This is not a calendar, but a political statement. The From’ Girls calendar defends French values and art de vivre.
Profits will be donated to the Association for Local Cheeses (Association des fromages de terroir) to help fund their fight for biodiversity, guaranteeing the beauty of the French countryside and the quality of its cheeses.
This independence and freedom of speech allows them to denounce how multinational companies that are progressively appropriating the French soil by discreetly buying out small producers. The risk of standardization is real, only 10% of natural prairies remain, with only 11% of cheeses produced from raw milk, and only 3% by farmers. They won’t survive for long against the growing cheese industry. Raw milk cheeses are part of French culture. The French cheese heritage is a monument that must be conserved and transmitted.
Véronique Richez Lerouge, President of the Association of Local Cheeses, who dreamt up the calendar, has spent six years fighting to save and preserve the centuries-old French tradition of producing raw milk cheeses.
The 2011 calendar recreates 12 scenes from French history, from the Middle Ages to the present, including the Renaissance and the Revolution. 12 young and sexy women each present a French cheese, including livarot, camembert and banon.
The photographer is Philippe Serieys who first began working in 1984 as Helmut Newton’s assistant before working as his partner until 2003. He then started working as a set photographer and for one year worked on Zulawski’s movie “Infidelité” starring Sophie Marceau.
After running the photo department of the French daily France Soir, he created his own agency, “Rue des Pommiers”.
The models photographed were all non-professional volunteers whose requirement was: to love cheese, and if possible originate from a region where the cheese is produced and be able to talk about them.
Bernard Gallissaires
Calendar price: 18 euros 75
