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France’s César Awards Honors Two Tunisians Women

Canadian-Tunisian Filmmaker Monia Chokri won the César Award for Best Foreign Film, for her feature ‘Simple comme Sylvain’. (AP)
Canadian-Tunisian Filmmaker Monia Chokri won the César Award for Best Foreign Film, for her feature ‘Simple comme Sylvain’. (AP)
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France’s César Awards Honors Two Tunisians Women

Canadian-Tunisian Filmmaker Monia Chokri won the César Award for Best Foreign Film, for her feature ‘Simple comme Sylvain’. (AP)
Canadian-Tunisian Filmmaker Monia Chokri won the César Award for Best Foreign Film, for her feature ‘Simple comme Sylvain’. (AP)

The prestigious Olympia of Paris hosted the 45th edition of the César Awards, which honors achievers in all the sectors of the French cinema, on Friday, February 24. Among tens of international celebrities, the accomplishments of two Arab women were celebrated at the highly-anticipated European event.

Kaouther Ben Hania won the Best Documentary Award for her documentary "Four Daughters" (Les Filles d’Olfa). The work was screened in several festivals and was nominated for the Oscars.

Born in Sidi Bouzid, in 1977, the Tunisian filmmaker studied at the School of Art and Cinema in Tunisia, has several documentaries, took part in a feature film writing workshop funded by Euromed, and collaborated with Al Jazeera Documentary. Kaouther Ben Hania took advantage of her Olympia appearance to raise her voice and angrily call for stopping the children killing in Gaza. “What’s happening there is so horrible. No one can say, ‘I didn’t know.’ This is the first massacre on live stream, live on our telephones,” she said in her speech.

Also, Quebecois-Tunisian Filmmaker Monia Chokri won the César Award for Best Foreign Film, for her feature ‘Simple comme Sylvain’. It tells the story of Sophie, a university professor who lived a peaceful life with her husband, Xavier, until she met Sylvain, the maintenance worker who came to restore their summer house.

Monia was born in Québec, in 1982, to two leftist parents. She studied acting at the Conservatoire d'art dramatique de Montréal. She played many roles in cinema and theater, before directing her first award-winning short film "An Extraordinary Person" in 2013. In 2019, she won the "Un Certain Regard Jury's Coup de Cœur Award" at the Cannes Film Festival.

This year, the participants at the César Awards raised their voice to denounce the silence in face of the sexual harassment that young actresses, filmmakers and producers have been subjected to in the industry. French director Justine Triet's "Anatomy of A Fall" won six trophies, including the Best Film Award at the César festival. The film has already received Cannes’ Palme D’Or last year and has been nominated for the forthcoming edition of the Oscars.

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Varieties

Should You Stretch before Exercise? After? Never? Here’s What to Know

Philadelphia Eagles stretch as they get ready during practice at NFL football training camp, Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP)
Philadelphia Eagles stretch as they get ready during practice at NFL football training camp, Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP)
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Should You Stretch before Exercise? After? Never? Here’s What to Know

Philadelphia Eagles stretch as they get ready during practice at NFL football training camp, Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP)
Philadelphia Eagles stretch as they get ready during practice at NFL football training camp, Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP)

For many people of a certain age, high school gym class began with reaching for their toes. Then, over the years, we were told it was better to stretch after exercise.

It turns out, both those things can be true, but the differing advice has created some confusion.

Stretching can help make you more flexible, improve range of motion in your joints — and feel good. David Behm, who researches human kinetics at Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John’s, Canada, offers this advice on when to stretch and how to do it safely:

Warm up first

It’s almost always good to stretch, but it’s better if you warm up first, said Behm, author of "The Science and Physiology of Flexibility and Stretching." He recommends a light aerobic activity such as jogging, walking or cycling for five or 10 minutes.

Follow that with some static stretching, the traditional way of reaching and holding a position (think back to that gym class). You can then do activity-specific dynamic stretching, in which you warm up the muscles with repetitive movements like leg lifts.

Behm says one minute is "the magic number" for how long to do static stretching per muscle group without fatigue.

Expand your definition of 'stretching'

Should you always stretch before exercising? If it's traditional stretching, not necessarily.

The better question, Behm says, is, "Should people increase their range of motion? Should people have better flexibility? And that is yes, because it helps prevent injuries. It helps with health. But you don’t have to stretch to achieve that."

Resistance training, for instance, can be an effective form of stretching, he said. Doing a chest press increases range of motion in your deltoids and pecs, whether with barbells, dumbbells or machines, so there is no need to stretch beforehand. Just make sure to start with a small amount of weight to warm up and then add more to train.

"You probably don’t have to do extra stretching unless you’re a gymnast, a figure skater, or even a golfer who needs a great range of motion through that swing," Behm said.

Nor do you need to stretch first if you’re going for a leisurely run. Simply start with a slow jog to warm up and then increase the pace.

Don't do it if it hurts

After exercise, "light stretching is OK, as long as you don't reach a point where you're feeling pain," Behm said. Since your muscles will be warm by that point, overdoing it makes you more likely to injure yourself.

Foam rollers can help with muscle recovery and have been shown to increase range of motion as well as stretching.

Do some static stretching before sports

If you’re playing a sport, Behm said, static stretching beforehand helps reduce muscle and tendon injury.

"If you’re going to do an explosive movement, change of direction, agility, sprint, any of these explosive activities that involve your muscles and tendons," he said, "you’re going to be stronger if you do static stretching."

People can especially get in trouble when they go back to a sport they used to play, whether it's tennis, surfing or any sort of team activity.

Also, stretch both sides equally. Lacking flexibility on one side also can lead to injury.

Sounds simple. Why all the confusion? Different studies over the years have either encouraged or discouraged stretching before exercise. Behm says that partly because some studies didn't reflect real-life conditions, or were designed with elite athletes in mind, not regular people.

"If you’re Usain Bolt, it makes a difference," said Behm. Not so much for the rest of us.