Annual AVF Dîner Gala

The invitation itself was quite impressive, and everyone at AVF was saying this was THE event of the year – not to be missed. After attending this year’s event, we certainly agree!



On the evening on April 4th, we joined around 170-180 other AVF folks at the Institute Lumière for a lovely evening. The event began with flutes of Taittinger champagne and various appetizers.

Lots of folks enjoying flutes of champagne and chatting in a variety of languages.

From there we moved into the theater for a short screening of what amounts to home movies and street scenes produced by the Lumière brothers as well as some commentary to explain what was going on. We saw footage they recorded on March 19, 1895, showing workers leaving the Lumière factory. The quality was amazing! None of the jerky appearing movements we are used to in early US movie clips.

In the theater.

(Side notes on the Lumières: We have them to thank for the movie camera and projector, and film perforations as a means of advancing the film through the camera and projector, among other inventions. By the way, the brothers had “day jobs,” too; one was a doctor and the other was a biologist.)

Tables set for dinner.

After the screening it was time for dinner – and what a dinner! We started with Fraîcheur de Saint-Jacques et crème de petit pois (a molded dish of small scallops and creamed peas) and ended with Café gourmand (coffee served with a variety of small desserts). All with the appropriate wines, of course. And, we also got the opportunity to meet more interesting folks in AVF.

That's us on the far side of the table in middle.

We had each been given a numbered ticket on arrival, and the evening ended with a raffle for a number of lovely prizes. The grand prize was two round-trip tickets on Air France from Lyon to Orlando, Florida. David won this gorgeous AC Canova scarf for Anna.

What an evening! Just before midnight we caught one of the last metro trains back home and collapsed.