FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND LIVE 25-HOUR GLOBAL VOYAGE EXPLORING ALL ASPECTS OF FRANCOPHONIE UNIVERSE SET FOR WORLD PREMIERE ON TV5MONDE SEPTEMBER 21-22

From The Arts to Local Customs, Live Program Featuring Wide-range of Francophonie Culture will Visit New Orleans and Canadian Cities and air on TV5MONDE USA in America

PARIS / NEW ORLEANS, September 5, 2017Tour du Monde de la Francophonie (Tour of the Francophone World) - a novel tour and celebration of the diverse world of Francophonie encompassing 25-hours of live content depicting the influence, history and cultural future and global impact of the French language from five continents and 23 destinations - will air on TV5MONDE. 

The program will air live beginning at 7:00am/ET on September 21 and continue its global tour at 8:00am/ET on September 22 with North America hours emanating from the heavily Francophonie-influenced cities of New Orleans, Montreal, Plamondon and Vancouver.  Tour du Monde de la Francophonie will be bolstered by the creative illustrations of noted fashion designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac.

Remarked TV5MONDE Director General Yves Bigot, “French is with English the only language present on the five continents, we want to celebrate its vitality, and that of Francophones, their youth, their energy, their modernity, their initiatives, in all areas, cultural, economic, humanitarian, wherever they are on our planet.  We share this objective with Michaëlle Jean, Secretary General of the International Organization of la Francophonie, another partner in this operation with our global network of French alliances.” He added, “With the 354 million homes in the world based in 198 countries in the world that TV5MONDE reaches – it is the lynchpin between all Francophones, providing a meeting point for this spectacular and illuminating globe-trekking journey.”

Every hour, beginning with Paris, throughout the 25-hours of Tour du Monde de la Francophonie, the journalists of TV5MONDE and its global broadcast partners will file live reports.  Following Paris the program will move each hour to another location in the opposite direction of the Earth's rotation, in order: Abidjan, Geneva, Brussels, Cayenne, Basse-Terre, Montreal, New Orleans, Plamondon, Vancouver, Papeete, Auckland, Noumea, Sydney, Seoul, Beijing, Phnom Penh, Mumbai, Lahore, Saint-Denis, Antananarivo, Beirut, and concluding in Kinshasa.

Featuring conversations with local Francophone personalities and dignitaries associated with the arts, economics, politics, science and sports, Tour du Monde de la Francophonie will offer a wide variety of on-site reports along with arts and music-related performances.  Following the live portion of the program, two separate documentaries capturing the best-of-the-best moments – both a 52- and 90 minute versions subtitled the 14 languages (English, German, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Arabic, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese Traditional, Chinese Simplified and Français) will be broadcast over all 12 of the TV5MONDE network feeds serving the USA, Latin America, Europe, France / Belgium / Switzerland, Middle East, Africa, Asia, Pacific and one serving Canada (TV5 Québec Canada).

About Francophonie

  • There are an estimated 274 million French speakers in the world, of which 212 million are daily speakers
    • 77.2 million students have French as a language of instruction in 33 countries
    • 84 countries and territories are members of the Organization internationale de la Francophonie
    • More than half of French speakers live in Africa
    • French is the 5th most spoken language in the world
    • French is the 3rd most used language on the Internet
    • There are 900,000 French teachers throughout the world
    • French is the second language taught in American universities

About TV5MONDE

TV5MONDE is the global French language entertainment network, broadcasting 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, without commercial interruptions. TV5MONDE USA is a premium pay-tv channel reaching 1.5 million viewers in the U.S., and has been carried on COX in Louisiana since 2001. American viewers enjoy a wealth of high quality French language programming, subtitled in English, including up to 300 classic, recent and never-before-seen in the U.S. French language films, around the clock newscasts live from Paris, the latest series and TV dramas, premium documentaries, cultural programs and international sports coverage. To find channel information and more information about TV5MONDE USA and its programming, please visit: www.tv5mondeusa.com

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