Past Events
Thank you, John. You have put together an elegant and interesting gathering of interesting people and activities.
–Dale Gaber
2021
March 16th, 6:30 | Mardi Apéro Virtuel | Sandrine Mehrez-Kukurudz
In honor of le mois de la Francophonie, this Tuesday’s apéro will be mostly en français!
Born and raised in France, Sandrine Mehrez Kukurudz has had several lives. After studying economics at the Sorbonne, she became a press and radio journalist before joining the strategic planning team at famous advertising agency BBDO in Paris. She is then recruited by the one who will soon become her husband.
After years of producing major events in France, including the spectacular celebration by Jessie Norman of the last total eclipse of the Millennium, in front of the Reims Cathedral, and in the presence of half-a-million spectators, the family decides to move to the USA in 2006. After living in Florida for 7 years and producing, among other projects, a series of major art fairs during Art Basel Week, Sandrine arrives in New York in 2013 where Paul Bensabat asked her to produce – with her husband – Taste of France, then Best of France.
Since then, their agency has signed numerous events promoting French excellence in the United States and Franco-American friendship, such as the 70th anniversary of D-Day for The French Will Never Forget.
In her spare time, Sandrine is an author and decided – a few months ago – to put her professional expertise at the service of French-speaking authors around the world. She created the “Rencontre des Auteurs Francophones” platform, which has already brought together more than 75 authors from 16 countries.
Included in her regular programming: A weekly series of interviews , virtual and live events, an authors’ blog, an online bookstore with 120 books, and the constant promotion of the participating Francophone authors … This exciting French-speaking adventure has only just begun.
Apéro Virtuel|Mardi Gras, Feb 16th at 6:30
Paul Glenshaw on his and Darroch Greer’s film: The Lafayette Escadrille, premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2020.
Happy Hour with the Lafayette Escadrille promotes the film “The Lafayette Escadrille,” the first comprehensive documentary about the American volunteers who flew for France before the US entered WWI. It’s a great story of the long alliance of France and America, about the birth of American combat aviation, and how WWI shaped the 20th Century. Plus it’s full of great character, and a lot of great airplanes. The film was completed in January 2020 and premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Alas, COVID has shut down in-person screenings.
The good news is that the team is on the cusp of releasing the film to the public. The final fundraising push to get the film released – with a goal of $75,000 to match a grant from corporate sponsor, FedEx, is a fun, online, behind-the-scenes preview for the full-length film. It’s called “Happy Hour with the Lafayette Escadrille.”
The idea was developed with the French-American Chamber of Commerce in DC, and has been repeated with a wide number of organizations, from the Air Force Association to the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum.
- View the 20-minute version of The Lafayette Escadrille prior to the apéro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvIEDVIW4AU
- We open the Apéro with popping of corks for a virtual cocktail party. We’ll demonstrate how to make the Lafayette Cocktail, half Champagne & half Cognac, as shown in one of the Escadrille’s favorite bars in Paris. Have the ingredients on hand so you can make and enjoy the cocktail. We will make the traditional Paris American Club toast.
- The “Making The Lafayette Escadrille” presentation follows, with discussion of future screenings of the full film.
- Make a tax-deductible donation to The Lafayette Escadrille documentary project.
Paul Glenshaw’s lifelong passions over several disciplines all fuel the same goal: storytelling. In addition to being an instructor and lecturer for the Smithsonian Associates, Paul is co-director, writer, and producer of the just completed documentary The Lafayette Escadrille. He is a frequent contributor to the Smithsonian’s Air & Space magazine, and recent drawing projects in crude work with the Folger Shakespeare Library and the National Museum of Health and Medicine. He is also a writer and producer for the theater, radio, museum exhibits, interactive media, and STEM education.
He lives in Silver Spring, Maryland and is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis.
Wed, Jan 20, 2021 at 6:30 pm: Consul Général Jérémie Robert
Jérémie Robert, 43, took office as Consul General in New York on September 3, 2020. Since September 2018, he was advisor for Africa, Development and Global Affairs in the office of the Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves le Drian. In this capacity, he contributed to the renewal of France’s relations with Africa and the rebuilding of its development policy, and worked on the management of the crisis in the Sahel. He has worked for France’s global priorities, in particular the preservation of global public goods such as global health, climate and biodiversity.
During his career at the Quai d’Orsay, which he began in 2003, he served in the Africa and Indian Ocean Department, on Sudan (2003-2006) during the Darfur crisis ; in Nairobi, as France’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Environment Programme and Adviser on Somalia (2006-2009) ; in New Delhi (2011-2014) as Coordinator of the Political Chancellery ; in Yaoundé (2014-2016) as Number Two of our Embassy in Cameroon and as Assistant Director for West Africa (2016-2018). He worked for the European Union in Kenya (2010-2011).
Jérémie Robert is a graduate of the Institut Politiques de Strasbourg and holds a master’s degree in international relations. He is married and father of two children.
If you missed his discussion, you may view it here.
Also, learn about mapstr, an app to help you find and support French businesses in New York City.
Jan 20, 2021
Tribute to former Paris American Club President from 1999 to 2015
Kevin MacCarthy
Kevin MacCarthy passed away of natural causes on December 3rd, 2020 in New York City at the age of 79. We will hold a moment of silence in his honor at the beginning of the January 20th Apéro.
Kevin was a fifth generation Washingtonian where he attended Gonzaga College High School. He continued his education at the College of the Holy Cross in Worchester, MA. After graduation, Kevin spent a year in Metz, France, teaching English in a French high school, becoming completely fluent in French.
Kevin’s love of French culture and the French language continued for the remainder of his life. Upon his return to America, Kevin became a Special Agent in the FBI and, while taking night classes, he obtained a law degree from The Catholic University of America. Kevin then moved to New York City, where he founded his own firm, Kevin MacCarthy Associates, which specialized in international law. A unique highlight in Kevin’s life was his opportunity to serve as the NYC-based manager of the French companies, Métalliers Champenois and Atelier Gohard, during the period, 1984 – 1987, when, at the request of the Statue of Liberty Foundation, they recreated the original Bartholdi torch and flame of the Statue of Liberty. In the restoration of the statue, the torch and flame were the only items that were replaced through a design that kept with Bartholdi’s own drawings. Upon seeing how the new flame turned out to be such a magnificent work of art, Kevin successfully engaged the International Herald Tribune to join him in making a second flame, identical to the one on Liberty Island, and presenting it as a sign of “amitié” to the French People. This second Liberty Flame was installed at the Place de l’Alma in Paris by the then Mayor of Paris, Jacques Chirac, on May 10, 1989.
One of Kevin’s last trips outside of his NYC apartment was a visit to Liberty Island where he proudly had his picture taken in front of the statue which held “his” torch and flame. Additionally, Kevin was honored to serve as president of the Paris American Club in New York City for 15 years. 
He leaves behind his wife, Mireille MacCarthy, his two daughters Nathalie and Valérie, and his three grandchildren upon whom he doted, Gabriel, Sebastian, and Ariana.
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