Pétanque in Photos, Film, and Video

Pétanque in Photos

THERE ARE SEVERAL excellent compilations of vintage pétanque photographs on the Internet. One of the richest is the collection hosted by Pétanque America; the button below links to this captivating collection.
The FPUSA photo gallery on Smugmug is another perk of FPUSA membership and is available through your FPUSA club. Here you will find fellow FPUSA members from around the corner or across the country. It's a great resource for enjoying the vast differences and great similarities in the game and boules players across the country. The FPUSA Smugmug Guide page explains how to start your own club gallery on the FPUSA Photo Gallery site. Photo courtesy of Coast Multimedia.

Pétanque in Film

FILM AND BOULES share a long and mutually illuminative history. Among the first subjects of the pioneer Lumière brothers were a boules party and a competition filmed in La Ciotât the birthplace of pétanque. The Lumière Project has featured both of these on their YouTube channel. Links to these film clips may be found below. Boules in general and pétanque in particular have made frequent appearances in French cinema over the years. One of the most famous clips is the tramway scene in Marcel Pagnol's 1932 Fanny. The importance of pétanque in daily life is underscored when a tram is stopped dead in its tracks to permit players to complete a game. The link below will take you to a page on the French site Boulistenaute, which in addition to the famous film clip features an article that proposes a novel source for the inspiration for the scene. The movie still depicting the boules game on this page is from yet another Pagnol film, La Gloire de Mon Père. More recently in 2013 Gerard Depardieu appeared in Les Invincibles, a movie set in the world of pétanque featuring Marco Foyot as its technical advisor. At present the movie is unavailable for streaming, rental, or download in the US.
American cinema is largely devoid of pétanque, though the more perspicacious among us may have noted its fleeting appearance in the opening montage of Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris (2011). In a one-off prologue Allen unfurls the charms of the Paris he clearly loves against the lush notes of Sidney Bechet's "Si tu vois ma mère." Iconic Paris rolls across the screen: Seine, Champs Elysées, Montmartre…Somewhere around the 58-second mark, a fog-wrapped Tour Eiffel yields to an allée where a quartet of Frenchmen introduce the American audience to its first demi-portée. And then it's gone, quickly supplanted by a sidewalk café. Just another quintessential Parisian moment in a seemingly endless stream of ochre, viridian, and indigo, indelibly rendered and fixed forever by a master's brush.

Pétanque in Video

FPUSA

THE FPUSA-SPONSORED VIDEO, Pétanque in the USA, was produced and directed by LA-based FPUSA member Art Zuev. It features Art and friends, including actor Dexter Darden. ​

Los Angeles Pétanque Club on France 2 Television and TV5 Monde

ON MARCH 23, 2019, FRENCH television viewers were treated to a glimpse of pétanque LA-style. The Los Angeles Pétanque Club was featured on morning show Télématin France 2 in a segment shot by Claude Budin-Juteau at a club tournament this past February 23rd. The film includes interviews with Club President Chrissy Lion, Club Vice President Pierre Constantin, other members and even out-of-town guests. ​

Valley of the Moon Pétanque Club: The Wine Country Open

Our friends at the Valley of the Moon Pétanque Club in Sonoma, California, were inspired to create this fun video for their signature tournament: the Wine Country Open. Working with a pair of club members who are video professionals (9 Mile Video), it appears that most everyone at VOMPC got in on the act, even three generations of the Menefee Family! Does your club have a video? We'd love to see it and share it with the rest of our members.

Pétanque Amelia Island Open: Provence on Amelia

If you enjoyed the tramway scene in the classic 1932 Fanny, you won't want to miss this updated version from Pétanque Amelia Island Open. Familiar faces include Philippe Boets of Pétanque America as César, Xavier Thibault as Escartefigue, and the members of the Amelia Island Boules Club as "the crowd." 
THE LINKS BELOW ARE FROM our friends at the Portland Pétanque Club. In the first PPC President Steve Walker gives an interview to local KATU-Channel 2 reporter Tammy Hernandez. Not only does Steve give a basic tutorial in the rudiments of pétanque, he highlights the game's attractions for all age groups, the welcoming nature of boulistes, and even gets in some publicity for PPC's signature annual event, the Rose City Open. 
In the second video Steve's at it again this time with Portland's KGW, Channel 8, promoting the game and the Rose City Open, but this time he's joined by Jan Kirtland who's having "my epic year for pétanque" having medalled in tournaments from Maine to California. If your club has a similar news video, let us know and we'll link to it as well. Photo courtesy of Jeed Chaiboonruang.

Pétanque Videos and Video Collections

CONSIDER THIS A LIST of suggestions as it's hardly definitive. There are many sites out there and a bumper crop of pétanque videos available. The French site Boulistenaute is very current, as is Pétanque Génération, which has much of the same material, but in a more readily available format. 
 The Dutch site, Pétanque Forum NL, and PétanqueTube, while not as up to date, have great breadth and depth. As for the Belgian Extreme Pétanque video, it's pétanque meets parkour and we think it looks like a lot of fun.