Maison Française d'Oxford

12/06/2026

🎉 1946–2026 : la Maison Française d’Oxford célèbre ses 80 ans !

Depuis 1946, la MFO est un lieu de rencontre, de réflexion et de dialogue entre la France et le Royaume-Uni. Des générations de chercheurs, d’écrivains, d’artistes et d’intellectuels y ont séjourné, travaillé et partagé leurs idées au cœur d’Oxford.

À l’occasion de cet anniversaire, nous lançons la levée de fonds du 80e anniversaire de la MFO afin de préserver et restaurer notre bâtiment emblématique de 1967, qui accueille depuis près de soixante ans la vie intellectuelle et culturelle de la Maison.

En soutenant cette campagne, vous contribuez à préserver un lieu unique d’échanges franco-britanniques et à transmettre cet héritage aux générations futures.

Ensemble, écrivons les 80 prochaines années de la Maison Française d’Oxford.

📖 En savoir plus sur la campagne :
https://www.mfo.ac.uk/article/1946-2026-mfos-80th-anniversary-heritage-fund

❤️ Faire un don :
https://www.helloasso.com/associations/association-de-la-maison-francaise-d-oxford/collectes/80th-anniversary-mfo-heritage-fund

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🎉 1946–2026: The Maison Française d’Oxford celebrates its 80th anniversary!

Since 1946, the MFO has been a place of encounter, research, and dialogue between France and the United Kingdom. Generations of scholars, writers, artists, and thinkers have come together here in the heart of Oxford to exchange ideas and build lasting connections.

To mark this milestone, we are launching the MFO 80th Anniversary Heritage Fund to preserve and restore our iconic 1967 building, which has been home to the Maison's intellectual and cultural life for nearly sixty years.

By supporting this campaign, you will help safeguard a unique space for Franco-British exchange and ensure that future generations can continue to benefit from it.

Together, let's shape the next 80 years of the Maison Française d’Oxford.

📖 Learn more about the campaign:
https://www.mfo.ac.uk/article/1946-2026-mfos-80th-anniversary-heritage-fund

❤️ Make a donation:
https://www.helloasso.com/associations/association-de-la-maison-francaise-d-oxford/collectes/80th-anniversary-mfo-heritage-fund

09/06/2026

Celebrating 80 Years of the Maison Française d’Oxford (1946–2026)

For eight decades, the Maison Française d’Oxford has fostered research collaboration, intellectual exchange, and cultural dialogue between France and the United Kingdom.

To mark this anniversary, the MFO is delighted to present a series of events reflecting on its history, legacy, and future.

👉 The MFO Night
25 June, 4.00–11.00pm | Maison Française d’Oxford
An evening of scholarship, debate, and interdisciplinary dialogue bringing together scholars, students, and researchers to discuss major contemporary challenges and the role of the MFO in promoting Franco-British scientific and intellectual cooperation.
Discussions will be held in both French and English.
https://lnkd.in/eCKgypR8

👉 The MFO Annual Alumni Lecture
26 June, 5.00pm | Reuben College, Oxford
The Maison Française Alumni Association (AMFO) welcomes Anne Dunan-Page for this year's lecture, « Une "Maison de fous" ? La MFO au sortir de la Seconde Guerre mondiale ». Drawing on archival sources and private correspondence, she will examine the challenges faced by the MFO's first director and the institution's formative years after the Second World War.
https://lnkd.in/eYxcAtzS

👉 Exhibition: The MFO Turns 80: Celebrating Research, Culture & Scientific Diplomacy (1946–2026)
From 30 June | MFO Gardens
Drawing on archives, photographs, books, and personal testimonies, this exhibition traces the evolution of the MFO from its founding to its present-day role as a centre for research, cultural life, and scientific diplomacy.
https://lnkd.in/e_KwSfnX

05/06/2026

This week's library spotlight falls on East of Dreams by Natassja Martin, translated from the French by Sophie Lewis. ''French anthropologist Natassja Martin’s new book East of Dreams is a record of her seven years spent among the Even people of the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East. Dispossessed of their reindeer herds during the Soviet era, the Evens were, like many indigenous peoples, resettled on collective farms until the fall of the USSR. East of Dreams centres on a single family, led by their matriarch, Daria, who decided to refuse those terms, returning to the forests of Kamchatka during the final years of the Soviet Union, and to a self-sustained life of fishing, hunting, and gathering. There, along the river Icha, they have managed to preserve a way of life antithetical to the enforced urban modernity to which so many of their compatriots were made subject."

On 10th June at 5.15 pm, Nastassja Martin will be in conversation with Martine Drozdz at the MFO. Come and hear more! Arrive early and discover our new acquisitions in the library!

21/05/2026

This week's library spotlight falls on some of our latest arrivals in the library - a mixture of the latest in French fiction and some fascinating topics in the social sciences. We are open Monday-Friday 1.30-5.30 pm but not Bank Holiday Monday, 25th May. Do come and discover what we have.

15/05/2026

This week's library spotlight falls on a selection of our latest acquisitions in History and Social Sciences. Our New Books Table is groaning under the weight of new academic titles and readers are really enjoying browsing and borrowing these items. The MfO library is free and open to all Monday-Friday 1.30-5.30 pm, so come and have a look for yourselves and pick up a novel or two for relaxation while you're here- there are plenty of new titles to choose from.

08/05/2026

This week's library spotlight falls on the author Kamel Daoud's works, Meursault, contre-enquête (2014), and Houris (2024). The first was awarded the Goncourt du premier roman prize in 2015 while Houris was awarded the Goncourt Prize in 2024.

We are delighted that Kamel Daoud will be giving the Zaharoff Lecture on 12 May at 5.15pm at the Taylor Institution Library.
If you'd like to attend, please register here: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=G96VzPWXk0-0uv5ouFLPkQKW-VVT1mdLkjcAmTdVLG9UMk9IWkdHNFhRRFgzWTlUVUsySlFaMExJOC4u&route=shorturl

On 13 May at 12 noon, Kamel Daoud will also be participating in a lunchtime seminar at the MfO with Professor Catriona Seth. It promises to be a stimulating and thought-provoking event.
Free registration is available here: https://www.ticketsource.com/maison-francaise-doxford/t-yzznrkk

Our library will be open too if you'd like to browse our collections and take a look at our New Books Table, full of good things to read!

24/04/2026

Turning 80 in 2026, and still going strong!

The MFO is not resting on its laurels. This Trinity Term, our programme brings together a series of lectures, seminars, workshops, and talks designed to engage critically with current questions across the humanities and social sciences, while opening onto interdisciplinary collaborations with other areas of knowledge.

Explore the full programme
https://mfo.web.ox.ac.uk

12/03/2026

Rencontre avec le cinéaste Radu Mihăileanu
Demain 13 mars 2026 à 17h30, à la Maison Française d'Oxford

Please note that this event will be in French.
Merci de vous inscrire ici :
https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/maison-francaise-doxford/t-rzzlyxy

Scénariste et réalisateur français d’origine roumaine, Radu Mihăileanu réalise et écrit des courts métrages dans les années 1980, puis son long métrage, Train de vie (1998) lance sa carrière internationale. Son film Va, Vis et Deviens (2005) remporte ensuite de nombreuses récompenses internationales, confirmant sa place parmi les réalisateurs européens les plus renommés aujourd’hui. Le concert a attiré plus de 19 millions de spectateurs en salles. La source des femmes (2011) a été sélectionné au Festival de Cannes la même année. Son dernier film Tu me diras sortira en 2026.
Ses films s’intéressent principalement aux thèmes de l’exil, de l’identité et de la mémoire, et abordent des sujets historiques et sociaux à travers des histoires humaines marquées par la solidarité, l’émotion et parfois l’humour.

Présenté et organisé par Michaël Abecassis ([email protected])beginning o Trinity Term.

Tickets are now available for Rencontre avec le cinéaste Radu Mihăileanu at Maison Française d'Oxford, Oxford on Fri 13 Mar 2026 at 5:30PM. Click the link for further information and to secure your tickets now!

03/03/2026

Tonight at 7pm – Special Francophonie Screening

We are delighted to celebrate the Mois de la Francophonie this evening at the Maison Française d'Oxford with a special screening of "Le dernier Canadien français" (2024), directed by Jill Lefaive.

Organised in collaboration with the Québec Government Office in London and the Alliance Francaise d'Oxford, the evening will begin with a wine reception before the screening.

The film follows Boyer on a journey across Canada, from the Yukon to Acadie and Québec, as he reflects on what it means to belong to an evolving Francophone community. Moving between personal narrative and collective history, this powerful documentary explores language, identity, and the future of French-speaking minorities in Canada.

In French with English subtitles
7pm (reception followed by screening)
Maison Française d’Oxford

The event is free, but registration is required:

Tickets are now available for Special Film Screening 'Le dernier Canadien français' at Maison Française d'Oxford, Oxford on Tue 3 Mar 2026 at 7:00PM. Click the link for further information and to secure your tickets now!

21/01/2026

'Money, Monies, & Movies', a New Film Screening Series at the Maison Française d'Oxford, convened by Patrice Baubeau

Echoing the recent release of 'L’Affaire Bojarski' (Jean-Paul Salomé, 2025), the MFO is offering a series of film screenings exploring the relationship between cinema and money. Born both as an art form and an industrial process, cinema has long engaged with monetary questions and their social, political, and dramatic tensions.
Rather than aiming for an exhaustive overview, this cycle focuses on the social and political dimensions that link movies and money.

On 27 January at 7.00 pm, we will kick off this new series with the first episode of the four-part documentary 'The Fabulous History of Money: A Revolutionary Idea', recently broadcast on the Franco-German channel ARTE and directed by Frédéric Wilner (2025). This episode explores the birth of money, between gold and silver, in the Near East, at the crossroads between Asia and North Africa, at a stone’s throw from Europe. This episode features Oxford academics Andrew Meadows (New College), Frédérique Duyrat (Ashmolean Museum), and Leah Lazar (now at Manchester U.).

More information and registration are available on the MFO Website
https://mfo.web.ox.ac.uk/event/movies-money-filmscreeningseries

Illustration by Avij

Special film screening series organised by Patrice Baubeau (MFO)