Paris Unlocked: Daily City Guide

NollywoodWeek: African Cinema Takes Paris | May 7–11

(00:00:00) NollywoodWeek: African Cinema Takes Paris | May 7–11 (00:00:29) What's Screening This Week (00:01:20) Why Paris, Why Now (00:02:13) Planning Your Visit — What We Know (00:02:55) Why This Matters for Paris Right Now Paris is hosting one of its most distinctive film events of the year. NollywoodWeek opens its thirteenth edition this week, running May 7 through May 11, with a lineup that stretches across Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Senegal, and more. This isn't a single-country showcase — it's a genuinely pan-African program, and the breadth is the point. This episode covers everything you need to know before you go. The lineup includes East West Love, a Nigeria-Kenya romance that bridges two distinct filmmaking cultures; Evi Superstar, which places the music industry front and centre; and Mothers of Chibok, a documentary built around the 2014 school kidnappings in northeastern Nigeria — testimony rather than entertainment, and essential viewing. The festival was founded in 2013 by Serge Noukoue with a clear strategic purpose: to reposition Nollywood not as a curiosity but as a mature industry with its own aesthetic logic. Thirteen editions in, that argument has largely been won. Streaming platforms, the global rise of Afrobeats and Amapiano, and a Paris audience that has grown with the festival have all shifted the conversation. The question now isn't whether African cinema deserves serious attention — it's which films are strongest this year. For Paris visitors and residents alike, this is the kind of event that rewards showing up without specialist knowledge. Curious about cinema beyond the standard European and American circuits? NollywoodWeek is built for you. Practical note: confirm showtimes and venue details via NollywoodWeek's official channels before planning your evening. This podcast was built using AI technology. A YesWee production. This episode includes AI-generated content.

Vintage Markets Beyond Clignancourt: May Long Weekend Flea Guide

(00:00:00) Vintage Markets Beyond Clignancourt: May Long Weekend Flea Guide (00:00:36) Montmartre Studio Sale Saturday (00:01:03) Saint-Ouen and Avenue de la Porte (00:01:36) Versigny Square Sunday Pick (00:01:52) Passage de la Canopée Rambuteau (00:02:11) Practical Considerations and Risks (00:02:36) Insider Takeaway and Close Paris's May long weekend has quietly become one of the best windows in the year for vintage and flea market hunting in the city. The May 8th public holiday extends the leisure window across Friday, Saturday, and Sunday — an unusual concentration that pulls in serious sellers and locals alike. This episode maps the weekend's most worthwhile stops, with a focus on the neighborhoods around Clignancourt rather than the market itself. The Montmartre aux Artistes studio sale at 187–189 Rue Ordener (18th arrondissement) on Saturday, May 9th is the anchor pick: artist studios selling work and objects carry a different caliber of finds than a standard brocante, and early arrival is a practical instruction, not a cliché. Nearby, Avenue de Saint-Ouen near Guy Môquet metro (17th) runs resident-organized garage sales both Saturday and Sunday — resident sales change both the pricing and the randomness of what surfaces. Versigny Square adds a one-day Sunday market with per-meter vendor pricing, which tends to pull in serious sellers rather than casual clearers. Clignancourt itself remains open both days as a reference anchor if you want the scale. Practical notes: opening times haven't been confirmed by organizers, so verify before travelling. Metro and RER disruptions are flagged for this period on lines into the 18th — build in a buffer. Outdoor vendor turnout depends on weather. The insider takeaway is simple: the real finds this weekend are in the streets around Clignancourt, not inside it. Paris rewards the person who reads the map one ring outward. This episode includes AI-generated content.

Jazz à Saint-Germain, Roland-Garros & Museum Night | May 19–24

(00:00:00) Jazz à Saint-Germain, Roland-Garros & Museum Night | May 19–24 (00:00:30) Venue Strategy for the Festival (00:01:08) The Wider May Cultural Picture (00:01:47) Insider Tip for the Neighborhood (00:02:20) What to Watch Next This week in Paris, the cultural calendar doesn't spread out — it stacks. Jazz à Saint-Germain-des-Prés is live through May 24, Roland-Garros is deep into its fortnight, the European Night of Museums hits on May 23, and the Taste of Paris gastronomic festival runs May 21–24 at the Grand Palais. If you're in the city this week, you're navigating real choices. This episode maps the strategy. For Jazz à Saint-Germain, the Odéon draws the crowds — but the smaller venues scattered through the neighborhood are where the festival earns its reputation. Intimate rooms, closer proximity to the music, and an atmosphere that a main stage can't replicate. Capacity at these smaller spaces is limited, so checking availability before you show up matters. Beyond the ticketed shows, the neighborhood itself becomes part of the experience. The cafés around the festival venues absorb the energy between sets. Treating it as a Saint-Germain evening rather than a single concert ticket is how many locals actually live it — and if the shows are sold out, the perimeter still delivers. The European Night of Museums on May 23 is free and requires no planning beyond showing up. The Taste of Paris at the Grand Palais is ticketed — confirm availability before May 21 rather than assuming walk-up access. The insider tip this week: pick two or three things deliberately. The weeks when Paris clusters this many events are rare, and trying to cover everything is how you end up experiencing none of it properly. A YesWee production. Built using AI technology. This episode includes AI-generated content.

Hilma af Klint, Leonora Carrington & May's Museum Surge | May 2026

(00:00:00) Hilma af Klint, Leonora Carrington & May's Museum Surge | May 2026 (00:00:53) Leonora Carrington at Musée du Luxembourg (00:01:41) May's Broader Cultural Surge (00:02:36) Terrace Season and the Food Angle (00:03:11) What to Watch This Month Paris's cultural calendar hits a rare density in May 2026, and this episode maps the exhibitions worth your time — and the order worth doing them in. The headline is a double retrospective that feels deliberate. Hilma af Klint, the Swedish painter producing abstract work before Kandinsky claimed the territory, opens her first French retrospective at the Grand Palais on May 6th, running through August 30th. Across the sixth arrondissement, Musée du Luxembourg presents the first complete French retrospective of Leonora Carrington — Surrealist, singular, and long overdue — through July 19th. Both shows are serious institutional statements. If you're choosing one for a quieter afternoon, the Luxembourg is the insider call. Beyond those two: Musée de l'Orangerie's Henri Rousseau retrospective goes well beyond the jungle paintings (through July 20th); La Monnaie de Paris connects money and comics across 250 works (through September 6th); and Musée Guimet opens a genuinely rare show on May 20th — Korean national treasures from the Silla Kingdom, leaving Korea for the first time. On the food side, Fouquet's Paris has launched a spring menu on what they call a secret terrace — worth investigating, not yet confirmed for walk-in access. Practical note: May's public holidays mean more visitors with free days. Tuesdays through Thursdays, morning entry, are your clearest windows. The Carrington and Silla Guimet shows are the least obvious picks — which usually means the least contested doors. A YesWee production, built using AI technology. This episode includes AI-generated content.

Fashion History Across Four Museums: Galliera, Guimet & Alaïa | Spring 2026

(00:00:00) Fashion History Across Four Museums: Galliera, Guimet & Alaïa | Spring 2026 (00:00:43) Musée des Arts Décoratifs Immersion (00:01:14) Alaïa and Dior at Marais Foundation (00:01:42) K-Beauty at Musée Guimet (00:02:25) Pont des Arts Restoration Warning (00:02:45) Today's Must-Do Recommendation Paris is doing something unusual right now: four major fashion exhibitions are open simultaneously, and they're in quiet conversation with each other. This episode maps the cluster and tells you what each one is actually arguing — not just what's on the walls. At Palais Galliera in the sixteenth arrondissement, 'Revealing the Feminine' frames eighteenth-century dress as social language — analytical, rigorous, worth more than a quick walk-through. A few kilometres east, Musée des Arts Décoratifs covers the same century but in a different register: fashion history as atmosphere rather than argument, making it the more accessible entry point of the two. In the Marais, Fondation Azzedine Alaïa puts Alaïa and Christian Dior in direct curatorial conversation — a pairing that shifts the show from retrospective to argument, which is rarer and more interesting than a timeline. The signal addition is at Musée Guimet: the K-Beauty exhibition tracks Korean aesthetics as a global phenomenon, positioning it not as trend but as embedded influence. It's the most ambitious claim of the four, and worth testing against what the rooms actually show. The episode's must-do recommendation is a double session at Galliera and Arts Décoratifs — close enough to combine in one afternoon, together covering the full institutional conversation about eighteenth-century dress this spring. Guimet is the counter-programme worth adding on a second visit. Practical note: the Pont des Arts restoration begins May 11. Pedestrian access during work isn't fully confirmed — move that crossing to before the eleventh if it's in your plans. This podcast was built using AI technology. A YesWee production. This episode includes AI-generated content.