BLACK CAMERA. La noire de…, La passante and Many Others: Framing Cinematic Representations of Afro-Descendant Women, Identity, and Positionality in France by Beti Ellerson (Fall 2022)

BLACK CAMERA

La noire de…, La passante and Many Others:

Framing Cinematic Representations of Afro-Descendant Women, Identity, and Positionality in France

by Beti Ellerson

Volume 14, Number 1, Fall 2022, pp. 334-348

Abstract

The influential film La Noire de… by Ousmane Sembene released in 1966, offers a range of themes for a discussion on afro-descendant women and their myriad experiences in relationship to France. The project that this article undertakes encompasses the period around the time of its release to the present. The challenge that it lays for itself is imbedded in a caveat posed as a question: What does the title even mean in the context of a “France” and more particularly a “Paris” that is often viewed as a “fantasy,” but is a real, concrete place—with its contradictions and faults, promise and hope? Who is this discursive cohort of afro-descendant women—negotiating their place in the country/the capital: as student, expatriate, citizen, first-generation diasporan, third-culture “glocal” transplant, traveler, immigrant, migrant? The films selected to problematize these questions set the framework for this discussion.

 
- Negotiating In-Between Identities
- Multiculturalism and French Universalism

- Afro-Descendant Women, Film Activism, and Representation
- Sarah Maldoror: Linking Generations

Published by Indiana University Press
URL: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/861216

Maïmouna Doucouré: Hawa. Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) 2022

Maïmouna Doucouré: Hawa

Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) 2022

Hawa de Maïmouna Doucouré, coproduit par Amazon Studios, est en compétition de la 46ème édition du Festival international du film de Toronto (TIFF) 2022.

Hawa, une adolescente de 15 ans, part à la recherche d’un nouveau tuteur quand sa grand-mère, avec qui elle vit, tombe gravement malade. Le jour où elle apprend qu’une star internationale fait un déplacement en France, elle se lance dans une impossible quête afin de la convaincre de l’adopter.

Hawa by Maïmouna Doucouré, co-produced by Amazon Studios, is in competition at the 46th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) 2022.

Hawa, who is 15 years old sets out in search of a new guardian after her grandmother, with whom she lives, becomes seriously ill. The moment she learns that an international star will be traveling to France, she embarks on an impossible quest to convince her to adopt her. 

The Act of Breathing: Monique Mbeka Phoba, curator/programmatrice (Brussels/Bruxelles) 23.06-31-07 2022

The Act of Breathing:  Monique Mbeka Phoba, curator/programmatrice

(Brussels/Bruxelles)

23.06-31-07 2022

Source: Cinematek - YouTube

Conversation entre Monique Mbeka Phoba et le réalisateur, acteur, poête Nganji Mutiri : "Toni Morrison dit : "Si vous pensez qu'un livre manque, écrivez-le vous-même." J'ai donc pris mes responsabilités. Sans me rendre compte qu'un film belgo-congolais n'avait pas été réalisé depuis longtemps. Je comprends aussi que c'est presque un passage obligé de rester proche de ce que l'on connaît bien au premier film. Mais je n'ai pas envie de remplir la case diversité. Juwaa n'est pas une leçon d'histoire, mais une histoire singulière. Amani et Riziki sont Amani et Riziki, ils ne représentent pas tous les Congolais. Ils ne le peuvent pas non plus. Ce que je crois et pense n'est pas ce que ma sœur croit et pense, bien que nous ayons grandi ensemble. Il existe déjà de grandes différences entre frères et sœurs au sein d'une même famille, alors pourquoi mettre tout un peuple dans le même sac ? Parce qu'il y a un manque de représentation et de diversité dans le cinéma et la télévision, cela se produit encore. Dommage, car dans une salle de cinéma, en compagnie de personnes que vous ne connaissez pas, vous pouvez être profondément ému par des personnages iraniens, coréens, français ou belges dont la religion, la culture, la couleur de peau ou les préférences sexuelles sont complètement différentes. C'est la magie du cinéma.” Nganji Mutiri dans BRUZZ.

The Act of Breathing offers a retrospective of 26 films selected by Monique Mbeka Phoba (23.06-31.07) and the exhibition of 10 in-situ works of art at the Asiat military base in Vilvoorde. At the same time, three other artists will meet in the 'Europa' space of Bozar in Brussels, at the exit of the CINEMATEK movie theatres. Orchestrating the narrative of the project are curators Sorana Munsya and Evelyn Simons. Living Traces, a bridging project between Kinshasa and Brussels, is articulated around various multidisciplinary artistic proposals that will be held between the two capitals between March 2022 and March 2023. The project reflects the desire of KANAL-Centre Pompidou to broaden people's perception by inviting them to discover the artistic diversity of the Congolese, Belgian and Belgian-Congolese communities.

Interview avec/with Monique Mbeka Phoba

 

 Généalogie d’un cinémabelgo-congolais 14.07.2022

 

Alice Diop: Saint Omer - La Biennale di Venezia 79 - 2022

Alice Diop

Saint Omer

La Biennale di Venezia - 79

2h02min - France - Fiction - 2022

Synopsis

Rama, a novelist in her thirties, attends the trial of Laurence Coly at the court of Saint-Omer. The defendant is accused of killing her 15 month-old daughter, abandoning her on a beach in northern France at the rising tide. From this story Rama would like to write a contemporary adaptation of the ancient myth of Medea. But during the course of the trial, nothing goes as planned. About to become a mother herself, ultimately, this closed session proceeding brings into relief her own relationship to motherhood.

Rama, romancière d’une trentaine d’années, assiste au procès de Laurence Coly aux assises de Saint-Omer. Celle-ci est accusée d’avoir tué sa fille de quinze mois en l’abandonnant sur une plage du nord de la France, au moment où la marée montait. De cette histoire, Rama voudrait écrire une adaptation contemporaine du mythe antique de Médée. Mais au cours du procès, rien ne se passe comme prévu. C’est finalement son propre rapport à la maternité que le huis clos du procès vient questionner.

Co-written by novelist Marie NDiaye and film editor Amrita David

Regards afro-féminins ⁄ Afro-vrouwelijke blik (Belgique | Belgium)

Regards afro-féminins ⁄ Afro-vrouwelijke blik

Source: cinematek.be. Regards afro-féminins LINK

Dans Lula, une jeune femme de dix-huit ans ne respire que pour le hip hop. Amour, amitié, activisme : Nila les désire tous dans Ata ndele ! Dans Girl Fact la découverte d’images traumatisantes sur le viol des femmes au Kivu en 2012 pousse Mualaja à se lancer dans la production d’un court-métrage, au regard féminin. Olongo est considéré comme un des meilleurs griots de deuil.

Séance du 28.07 suivie d’une rencontre entre Monique Mbeka Phoba, Malkia Mutiri et Mualuja 

Lula

⁄ 10' ⁄ ST-OND: –

Ladi Bidinga Mpoyi, Belgique - België 2008, Babetida Sadjo, Bankeni Bokito, Julie Quiriny

Ata ndele

⁄ 19' ⁄ ST-OND: –

Malkia Mutiri, Belgique - België 2020

Girl Fact

⁄ 19' ⁄ ST-OND: –

Maël Lagadec, Belgique - België 2017, Ted Bwatu, Monica Kamara, Angela Monteiro

Olongo

couleur - kleur

⁄ 23' ⁄ ST-OND: –

Clarisse Muvuba-Mwimbu, La République Démocratique du Congo - Democratische Republiek Congo 2012, Deb's Bukaka, Maguy Kalomba, Starlette Mathata

IIFF International Images Film Festival for Women (Zimbabwe) 2022 CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS IS OPEN!

IIFF 2022 CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS IS OPEN!

Calling all Zimbabwean filmmakers!

Submit your film to

International Images Film Festival for Women

GO TO WEBSITE TO DOWNLOAD APPLICATION FORM:

https://icapatrust.org/news/iiff-2022-call-for-submissions-out/

Deadline: 15 August 2022

The International Images Film Festival for Women (IIFF) is an internationally recognised festival held to inspire positive images of women, interrogate, debate and celebrate the world of women, as well as the communities that women live in through films that exhibit gender sensitive narratives. The International Images Film Festival for Women (IIFF) was founded in 2002. IIFF is the only women’s festival South of the Sahara and has become an integral part of the local and regional film calendars and is a focal point for Pan-African film makers. The focus of IIFF is to show films that depict women in a positive light as well as films where men are shown advancing the causes/rights of women. Workshops and special discussions are also held during the festival. The theme for the 19th edition of the International Images Film Festival for Women (IIFF) 2022 is Women Crossroads.

We are looking for films that;

show women's contribution to a better society and world

must be about a woman and have at least one female lead role

engage with global issues and how they affect women

focus on the journey of African women

are about allies for African and African diaspora women

Submission Requirements

Completed entry form

A password protected preview of the film (Vimeo link or dropbox).

Digital press kit. The press kit should include three high resolution colour stills, full cast/crew list, directors statement, film synopsis. Posters are welcome but cannot be substituted for stills.

Please email all materials to reception@icapatrust.org or whatsApp +263774717190

Entry Requirements

Films must not be available on the internet.

Films should not have been premiered or screened in Zimbabwe 3 months prior to festival.

Films must have been produced between January 2017 and June 2022.

All non-English language films must have legible English subtitles.

You may submit email with mp4 or mov to reception@icapatrust.org via Wetransfer,or Dropbox

Dates

The deadline for submission is August 15, 2022.

Festival Dates 23 November -26 November 2022.

* For further enquiries you send an email to reception@icapatrust.org or a text message using WhatsApp to +26377471719

Farida Benlyazid: A Door To The Sky (Women’s Stories from the Global South (& To Whom They Belong)

Farida Benlyazid: A Door To The Sky

(Women’s Stories from the Global South (& To Whom They Belong)

When she finds out her father is dying, Nadia, a Moroccan émigré to France, returns to Fes to say goodbye. At her father’s funeral, she hears a voice chanting the Quran and develops a friendship with the woman singing it.

As the friendship between the two women grows, Nadia is inspired to turn the house she has inherited from her father into a shelter for Muslim women. A beautifully told story that combines spirituality with social and economic concerns in Morocco, Door to the Sky interrogates the power of return and rediscovery.

https://www.watershed.co.uk/whatson/11268/a-door-to-the-sky

Image: A Door to the Sky by Farida Benlyazid