La Maison Francaise Presents THE BLACK EXPERIENCE IN FRENCH CINEMA

La Maison Française, the Institute of French Studies, and the Department of Cinema Studies at NYU will present The Black Experience in French Cinema, a three-day film festival exploring changing cinematic representations of black identity, April 11-13 (free and open to the public).

The festival will include screenings of documentaries, features, and shorts from different periods and regions, many of which are rarely available in the US. Themes will include the legacy of colonial representations of black French people, housing projects, new intimacies across racial lines, and the African-American experience in France today.

On Thursday, April 11 the festival will focus on the theme "Coming to Terms with the Colonial Experience" with a screening of Afrique sue Seine, the first film ever made by black people, followed by documentaries that deconstruct colonial and racial oppression. At 6:00 p.m., a panel of screenwriters, actors, and scholars will discuss strategies for moving beyond colonialism through cinematic and professional practice.

Friday, April 12 will show films that explore race and gender in France's housing projects and the invention of a new urban French identity inspired by American rap and culture. Friday's panel will discuss how to propose representations of young black people that transcend American tropism and stereotypes.

Saturday, April 13 will feature screenings that depict interracial relationships in France-including the first ever U.S. showing of A Nous Deux France (Let's Measure Up, France!), a comedy-drama set in 1969 Paris portraying the emigration of Africans to France and their relationships with white French women-followed by a panel discussion on sexual and romantic relationships between Black and Whites during the colonial era.

The Black Experience in French Cinema is co-sponsored by Department of French Literature, Thought, and Culture, Institute of African American Affairs, Center for French Language and Cultures. The full program is available below with further information available here.

APRIL 11 - COMING TO TERMS WITH THE COLONIAL EXPERIENCE
Screening 1 - 12:00-2:00 p.m.
Location: La Maison Française of NYU, 16 Washington Mews
Afrique sur Seine (Africa on the Seine), short film by Paulin Vieira, Mamadou Sarr and Melo Kane, 1955 (21 min.)
Lumières Noires (Black Lights), documentary by Bob Swaim, 2006 (52 min.)
Followed by Q&A with Rich Blint

Screening 2 - 3:00-5:30 p.m.
Location: La Maison Française of NYU, 16 Washington Mews
Rue Cases Nègres (Sugar Cane Alley), feature film by Euzhan Palcy, 1983 (103 min.)
Followed by Q&A

Screening 3 and panel discussion - 6:00-9:30 p.m.
Location: NYU Cantor Film Center, 36 East 8th Street
Chocolat (Chocolate), feature film by Claire Denis, 1988 (105 min.)
Introduction and Q&A with Isaach de Bankolé
Panel: How does one move beyond colonialism through both cinematic and professional practice? What was the image of Black people in France at the time? Were Euzhan Palcy and Isaach de Bankolé too early for the French movie scene? How has their career in the United States allowed them to redefine themselves? Is legitimacy constructed differently in the United States?
Moderated by Isabelle Boni-Claverie (screenwriter and director). With Isaach de Bankolé (actor), Alice Diop (director) and Lydie Moudiléno (University of Southern California)

APRIL 12 - FILMING RACE AND GENDER IN THE HOUSING PROJECTS
Screening 1 - 12:00-2:00 p.m.
Location: Michelson Theater, Department of Cinema Studies, 721 Broadway, 6th Floor
Les Misérables, short film by Ladj Ly, 2017 (15 min.)
La Haine (Hate), feature film by Mathieu Kassovitz, 1991 (98 min.)

Screening 2 - 3:00-5:30 p.m.
Location: Michelson Theater, Department of Cinema Studies, 721 Broadway, 6th Floor
May Allah Bless France, feature film by Abd Al Malik, 2014 (95 min.)

Screening 3 and panel discussion - 6:00-9:30 p.m.
Location: NYU Cantor Film Center, 36 East 8th Street
La Mort de Danton (Danton's Death), documentary film by Alice Diop, 2011 (40 min.)
Vers la tendresse (Towards Tenderness), documentary film by Alice Diop, 2016 (64 min.)
Q&A with Alice Diop
Panel: Between American tropism, rap influences and fascination for gangster films, how does one propose representations of young black people that escape stereotypes? Two to three decades after the pioneer Euzhan Palcy, what is the situation of the new generation of black directors?
Moderated by Ed Guerrero (NYU). With Alice Diop (film-director) and Trica Keaton(Dartmouth).

APRIL 13 - NEW INTIMACIES ACROSS THE RACIAL LINE?
Screening 1 - 10:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
Location: NYU Cantor Film Center, 36 East 8th Street
A Nous Deux France (Let's Measure Up, France!), feature film by Désiré Ecaré, 1969 (59 min.)
First screening ever in the USA. Followed by Q&A.

Screening 2 - 12:00-2:00 p.m.
Location: NYU Cantor Film Center, 36 East 8th Street
The Story of a Three-Day Pass, feature film by Melvin Van Peebles, 1968.
Followed by Q&A

Screening 3 and panel discussion - 2:30-6:00 p.m.
Location: NYU Cantor Film Center, 36 East 8th Street
Pour la Nuit, short film by Isabelle Boni-Claverie, 2004 (26 min.)
Mon amie Victoria (My friend Victoria), feature film by Jean-Paul Civeyrac, 2014 (95 min.)
Panel: Forbidden for black men and white women, limited to white men and black women, sexual and romantic relationships between Black and Whites during the colonial era reflected gender- and race-based domination. How has the end of colonization affected these strict rules? Does interracial sex signal the end of race, or does it reproduce old patterns in intimate settings?
Moderated by Frédéric Viguier (NYU). With Cécile Bishop (NYU), Isabelle Boni-Claverie(screenwriter and film director), Sandrine Colard (Rutgers)

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