Sunday, November 29, 2009

Little Prince film threatened under family dispute


According to the Times Online, the widow of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry might have forged her inherited rights to The Little Prince and in doing so throws the entire future of the iconic French fictional character into question.

Little Prince in Korea

Little Prince Village in South Korea
South Korea is chock-a-bloc full of "cultural villages." Every town you go has at least one. But these typically are about Korean culture. My family and I traveled through Korea this past June and must have seen at least four. Here's one we missed: "Petite France", a cultural village dedicated to the Little Prince.

According to the Official Korean Tourism Board:
After travelling 10 km along the lakeside road from Cheongpyeong Dam, in the direction of Namiseom Island, you will come across a cluster of white, exotic buildings on the left-hand hillside. From its outward appearance, it would appear to be a village that belongs on the Mediterranean coast or in a pastoral area of the Piedmont Alps. This is Petite France, a French cultural village set in the Korean countryside! Petite France serves as both a French cultural village and a youth training facility (Goseong Youth Training Center), and consists of 16 French-style buildings where visitors can lodge and experience French food, clothing, and household culture.

The concept of Petite France encapsulates ‘flowers, stars, and the Little Prince.’ The village contains a memorial hall dedicated to Saint-Exupery, the author of the celebrated French novel, Le Petit Prince (1943) and as such it is called the Little Prince theme park. It also has a gallery displaying sculptures and paintings of le coq gaulois (the Gallic rooster), the national symbol of France; Orgel House where a 200-year-old music box plays a sweet melody; a shop that sells herbal and aromatic products; a souvenir shop; and many other locales where you can experience French culture. The village can accommodate up to 200 visitors with 34 guest rooms that hold four to ten people each. Enjoy the marionette experience and hear percussion instruments from around the world, and also enjoy soap bubble experience.

Soap bubbles?