French Institute Alliance Française Presents CROSSING THE LINE 2014, 9/8 - 10/20

The French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF), New York's premiere French cultural center, today announces the full program for Crossing the Line 2014, the eighth annual edition of its celebrated fall arts festival, presenting interdisciplinary works and performances by artists from around the world. Crossing the Line runs from September 8 through October 20 in venues throughout New York City. Nespresso returns as Presenting Sponsor ofCrossing the Line in 2014. Tickets will go on sale in late July.

This year's edition of the festival presents three world premieres: French fashion curator Olivier Saillard's Models never talk; Killer Road, a collaboration between American singer-songwriter Patti Smith, her daughter Jesse Smith, and New York-based Soundwalk Collective; and Colombian artist Jessica Mitrani's Traveling Lady, featuring Spanish actress Rossy de Palma.

Crossing the Line will also present the U.S. premieres of Argentinean theater maker and visual artist Fernando Rubio's Everything by my side; Swiss choreographer Gilles Jobin's QUANTUM, a collaboration with German visual artist Julius von Bismarck; Japanese composer and visual artist Ryoji Ikeda's superposition and test pattern [times square], along with a special exhibition of his work; and Croatian-born, Paris-based choreographer Ivana Müller's Partituur, as well as We Are Still Watching (a New York premiere).

The festival will feature the exhibitions Terracotta Daughters, from New York-based French artist Prune Nourry and Retrospective, from French choreographer Xavier Le Roy, both presented for the first time in the U.S.; the New York premieres of American singer-songwriter Justin Vivian Bond's Love Is Crazy; New York performance group Nature Theater of Oklahoma's documentary The Great Nature Theater of Oklahoma is Calling You!; New York theater company 600 Highwaymen's Employee of the Year (a Crossing the Line 2014 commission); New York choreographer Trajal Harrell's performance series Twenty looks or Paris is burning at the Judson church, presented in its entirety for the first time in the U.S.; and New York theater artist Aaron Landsman's Republic of New York: Perfect City discussions.

Inaugurated in 2007, Crossing the Line explores the dialogue between artist and public, and examines how artists help re-imagine the world as critical thinkers and catalysts for social evolution. Initiated and produced by FIAF in partnership with leading cultural institutions, Crossing the Line is co-curated by Lili Chopra, FIAF's Artistic Director; Simon Dove, independent curator; and Gideon Lester, Director of Theater Programs at Bard College.

According to the co-curators of Crossing the Line, "This year's edition of Crossing the Line brings together fifteen extraordinary international artists and companies, each of them offering unique perspectives on the world we all share. We invite New Yorkers to explore their meticulous and deeply considered work, both the familiar and the unknown, and find inspiration, provocation, and pure pleasure."

Crossing the Line is the French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF)'s annual fall festival, presenting interdisciplinary works and performances in New York. The festival explores the dialogue between artist and public, and examines how artists help re-imagine the world as critical thinkers and catalysts for social evolution. Crossing the Line is initiated and produced by FIAF in partnership with leading cultural institutions. The festival's eighth edition takes place this year from September 8-October 20, 2014. Tickets will go on sale in late July.

Since its inauguration in 2007, Crossing the Line has cultivated an increasingly large and diverse following, and received numerous accolades in the press. The festival has been voted "Best of 2009," "Best of 2010," "Best of 2012," and "Best of 2013" by The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Time Out New York, Artforum, and Frieze, with performances earning an Obie and several Bessie awards. The New York Times states, "For terrifically unusual, unpredictable, unnameable performance, we've come to expect a lot from ... the curators of the French Institute Alliance Française's interdisciplinary festival," and The New Yorker says, "This interdisciplinary festival, focused but not exclusively devoted to contemporary French culture, goes from strength to strength." For more information and festival programming , visit fiaf.org/ctl.

The French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) is New York's premiere French cultural and language center. FIAF's mission is to create and offer New Yorkers innovative and unique programs in education and the arts that explore the evolving diversity and richness of French cultures. FIAF seeks to generate new ideas and promote cross cultural dialogue through partnerships and new platforms of expression. www.fiaf.org

Need more Broadway Theatre News in your life? Sign up for all the news on the Fall season, discounts & more...