist, a photographer, just a wonderful creative soul. We chat about the ways listeners can connect with Ruby in Australia as well as back in France with her new book The Movie Lovers Guide to Paris.

Head to the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles website for the links discussed in this ep.

Come and escape to France with us momentarily x

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Louise Prichard is the host of the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles podcast.
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Other Loulabelle's links:
FrancoFile Fix on YouTube
Loulabelle's FrancoFiles Spotify Playlist
Loulabelle's FrancoFiles Instagram
Loulabelle's FrancoFiles website

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Bonjour and bienvenue to the Little Bells Francophiles. Je m'appelle Lou and Aujourd'hui, I am welcoming you to episode 200. That's episode 200 in season seven of the podcast that keeps your Frenchy vibes fluttering to help Francophiles around the globe immerse in all things French and escape to France virtually wherever you're listening from today. Aujourd'hui, we are chatting to one of the best friends to the Little Bells podcast, my Bellamy Ruby Bookaboo. Ruby has chatted on the podcast a number of times about her books, her work as a tap dancer extraordinaire, and her time at the Caen Film Festival and her work as a journalist. And I have gone to Caen with her as well, as caught up over the years in Paris and also when she's here in Australia from time to time. But it's so lovely on this Malstein episode to be chatting to her again today. So bienvenue to the Little Bells Francophiles. My Bellamy Ruby, Savar.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

Thank you, merci. And I just remembered that on the 100th episode I interviewed you.

SPEAKER_00 1:14

That's right, you did too. I love that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because, you know, normally it's me asking the questions. It's really different being on the other side when you somebody's asking you the questions. Um, we should do that again one day. That was fun to do that.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

250th episode.

SPEAKER_00 1:28

Right. Well, let's lock that in. So this week though, Ruby, the Cannes Film Festival started on Tuesday. And as you and I have been in Cannes quite a few times now together, but unfortunately not for me this year. I thought it would be great to chat about some highlights of your fave time of year in France.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

May is the best time in France because the Cannes Film Festival is upon us. The French Riviera is stunning and beautiful. And buzzing. Because yes, you're you're being sophisticated and going to see films and talking about heavy themes, but in the middle of it, you're also running to the beach, diving in the waves, dressing up to go to a party. Yeah. So it's it's a really good way of describing what it feels like. You're a kid getting to play an adult, having a lot of fun on the way.

SPEAKER_00 2:49

It is such a fun, it's a blast. It is so much fun. It was for me when I've been there with you, it's an experience that is oh goodness, how I can even describe it. Lifetime memories. There are once-in-a-lifetime experiences, you know, things like when we've walked on the red carpet and things like that. Just really blow your mind stuff that you pinch yourself and think, Am I actually doing this? It's quite it's surreal and fabulous and and kind of challenging in a good way all at once, you know. I I just loved it. So, what are some highlights for this year that you know about?

SPEAKER_01 3:24

Well, uh, Peter Jackson got an honorary palm uh for his work, which was exciting to have a New Zealander uh get the palme d'or.

SPEAKER_02 3:33

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 3:33

Uh honory palm d'or. And um the opening film was The Electric Kiss by Pierre Salvadori. So it's always it's become a bit of a tradition to have a French comedy, to open the festival. It's light, it's effervescent, uh, it's it's not too long because lots of the films are very challenging during Cannes. And you know, sometimes you go into a film, you come out and you're like, oh, that was so intense. Like, I don't think I could go to a party. I just need to like sit in a space by myself for a minute to take a, you know, or you need to cry for two hours.

SPEAKER_00 4:07

A few of those over the years where I there was one I think you will remember the one I was speaking at, where I actually felt that I couldn't sit through it. And I left, I thought I was gonna be sick, but I managed to get through it because you're not allowed to leave, especially when you're gonna be able to do it. It was a challenging theme. It was a very challenging theme, yes, yes. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 4:25

Well, last year, for example, I missed the I we went to the opening ceremony together. Yes, um, which was amazing with Leonardo DiCaprio and and Juliette Benoche, and that was amazing to be in that space with all these people who love cinema and and uh Robert De Niro talking.

SPEAKER_00 4:44

Yes, he was amazing.

SPEAKER_01 4:45

Uh last year at the closing ceremony, I didn't go to the closing ceremony because I went to an Iranian film, Mother and Child, and luckily I hadn't already done my hair my makeup because I cried for two hours in a beautiful way. The film was it was so splendid, and it was a good cathartic tears for two hours, and then I so I arrived at the after party in a hoodie with black eyes, and then I went, I think I should get dressed now. So then I changed it to the sparkles, the makeup. And that's really what carn is. Like at one moment you're having like these intense emotions bolted through your body in tears, and and then the next minute it's sparkles and and socializing and dancing, and so it's you're on adrenaline for two weeks basically.

SPEAKER_00 5:37

So you've got Peter Jackson this year with a palm door. What else is going on?

SPEAKER_01 5:41

Um, Barbara Streisand is getting a palm door also honori. Yeah. Uh and oh, there's so many things. Uh Javier Badam has a film. Uh, we're gonna be seeing uh Isabel Upper, uh Kristen Stewart, uh Kate Lanchette is back this year. They have a series of talks that's called Rendezvous With. So there was one with Tom Cruise, which I remember once because I saw a message in my in my diary that said uh Rendezvous with Tom. And I was like, who's Tom? And why do I have a rendezvous with him? And I realised it was Tom Cruise, and the rendezvous was not a personal one. It was with the authority. Yeah. Yeah, and people, there's also filmmakers and and other people with badges can go. So Kate's going to be doing a talk, Tilda Swinton uh and Peter Jackson also are doing the rendezvous series. Another thing that Demi Moore uh said, just to come back to the f the press conference with the jury, which was really interesting. She said somebody asked her about censorship, and she said, if we start censoring ourselves, then I think we shut down the very core, which is our creativity, which is where we get our truth and our answers.

SPEAKER_00 6:50

I think she's got a point there. I think you know that to speak the truth. And I don't actually, you know, people talk about, oh, that's my truth or that's their truth, or there is one truth. There's one thing that's actually occurred. People have different perspectives of the truth and different understandings of the truth. And I think if we don't explore those and we we're not really honest with ourselves about that, sometimes, you know, the the messages that are important in life get kind of diluted. And we we need to sometimes the arts is the way of being able to explore those things that are really important for us to face, but they can be really hard to face when you just have to look at them um in real life. But when they can be explored through the medium of film and other ways in the arts, sometimes we can explore these things that are hard to discuss or hard to deal with in a way that we can digest it. Um i it's less confronting perhaps in a way for us, but we're still actually raising it and dealing with it in a different way.

SPEAKER_01 7:49

Yes, that's been a theme that a few people have been talking about this year, actually. Um Aiheidara, the mistress of ceremonies, she said there's nothing better than being able to go into a room, a dark room for a couple of hours and watching someone else's point of view and giving them our full attention. And lots of people have been talking about the whole reason that festivals like Carnice are important because there are so many points of view, and you're you sit there not by yourself on a laptop or or mobile, but you're sitting with a group of people watching a very different point of view from all over the world, and people have been talking about why cinema is still important today. So small screens have their place, but cinema is still very important, and a lot of that is because of sharing many different perspectives and sharing them in a group environment.

SPEAKER_00 8:44

Yeah, yeah, I think that's a really powerful thing. You don't really get the impact of the reaction of a cross-section of society when you're watching something in your own lounge room. So to hear everybody laugh or yell or cry at the same time, and not everybody will, but when you hear a large group and you think, oh, that actually is resonating with people. Okay, um, it's not just me that thinks like that, or it's not just me that this is impacting, and it makes you feel part of a collective and part of a group and part of society. I think it's a very powerful thing.

SPEAKER_01 9:18

Yeah, I was talking about this with uh a Solona journalist, and just about the fact that when you're sitting in a cinema with a group of people that you know you don't know, you could be sitting next to someone, and when you walked in that door, you might think you have nothing to do with this person. They're completely different from you, you have different points of view, different walks of life, and then suddenly you burst out laughing or even crying at the same time, and a bond is formed. Yes. And there's something very deeply satisfying about this.

SPEAKER_00 9:47

It is, it's human connection, it's a really beautiful thing, and it's connection with people in real time in that same space. It's not just connection with something like not just with the film, but with the people who are all experiencing the film.

SPEAKER_01 9:59

Exactly, because it's so easy to be feel very there's you know, with so much information, we all feel quite well, many of us feel very isolated easily. Yes, and it's just bringing people back together. Yeah, from filmmakers who are very, very talented. Uh and the other thing about Kant also that we have to remember is that lots of the films you might walk in and walk out and then you say, What was that about? Or oh my gosh. But Paul Laverty, who's a screenwriter, the Scottish screenwriter who works with Ken Loach, he was saying that he realizes that the importance of a film that may be a failure. So he said, since making films, he realized how hard it is. And so some things are so ambitious that they're not going to be an instant commercial success, and that's okay. You know, we don't need to be in this culture that it's it's you either like it or you hate it, it's heralded or it's booed. Yeah, he's saying it's okay to see a film that you don't necessarily, maybe you didn't get where it needed to go, but it was ambitious, it was courageous, and Khan is very much about that.

SPEAKER_00 11:05

Yeah. And all of that, when that happens, that's a stepping stone for the next person that wants to be challenging like that. And you know, they can build on something that somebody else has done. This film industry was not built overnight. Each progression, each film that gets better and better or evolves more and more, it's all built on the back of previous films. So that still happens, even though we're not back in the days of silent movies anymore with a you know piano playing in the in the side corner. We've come a long way. But at the same time, after coming a long way, there's still more to learn. Um, there's still more progression in film. And so I think that filmmakers are obviously learning from what's happened before and building on that. And we see that at Khan. I that's what I love seeing at Khan, how they were really challenging themselves to produce something more, produce something better, produce something that was more extraordinary each time.

SPEAKER_01 12:03

And the exciting thing about Khan is not just watching the films, of course, is that you are meeting filmmakers and filmmakers and meeting each other's and other and and a lot of collaborations begin running down the croizette and you bump into someone. Uh, or you know, I've had a business meeting getting out of the beach and like being invited to it, getting out of the water with Elise, and we were invited to a uh, you know, a fair festival in Egypt. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 12:30

And or in a lift, I've met people in lifts, and then that ends up so there's just last year I met um some people who were filmmakers on the ferry on the way over to one of those islands where I just went over and to walk around and go. Yeah, to walk around and went to the Abbey and whatever. So did that for a day just to escape all of the craziness and it was unbelievably beautiful. But there were other people that were doing that too, who were just kind of getting out where they could just breathe and collect themselves and lay on the beach or uh have a walk through nature and then come back and get right back into the business of film promotion that goes on.

SPEAKER_01 13:07

Yes, well, at least McLeod, as you know, and I we we often go, okay, every day we try to go for a swim. So she would be at a meeting, I'll be at a press conference and we text each other, meet you at the beach in ten minutes. So we'd meet at the beach, dive in, dive out, go have showers, and go off, you know, get ready to do a red carpet or a or an event or a you know. So it's really lovely being near that beautiful, beautiful Mediterranean Sea. Yes. Uh yeah, it's magic.

SPEAKER_00 13:38

Funnily enough, I will be speaking to Elise and with an episode with her coming out in a couple of weeks because she has a film coming out, not at Cannes this year, but her film is coming out at the St Kilda Film Festival. But we'll be talking about that in a couple of weeks in an episode in episode 202 that's coming up. So people should stay tuned for that too. And then actually there'll be a screening of her film, her short film, in Melbourne on the 6th of June. So people should actually stay tuned for the links for that as well. Now, all of that in Khan sounds fabulous, and I love that that's you know something that we can immerse in every year. But I actually can't believe that it's a year already since I was there with you last. It's just your time goes so quickly.

SPEAKER_01 14:20

Oh, yeah. And I I remember calling you uh and saying, get your red carpet dress on, or I've just got tickets, we're going to the opening, baby.

unknown 14:30

You were like, oh yes.

SPEAKER_00 14:31

I know. I said, Oh my goodness, I haven't even had my hair done. I thought I just have to do something quickly. And we went out and we absolutely loved it and had a ball. And the year before, I think it was, or was it two years before that, when we were on the red carpet, and I had no idea of red carpet etiquette, no idea whatsoever. Last year I had a most. I know. There's just such a really strict etiquette about things, and I think I botched it all up. You know, I walked in front of people. It's great, it's on camera and you did fantastic. I know I was on French news because I broke the etiquette. Not because of that, but yeah, they didn't care that I broke the etiquette. But I was on there because I walked right in front of the stars of the film and I was, you know, having a great time chatting to people and when we No, I was just pulling you along.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

It was lots of fun.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

It was a great time.

SPEAKER_01 15:18

It was lots of fun, yes.

SPEAKER_00 15:19

So, what were some of your favourite moments from last year?

SPEAKER_01 15:22

Oh, last well, though, going to the opening ceremony, definitely. Yeah. Um, with Robert De Niro, yeah, Juliet Benoit and Leonardo DiCaprio talking. That was great.

SPEAKER_00 15:32

I was fascinated by Robert De Niro and the way he spoke about the world and where the world is at politically. And I I found that an absolutely fascinating speech. And I was fascinated that you know that that was being spoken about in France. He was really talking about not necessarily France, but just the rest of the world. And um, it was a really interesting, interesting event to be at and hear him talk like that.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

Yeah, Paul Laverty, the Scottish screenwriter, had some really interesting things to say at the press conference. So I'll link that so that people can have a listen. Oh, yeah. Um, also this year.

SPEAKER_02 16:06

Oh, British. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:07

Um uh so yeah, last year. Well, as you know, one of my favourite things about the festival is Palm Dog, which is the award for the best dog actor.

SPEAKER_00 16:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 16:20

And it's hilarious because it's near the end of the festival, you're kind of exhausted. It's it's at the beach. The first time I went, I didn't even know what it was because you get invitations to things all the time, and I had to meet an actor to give him something or other, I can't remember what. And I'm like, okay, I've got an invitation for this, let's just meet there. So we met there, and I'm like, as I walked in, I was on the guest list, I'm like, where what's the this event? And they're like, it's Palm Dog, and I'm like, what? Palm Dog, it's the award for the best dog actor. And I was like, Oh my gosh, I'm in heaven. And there were dogs everywhere, and they were cute, they were getting awards. It was I ended up and the next year, so that became my like the thing I had to go to every year. And so the next year I went and I interviewed the dog that won.

SPEAKER_00 17:03

Um I interviewed the dog. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 17:07

I did, it was the best thing that happened. Cody, who was on in a film called Dog on Trial. I mean, just remember, I started doing the interview and it I think it had too much paparazzi and it was over everything. And I started doing the interview and I was rubbing its stomach, and then at the end, it was like we're playing in the sand together. I had a Snoopy t-shirt on.

SPEAKER_00 17:28

Oh, cute.

SPEAKER_01 17:29

The dog and I we pose for this photo. I'll send you the photo, and we're both looking at the camera. The dog is like, he's got his hand on my his paw in my lap, and it was the best moment ever. Uh, this year, sorry, last year I went to Palm Dog, and it was the Cape Blanchett press conference afterwards, and I had to decide whether I was going to interview the Palm Dog or get to the Cape Blanchett press conference, which I mean, it was hard for me because I love Kate and it's Cape Blanchett, and then but I'm absolutely crazy about dogs. And I wanted to interview the dog. So I ended up just giving, I brought a chicken with me to the Palm Dog Awards. So I ended up just giving the dog a little bit of chicken, and it wasn't the real dog, it was like a fake dog, it was like a stepping dog. So it was very disappointing anyway. Interviewed another actress who I who was in one of the other films, um, Sirat, who happened to be there because she had a dog in her film who'd passed away, gave the the dog a little bit of um of chicken, didn't interview it, but it wasn't the real dog anyway, then bolted to the Cape Blanchett uh press conference. So we're the only ones for the Paris Plan, we're the only ones that filmed it. So I'll send you that link.

SPEAKER_02 18:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:38

Um she did a conference about uh film fund for displaced filmmakers uh at the Rotterdam Film Festival, which is really interesting. Uh, each year you say, This is the year that I'm not gonna run, and then you know, you bolt. That's never gonna happen.

SPEAKER_00 18:53

You're always gonna run. You'll always run.

SPEAKER_01 18:55

I ended up like hurting my Achilles for a month after that, but I got to the press conference and I will share that with you. So, yeah, so but it was wonderful seeing Kate, meeting her very briefly afterwards, and what else that closing film, Mother and Child, uh crying through it, and then I didn't go to that with you because I think I left two days before.

SPEAKER_00 19:14

I think you left earlier. Yeah, I had a commitment back up closer to Paris, and so couldn't stay right till the end, unfortunately. So I missed out on that film, but I'm wondering if I might try and find it to watch it now that I'm hearing about you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:27

Oh, and by the way, uh John Travolta has a film this year that he's directed. So that will be interesting. Okay, yes, so there's little surprises coming up this year also. Oh, cool. There's always, I mean, there's so much on that you you think that you've read all about and you know what you're gonna go and see, and then there's there's there's these wonderful little surprises that pop up. Also, uh Bonavar has a film, so I think his it's his seventh film in competition. He's never won anything, so it's like everyone's is this the year that Pedro and Modivar's gonna win something?

SPEAKER_00 19:59

Yeah, yeah, hopefully. Fingers crossed.

SPEAKER_01 20:01

Cross it to our yeah, but in any case, you know that it's gonna be entertaining.

SPEAKER_00 20:04

Absolutely. It doesn't matter in the end what happens because whatever happens, you know it's gonna be great. This year, though, people don't have to go all the way to Cannes to get a dose of French cinema because around the close of the festival, you'll be then in Tasmania and Australia, bringing a bit of that cinematic magic back to Australia through your new book, The Movie Lover's Guide to Paris, because you've got a book tour and events around the country. Tell me a bit about that.

SPEAKER_01 20:31

Yes, um, well, I'm doing with my new book, The Movie Lover's Guide to Paris. I just sent a few messages out in Australia because I'm normally in France when my books come out. So this is my fourth book, and I'm always in France. So I may do an event at Alliance Française, or so I sent a few people messages and thinking like one person would say, Oh, yes, let's do something, but everyone said yes. So it's turned into this whole book tour, which is gonna be fun. And so instead of just doing a book signing, I've created a series of cultural events around cinema. Uh, so it's starting off at the state cinema in Hobart on the 20th of May. Uh, and I'm doing a talk uh Paris through the lens. So that's a talk about Paris and the history of cinema, and it's in the bar, so it's followed by a book signing and a casual uh you know chat with everyone, and that's gonna be really exciting. Then I'm doing Alliance from Seas, so that's another event called Cinema in the City. So we're doing a talk about cinema and uh with a virtual walking tour that people I can through Google Earth for my tours from the book. Uh, but that one's in French.

SPEAKER_00 21:43

Okay. Oh, that's interesting. That's good.

SPEAKER_01 21:45

And then uh that's on the 22nd, and then on the 23rd of May, I'm doing uh Provenance Cafe in North Hobart. And that's completely different again. It's good, that's basically like a soiree. It's gonna be a party. I'm gonna be putting up photos from the book, uh I did an exhibition in Sydney and all the photos sold, so I'm doing some more from my my photography from the book. Uh and I'm doing a bit of a talk, but I'll also be doing a tap dance to French music, we'll be mingling, there'll be a French DJ music. So that's more like a party kind of vibe.

SPEAKER_00 22:16

Yeah. So when you are in Hobart, are all of these different events central in central Hobart?

SPEAKER_01 22:20

Yes, they're all in uh I think North Hobart, um, which is great because I'm spending a few days with a beautiful friend of mine who lives there called Rose, and then I'll be at Hadley's Orient Hotel, which is walking distance. So that would be really nice to be right in the centre of Hobart and be able to walk to all these different events and discover the city at the same time because it's the first time I've been to Hobart in Disney.

SPEAKER_00 22:44

Oh, you'll love it. I love Hobart, I love Tassie. You're gonna love this.

SPEAKER_01 22:47

Can't wait.

SPEAKER_00 22:48

So will we be able to have the links for all of this to put on the website and then people in Hobart, our Tassie listeners, will be able to come along to that.

SPEAKER_01 22:57

Yes, one of your listeners is already coming, Madeline. Hi Madeline, bonjour. She's coming to the State Cinema, which is great. Brilliant. Uh and then straight after that, I'm doing Newcastle, Alliance Française, uh, which is in English. I'm doing uh an exhibition in Melbourne for for the month of July.

SPEAKER_00 23:15

Yes. Uh you can stay with me at Shea Loule Belle.

SPEAKER_01 23:19

Yes, and maybe we can do another event in Dalesford. Let's work that out.

SPEAKER_00 23:23

Yeah, that'd be great.

SPEAKER_01 23:24

Yes, and Canberra is also, I'm doing an event in Canberra on the 17th of July, which is as cold as I've ever been in Australia since COVID.

SPEAKER_00 23:33

Don't worry, you haven't been to Trentham in July, and so you will find that it's pretty bloody cold here as well.

SPEAKER_01 23:40

So And then I'm gonna be quick smart getting on a plane back to Paris.

SPEAKER_00 23:44

Yes. So we'll have all the links for all of that on the website so that listeners from around Australia who are in those areas or can get to those areas can then come and listen to you and choose which kind of event they want to go to, um, get themselves a copy of your book, what language they want to listen to it in, and then also grab a copy of the book because there's so many movies. I could go on about you know what's actually in the book and and I I can, but people know the movies. That's the thing. So if you you've got movies that are set in Paris, then you can actually read about it in your book and then follow those little spaces and places when you're in Paris and have the history and the connection for the movie right there in front of you so you know it connects you to what you've seen. It's a much more immersive experience when you're there in Paris. It's a different way to connect to our favourite place, but you can do it virtually from your own lounge room if you can't be in Paris. So it's a really good way to be able to feel connected during those times when you can't be there. So you've got walks that are in a number of your books that I have done with you before. But with this one, can you tell me what's one of the favourite walks that you would do that's in your movie lovers guide to Paris?

SPEAKER_01 25:00

There's five different walking tours, and I love them all. But uh, one of them I took your listeners on last time that they can listen to the last episode down the Seine. So that's with different film locations, so that's a great one. And I'm doing that virtually in my book tour with Google Maps, which is really interesting, and showing the clips on the way.

SPEAKER_00 25:20

Oh, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 25:21

Uh so we see films like Devil Wears Prada, Before Sunset, uh Bonda Par, little clips of films from different locations as we walk down. Virtually fabulous. Uh the Sen. Uh, and another one which is which is in my hood. There's a Belleville street art tour that I do often that's in the Art Lover's Guide to Paris. But this one starts at Pelachet Cemetery, comes back to Belleville, and we go through all the locations of the 1950s gangster movies.

SPEAKER_00 25:49

Ah, great.

SPEAKER_01 25:51

So it's my hood, so I know the area really well, and we see the scenes from films like uh do Refiche les hommes of Jules Dassin. Uh we go past where the red balloon was shot that everyone knows, that beautiful short film. And we also weave through the back streets. Uh so we get art and cinema at the same time. So that's a really nice one. There's also an Amelie.

SPEAKER_00 26:14

Oh, yeah, great. So some of these movies also, if people haven't seen them, they could actually then hunt them out and see the movie so that it does enrich that experience and then do the walking tour afterwards.

SPEAKER_01 26:26

Exactly. Either before or after, or both. Or both. There's so many. I w I I actually wanted the tour, the book, to be an experience in itself, not just to guide you to go and have an experience.

SPEAKER_00 26:38

Yeah, yeah, okay. Yeah, good.

SPEAKER_01 26:40

So you can read the book and just plunge into these films and imagine yourself in these places and have all these different points of entry into Paris, or you can use it actually as a guidebook. Very cool. It should be able to be used in both ways.

SPEAKER_00 26:52

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Love that. I love a walking tour with you because you just know so much and you have a really interesting way of portraying some quirky snippets of info to share. And even thinking about telling about some of the historical things that have happened in Paris, but you're then talking about it through the lens of a movie that's taken place. I love all of that. It's different, it's not just your average way of connecting with Paris. And it's so powerful to be able to have all these different ways to connect with Paris, but this way, especially, because we know that most of the movies that are in your book so well, it is going to feel so familiar. And then when you're doing the tour, when you're over there, or you're doing it from your lounge room at home virtually, you get we're going to feel that much more connected. I love doing those walking tours with you, and I think I'm going to love doing these ones even more.

SPEAKER_01 27:42

Yeah, well, it's just so much more magical. There's I've I've never been someone that's going to go to monuments and check off things off a list.

SPEAKER_02 27:50

No.

SPEAKER_01 27:50

Of you know, of a list of things you need to go. For me, it's about set stepping into a set. Well, when the first time I went to Paris, I felt like I'd already been there because I'd seen it in all these movies.

SPEAKER_02 28:00

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 28:00

And then and I still have these moments where reality and cinema blend, and because I'm obsessed with storytelling and cinema and art, it's not about this monument and it's made of brick and this and that. It's this was where she went back in time. Everything is a key to a story or a clue or something mysterious, or there's always some magic in the place. The place is a set, not just a location.

SPEAKER_00 28:28

That's right, that's right. So, as we said, listeners will be able to come and and chat with you about that to one of these places on your book tour in Australia. You're heading straight back to Paris then after that.

SPEAKER_01 28:41

Yes, I'll be back in Paris for the second half of summer. Yeah. Also Barcelona, because I'll be doing some events around the book in Paris. I'll be doing a book signing, some of the bookshops. I've uh Lost in French Lation, I'm doing a special event where I'm doing a book signing and a talk there. I'll be doing some more cabaret shows with Wendy Lee Taylor and Philip Vetie.

SPEAKER_02 29:04

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 29:05

And I'll be doing also some bespoke walking tours from the book. So if people want to do the tours from the book, they can do it by themselves. There's a self-guided if they can they can follow the map from the book. But some people like me to take them on them. Uh, and that's really fun, also. So I'll be starting them again the end of July.

SPEAKER_00 29:24

Brilliant. So if people are planning to go to Paris this summer, they can actually book with you to take them on the tour.

SPEAKER_01 29:32

Yeah, and it's really nice. I just do really small ones, so it's really intimate. Basically, because I was just basically doing it for friends and friends of friends, and they're so fun. I love doing them, and people love them so much that I thought, oh well, I may as well do them for friends of friends of friends. And so I just do a few of them, and they're really small, but it's really nice, and we hang out and I take them on my tour, and they know all the little places, and then we stop and have do my favorite cafes around the corner, or we stop for lunch somewhere, or meet a friend that happens to be a bookanist on the way and end up in a jazz club. Like it's really cool.

SPEAKER_00 30:05

I love all of that. So, how do people book that? Do they just reach out to you via your website or on Instagram? Or how how does that happen?

SPEAKER_01 30:12

Yes, either on rubytv.net or Instagram is RubyTV, and people can send me a little message.

SPEAKER_00 30:19

I'll put all of those links that I'll put on the website so people can actually connect with you if they want.

SPEAKER_01 30:23

Yes, and we don't have exact dates announced yet, but I'll be doing shows again. We'll be doing Parisian Time Step, our cabaret show with Wendy Lee Taylor and Philippert. So that's the. Do you know where you're doing that?

SPEAKER_00 30:35

Is that going to be at Cavo de la Ochette or on the Well, we've got a few different venues for different locations.

SPEAKER_01 30:42

So we're working out uh dates and maybe one in one mark. So we don't actually have a fixed date, but we'll be lining them up. So I think that will be August, September, October, November.

SPEAKER_00 30:53

Beautiful. I highly recommend. I have seen the show a couple of times. Unfortunately, I've never been in Paris at the times when it's happening, so I'm hoping that I am in Paris to see it at some point. I know that friends of mine, in fact, my beautiful late dad, now it wasn't this show that you're doing now, it was another show that you did with Wendy years ago, and that was on a paniche. And my dad went to see you do that.

SPEAKER_01 31:16

We did that on the paniche, but yeah, maybe it was another.

SPEAKER_00 31:19

Yeah, I think it was a bit earlier than that. But people I know who've seen the show anywhere in Paris just say how magical it is to see that show in Paris when it's talking about that whole period from the Belle Poque and all the way through and the music of Paris and the things that we know so well, but you're actually there. It's kind of a bit surreal when you're there and doing it at the same time.

SPEAKER_01 31:39

Yeah, it's so fun. So it's yeah, it's a trip through Paris through the ages. Uh it's about Paris and love and music and dance. And we basically have a really good time. The audience has a really good time. We do it either on a paniche or in a jazz club or in Walmart, and uh it's in English with French thrown in, also, so international audiences like it, especially we toured it to Australia, and that was really great too. It's fun, and though I just have a I I love performing with those two so much that we just have we just have a good laugh, and you know, um we also worked really hard on creating this show. Yes, and uh Elise actually helped us in the direction when we were developing it a little bit, which is great, and it's just really really nice to take people on this musical voyage of love and Paris.

SPEAKER_00 32:29

Well, I can't wait to see you when you're down in Melbourne. I'm really looking forward to hearing about all of your shenanigans in Tasmania and then also up in New South Wales and all of that with the book signings once you are here and doing that. And then I'm also going to be watching really closely all that you do when you go back to Paris because there's never a dull moment with you, Ruby. It is always so much fun. There's always something different to do. Life is never stayed, no two days are the same. That's so good.

SPEAKER_01 32:59

And now the new thing is photography. I'm doing f uh exhibitions of the photos in the book, which is really exciting because I'm used to getting I'm used to having books come out and publishing books. I mean, it's still thrilling each time a new book comes out, but I'm not used to doing exhibitions of the photography from my book because I take the photography, and that's really thrilling. When we did the opening, the launch in Sydney, someone bought all the photography. And I was, you know, I was I was blown. I mean, we didn't print all the photos on the book, but we printed a selection and framed them, and and someone said, I'll buy them all. His mum was moving house and he said I'm gonna set her up with some new artwork. And so in Melbourne, it's gonna be an exhibition for a month uh in St Kilda that we just confirm the details.

SPEAKER_00 33:40

Oh, great. Oh, well, when we have those details, let me know because I'd love to go and see that too. Brilliant.

SPEAKER_01 33:46

Yes, yes, and I'm looking forward to coming down and seeing the kangaroos.

SPEAKER_00 33:50

Yes, the kangaroos on the lawn. They'll be I'll I'll book them in for you, shall I?

SPEAKER_01 33:54

Yes, tap dance with kangaroos, please.

SPEAKER_00 33:56

Yes, yeah, I'll put that in for you.

SPEAKER_01 33:59

For the French audiences, they're gonna love it.

SPEAKER_00 34:01

I know. They'll say I do show people in France and they think they don't get the idea that I actually live in the country, and they think that there are kangaroos everywhere just hopping down the street, the main street in Melbourne, which I said, not quite. It's not quite like that. Canberra, yeah. Canberra's a bit smaller. A lot of Canberra. Yeah, yeah, a few, a few. Yes. Yes. Well, messy so much for spending this time with us today, lovely Ruby, because I have love reminiscing about France and Khan with you, and I can't wait to see you when you're back down and be back at Caan with you in another year. I'm hoping, fingers crossed, that it could be next year if I'm there at that time, but at some point in the future I will be back there with you.

SPEAKER_01 34:37

Definitely. And in the meantime, in the next few days, you can keep watching uh what's happening over the next few days of things that are going to go up on Instagram from Cahn.

SPEAKER_00 34:46

Yeah, brilliant. Allo, see two as la fan aujourd'hui. That is all for another Little Bells Francophiles episode. I hope you've enjoyed reminiscing about France with me and the lovely Ruby Bookaboo today. We are now into the seventh year of the Little Bells Francophiles, and on our 200th episode, it's a milestone. It is a really special day. So thank you to all of you. Merci, merci, merci to the listeners everywhere. We are now in over 130 countries around the world, and it's something that I'm really loving, being connected to all of you, hearing from you, and helping people escape to France. So now in the seventh year, and in this season, this seventh season, we've already had some fabulous chats, and there are going to be more that come across the year with some authors coming up, bricant hunters. We've got a Parisian cook that's coming up in the next few weeks, or people that have made the leap and followed their dream to move to France, plus loads of other French stories that are via our podcast chats to be notified when new episodes are released. Subscribe on your favourite podcast platform, or you can follow Little Bell's Francophiles on Insta, and that's where you'll also find lots of my personal French photos as well as some from our Little Bell's Francophiles guests. For all of the links from today's chat, head to the Little Bells Francophiles website to blog post number 200. That's episode de song. Or just pop the word Ruby into the search bar at the top right of the Little Bell's website homepage, and all the episodes with Ruby, and there are a few of them, will come up for you to choose from. The website link is in the show notes for today's episode as well. And then come and join me next time on the Little Bells Francophiles and we can all escape to France together. Au revoir, dear Ruby. Au revoir, à bientôt, merci Loubelle. Merci à toi, si. Au revoir de moi, Louise Prichard, bonjour.