This is not a secret for anyone. The place of black actors in the French cinema is given a raw deal. Why ? How do you explain this absence ? While the film recently brought to the screen by Jean-Pascal Zadi has chosen to deal with a sense of humor several realities of the interior and with the other, by persons conscious of their blackness, the documentary by Rokhaya Diallo Where are the Blacks ?* zoom in on the back of this décor of films where there are few Blacks. A way to explore and question in the time of their visibility. In a pedagogical concern, the documentary puts on the table the discrimination, prejudices and stereotypes at work in the under-representation of the actors and actresses black in movies and tv series of the Hexagon. “It was really important for me to question their representation on the screens, which are the surfaces where France offers a mirror of itself,” summarizes the filmmaker and journalist.
Filmmaker, journalist, activist, Rokhaya Diallo has directed the documentary “Where are the blacks ? “. On the question of the scarcity of black actors in the French cinema. © GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT / AFP
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echo news
Written, produced and aired on the RMC Story before the sad event that led to the assassination of George Floyd by a police officer of Minneapolis, the documentary Where are the Blacks ? resort this July 14, not like the other, between the constraints related to precautions taken against the Covid-19 and atmosphere of questioning on equality and the reality of racism in our society in the wake of the movement Black Lives Matter. Ask the decor. Last week, the comedy simply black Jean-Pascal Zadi and John Wax has ensured the best start of a French film since January and at the beginning of the year, the 45th ceremony of Caesar was marked by actress Aïssa Maïga calling for more inclusion in the French cinema. A witness in the documentary Where are the Blacks ?, Aïssa Maïga with the actress and producer France Zobda, the former member of the CSA and journalist from the reunion island Memona Hintermann;-Afféjee, actor, screenwriter and film director Lucien Jean-Baptiste, the former Miss France and actress Sonia Rolland, among others. Scope by testimonies of professionals, the inaugural broadcast was, however, remained confidential last march, around 65 000 people, or 0.2% of audience share for the RMC Story. In the following days, during the replay of the documentary, voices of the diaspora and the african continent are high on the social networks to regret not to have seen it and wish that it is visible outside of France.
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the difficulty of being
The documentary begins with a question as trivial : “Are you able to think of 3 actors or actresses black(s)French(s)? “The scarcity of good responses in said long-on a reality that you should know about and resolve as quickly as possible. In a scenography to the clean aesthetic, the filmmaker has taken care to choose the speakers for the course are rich and manifold : “It was really important for me to interview actors and actresses from different generations and who have taken on different hats in their careers in both cinema and television,” says Rokhaya Diallo. So many life stories, poignant and sometimes funny, which reflect the difficulty of imposing itself in the middle of the French cinema. For the filmmaker, the ambition of this documentary is beyond the scope of the invisibility of Blacks in the “7th art” hex : “It is part of the fair representation of all the minorities, for a very long time, have been set aside in the public space French. “In sum, a powerful reality of the history of Blacks in the French cinema, the highlights of which have been, among other things, the César for the best film 2020 for The Wretched of Ladj Ly, and one of the best actor of 2012 by Omar Sy.
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” Where are the blacks ? “, the documentary directed by Rokhaya Diallo on an original idea from Ali Rebeihi and Richard Kone. Tuesday, July 14, 2020 at 13: 35 on RMC Story, visible in replay.
writing will advise you
Rokhaya Diallo : “there is a form of social tolerance for racism” Prejudice on Blacks : Isabelle Boni-Claverie, between pain and resistance Benaouda Lebdai – The trauma of slavery is still present Quiriny – anti-Racist, you lose your cold-blooded “simply black” : a comedy in nuance and freedom
