Jacques Mer, former president of the Algarve Film Commission and also of the Alliance Française in the Algarve region, died this Friday, the 10th of September, in Faro, at 88 years old.
According to information from her daughter Melanie Mer on Facebook, the wake will take place this Saturday, the 11th, from 15 pm, at the new Cemetery of Faro, being followed by cremation.
While passionate about cinema and president of Alliance Française, which he chaired in the Algarve since 1997, Jacques Mer was responsible for the dissemination of the 7th Gallic art in our region, namely managing to make the French Film Festival also come to Faro.
In October 2012, in declarations to our newspaper about another edition of the French Film Festival, Jacques Mer was pleased by the success that this initiative had achieved in Faro, arousing the interest and curiosity of viewers. “Since January, people have come to us to find out which films we are going to present, despite the party being always in October,” he revealed.
As head of the Algarve Film Commission, an entity whose main mission is to promote the Algarve for the production of audiovisual works, he was an enthusiastic disseminator of the potential of this region, managing to bring here the footage of many international cinematographic productions.
Anabela Afonso, who was director of the Municipal Theater of Faro, recalls, in a post on Facebook, Jacques Mer as «someone who, not being Portuguese, was a Farense committed, above all to the Culture of our municipality».
«We can thank the persistence and dedication of Jacques Mer for the coming of the French Film Festival to Faro, along with so many other initiatives in which, over the years, he has been involved, always with this desire to build bridges between the cultural universes of these two countries – Portugal and France», he stresses.
“There were many meetings and work meetings that I shared with him, and not once did I see him discouraged, saddened or irritated, even when difficulties and obstacles could have driven away the most believers. Jacques Mer was a living example of that old expression “Whoever does more than whoever can”, concludes Anabela Afonso.
Comments