Women of Africa/Diaspora at the Festival International de Films de Femmes Creteil

WOMEN OF AFRICA/DIASPORA

AT THE FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL DE FILMS DE FEMMES CRETEIL

XI Festival International Films de Femmes 1989

XX Festival International Films de Femmes 1998

XXXII Festival International Films de Femmes 2010

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XI Festival International Films de Femmes 1989

Bérénice Reynaud & June Givanni

Images de femmes noires - Images of Black Women

Etre femme, cinéaste et noire, c’est se trouver dans une situation unique pour donner de nouvelles images à ce qu’on a appelé la “diaspora noire”. Mais pourquoi se fait-il alors que la voix cinéastes noires ait souvent tant de mal à se faire entendre ?

To be a woman, cineaste and black, is to find oneself in a unique situation to be able to provide new images to what is called the “black diaspora”. But why is it then that the voices of black women cineastes often find it so hard to make themselves heard?

- Angela Davis a été invitée par le festival à participé au debat de clôture de la Section Images de Femmes Noires

- Angela Davis was invited to the festival to participate in the closing discussion of the Images of Black Women Section

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Bérénice Reynaud & June Givanni proposent pour illustrer le Cinéma des femmes noires, une serie de 28 films: courts, moyens, longs métrages. Provenance : Etats-Unis, Jamaïque, Grande-Bretagne, Antilles, Afrique, France…

Bérénice Reynaud & June Givanni propose a series of 28 film to illustrate Black Women’s Cinéma: shorts, mediums, longs features. From: United States, Jamaica, Great Britain, the Antilles, Africa, France…

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Contenu de l’article “Images de femmes noires” - Subsections of article “Images of Black Women”

-Plus qu’un accès difficile aux modes de production - Beyond difficult access to modes of production

-Se reconnaître dans leurs images - Recognizing themselves in their images

-Se définir en terme de race…ou de sexe ! - Defining oneself in terms of race…or gender!

-Questionnements - Questioning

-Un cinéma de la diversité et de l’inattendu - A cinema of diversity and the unpredictable

XX Festival International Films de Femmes 1998

Réalisatrices d’Afrique - Women Filmmakers of Africa

- Avant-première nationale du film Mossane de Safi Faye

en présence de la réalisatrice et de la comédienne Isseu Niang

- National preview of the film Mossane by Safi Faye

in the presence of the director and the actress Isseu Niang

-Projection de Daughters of the Dust de Julie Dash - À nos 20 ans

-Screening of Daughters of the Dust by Julie Dash - On our 20th year 

-Projection de Guelwaar par Ousmane Sembene. Suivi d’une rencontre avec Isseu Niang, comedienne.

-Screening of Guelwaar by Ousmane Sembene. Followed by a Q&A with Isseu Niang, actress.

-Sarah Maldoror présente son film "Sambizanga" à l'occasion de la rétrospective Réalisatrices d'Afrique. Dans la Leçon de Cinéma, elle raconte ses débuts à Moscou, sa manière de travailler, ses luttes et ses engagement politiques et son rapport à la poésie et à la littérature, qui sont au cœur de ses films.

-Sarah Maldoror presents her film "Sambizanga" on the occasion of the Réalisatrices d'Afrique retrospective. During the Leçon de Cinéma, Sarah Maldoror talks about her time in Moscow, her way of working, her activism, political commitment, and her use of poetry and literature, which are at the heart of her films.

-Forum Etat des lieux du cinéma africain” : la place des réalisatrices, la relation fictions/documentaires 

Présenté par Michel Amarger, responsable de la section “réalisatrices d’Afrique à RFI et Jacqui Buet, directrice du Festival. Avec Catherine Ruelle, journaliste à RFI, critique de cinéma, membre de l’association “Racines Noires” et les realisatrices de la section “Réalisatrices d’Afrique”

-Forum Overview of the situation of African cinema”: the place of women filmmakers, the relationship between fictions and documentaries

Presented by Michel Amarger, coordinator of the “Women Filmmakers of Africa” section at RFI and Jacqui Buet, director of the Festival. With Catherine Ruelle, journalist at RFI, film critic, member of the “Racines Noires” association and the women of the “Réalisatrices d’Afrique” section

-Soirée de gala “Réalisatrices d’Afrique” - Gala evening “Women Filmmakers of Africa”

Wanjiru Kinyanjui: La Bataille de l’arbe sacré - Battle of the Sacred Tree

Contenu de l’article “Réalisatrices d’Afrique”,  Les images d’Afrique aux féminins pluriels - Subsections of article “Women Filmmakers of Africa”, Images of Africa, women’s multiple perspectives 

-Diversités des cinémas nationaux - Diversity of national cinemas

-Emergences des femmes réalisatrices - Emergence of women directors

-Impulsions sur tous les formats - having a pulse on all formats

-Recherches des sujets efficaces - Research effective topics

-Conquêtes des meilleurs voies - Seizing the best routes

-Retrospective, Safi Faye, ouvrir la voie des femmes - Retrospective, Safi Faye, paving the way for women

-Regards sur l’Afrique - Euzhan Palcy, marraine de la section

XXXII Festival International Films de Femmes 2010

Trans-Europe-Afrique

Whether immigration or travel between the two continents, Europe and Africa, the 32nd edition of the Festival International de Films de Femmes welcomes a number of films this year that reflect this fusion of two worlds. Saturday, the section “Trans-Europe-Africa” opens its doors in the presence of Safi Faye, who has honored us with the presentation of her film “Peasant Letter”.

Gala Trans Europe Africa

The filmmakers from the section, Trans-Europe-Africa : Alla Kovgan, Moira Tierney, Nadia El Fani, Christiane Chabi Kao, Lucie Thierry, Nicoletta Fagiolo, Pascale Obolo, Halida Boughriet, Safi Faye

"Le 32e Festival International de Films de Femmes rend hommage à Safi Faye” - Welcoming of Safi Faye

This evening is dedicated to Africa, to the African filmmakers, and our section Trans-Europe-Africa. For us, Safi Faye is an important role model. In order for African filmmakers to exist, to be able to show their films and lead a tough fight, they sometimes work in isolation, but they also have a great deal of courage, tenacity and talent.

Safi Faye : La Grande Référence - Leçon de cinéma

https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2010/05/safi-faye-role-model.html

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Un cinéma qui participe aux bouleversements du monde

Aujourd'hui, le cinéma africain des femmes, à l'égal de leur confrère réalisateurs, se caractérise par une grande diversité des sujets traités. La transcendance du quotidien de ces femmes « visibles » ou « invisibles » se manifeste par des œuvres de créations fortes et originals pleines d'humour et de poésie.

Douze ans après l'accueil des réalisatrices Africaines à Créteil (en 1998), le Festival renoue avec les réalisatrices confirmées et soutient les nouveaux talents pour un voyage Trans-Europe-Afrique à travers 25 pays du continent, 40 réalisatrices présentes.

Les pays représentés sont l'Afrique du Sud, l'Algérie, le Bénin, le Burkina Faso, le Burundi, la Cameron, le Cap Vert, les Comores, le Congo, la Côte d'lvoire, l'Egypte, le Gabon, la Guinée, le Kenya, le Libéria, Madagascar, le Malawi, le Mali, la Maroc, la Mauritanie, le Mozambique, le Nigeria, le Niger, l'Ouganda, le Rwanda, le Sénégal, le Soudan, le Togo, la Tunisie et le Zimbabwe.

Introduction:

Frieda Ekotto, professeure de théorie du cinéma à l'Université du Michigan, Etats-Unis et critique cinéma.

A cinema that participates in the upheavals of the world

Today, African women's cinema, like their fellow male directors, is characterized by the great diversity of subjects in which they engage. The transcendence of the everyday life of these"visible" or "invisible" women manifests itself through strong and original creative works full of humor and poetry.

Twelve years after welcoming African women filmmakers to Créteil (in 1998), the Festival is reconnecting with established women filmmakers as well as supporting new talents for a trans-Europe-Africa across 25 countries of the continent, with filmmakers present.

The countries represented are South Africa, Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameron, Cape Verde, Comoros, Congo, Côte d'lvoire, Egypt, Gabon, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Morocco, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nigeria, Niger, Uganda, Rwanda, Senegal, Sudan, Togo, Tunisia and Zimbabwe.

Introduction:

Frieda Ekotto,  film critic and professor of film theory at the University of Michigan, USA.

Safi Faye: Role Model | La Grande Référence (32nd Festival International de Films de Femmes 2010) - La Leçon de Cinéma de Safi Faye

African Women in Cinema Collection

Safi Faye : La Grande Référence

 

Translations of the video clips from French by Beti Ellerson, (en Français)*

Also see: “I dared to make a film”: A Tribute to the Life and Work of Safi Faye

 

The tributes to Safi Faye at the 32nd Festival International de Films de Femmes (2-11 April 2010) and the edition in 1998 from 3-12 April demonstrate once again the important place she holds as pioneer in the history of women in cinema. Invited internationally to share her experiences in cinema, Safi Faye often reflects on the environment during that time, nearly forty years ago, in the early 1970s. She recalls the curiosity of her European colleagues in the midst of the “first African woman to dare to make a film."

The 32e Festival International de Films de Femmes gives homage to Safi Faye at a moving reception for her as the guest of honor, among the other women who were also recognized, each receiving a rose. Safi Faye is introduced as “la grande référence” as she is welcomed on stage to a round of applause as she accepts a bouquet of flowers. 

Included below are texts of English translations from French of two video clips of the visual documentation of the event, included on the DailyMotion FilmFemmes Channel**.

The first text, Safi Faye, la grande référence, which includes the video-clip, is the English translation of the video-taped presentation of excerpts of the Gala event. The approximately five-minute clip is part of a longer video document. The begin and end time are as follows: 4:19 - 8:54.

The second text, Safi Faye's Cinema Lesson, which includes the video-clip, is the English translation of the 10-minute video-taped interview with Safi Faye entitled “Leçon de Cinéma de Safi Faye” (Safi Faye’s Cinema Lesson), which is part of the series “Leçon de Cinéma” (Cinema Lesson) a collection of conversations with the most emblematic women filmmakers of the last decade produced by the Festival International de Films de Femmes.

Also see: Prix Safi Faye de la meilleure réalisatrice - Safi Faye Award for the best woman filmmaker - JCC - Journées Cinématographiques de Carthage

https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2015/11/prix-safi-faye-de-la-meilleure.html

 

*Safi Faye : La Grande Référence (en Français)

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xcukme_festimage-3-32e-fiff-de-creteil-94_shortfilms

**DailyMotion FilmFemmes Channel

http://www.dailymotion.com/user/filmsfemmes/1

SAFI FAYE, LA GRANDE RÉFÉRENCE

Introduction

Whether immigration or travel between the two continents, Europe and Africa, the 32nd edition of the Festival International de Films de Femmes welcomes a number of films this year that reflect this fusion of two worlds. Saturday, the section “Trans-Europe-Africa” opens its doors in the presence of Safi Faye, who has honored us with the presentation of her film “Peasant Letter”.

Gala Trans Europe Africa

The filmmakers from the section, Trans-Europe-Africa : Alla Kovgan, Moira Tierney, Nadia El Fani, Christiane Chabi Kao, Lucie Thierry, Nicoletta Fagiolo, Pascale Obolo, Halida Boughriet, Safi Faye [she rises from her seat].

Participants : Tonikara is an association of African women from Mont Mesly [a suburb of Paris near Creteil, where the Festival is held]. Each year we participate in the festival in order to watch the films. My dream is to present a film at the festival one day.

Welcoming of Safi Faye

This evening is dedicated to Africa, to the African filmmakers, and our section Trans-Europe-Africa. For us, Safi Faye is an important role model. In order for African filmmakers to exist, to be able to show their films and lead a tough fight, they sometimes work in isolation, but they also have a great deal of courage, tenacity and talent.

Safi Faye:

Through my research I was able to understand the struggles and concerns of the people of the region from where I come, the peasantry, which are my roots. I pointed out the aspects most open to criticism regarding the conditions of my rural world, which culminated with the film Peasant Letter.

We made the film as a documentary, live, on the spot. We stockpiled bits of unused film and went out to shoot with these little bits of film that we found here and there, as well as from the Louis Lumière Film School from the film shot in 1973. Then in 1974 we realized that we had to create a story around the conditions of this rural life. Thus, we formulated the story of Coumba and Ngor. When we returned to shoot in 1974 we found that Ngor’s shirt was in tatters. So we went about repairing the sleeves. The film was rescued because it was shot in black and white. If it had been shot in color the flaws would have been visible. I had a technical crew at the Louis Lumière Film School eager to have an experience in Africa, and ready to follow me wherever I needed to go.

For each image, each shot, there was only one take. The horses and donkeys refused to obey in the presence of the camera. Therefore, nothing could be cut, as the scenes could not be shot twice.

This is the first time that I saw this film on a large screen and I am seeing again practically my entire family, who have since gone, they are almost all deceased. So this is an emotional moment. They were the people who supported me, who encouraged me—as a woman—to always be ready to work. I come from a matriarchal society, and well, I am a bit touched by all of this.

LEÇON DE CINÉMA DE SAFI FAYE | SAFI FAYE’S CINEMA LESSON

Safi Faye Retrospective and Gala 

Festival International de Films de Femmes 1998

When I arrived in France I lived in the Latin Quarter. Lots of people asked me questions about Africa, for which I had no answer. Because, like you, I learned that Louis XIV was the greatest king of France and I learned the works of Baudelaire and Rousseau, and many others. I realized that I had to deepen my knowledge about Africa. And since all of the specialists were in Europe—Germany and France—all the Africanists were European—who taught me once again about Africa. I wanted to understand the influence of the spirits in indigenous African religions. Therefore, I based all of my studies in anthropology and ethnology on religion, which I call, “primitive” but I will not allow westerners to call it “primitive”.

Hence, at the Sorbonne we had the opportunity once a week—a practice which no longer exists—to use the film equipment, to touch, to explore, to even go through the motions of making a film. This experience allowed me to become familiar with the process, and therefore, I was not afraid to enroll in the Louis Lumière Film School. I knew nothing at all but I was no longer afraid of the imposing equipment. And since I was the first African woman to dare, I got into the school and learned filmmaking and cinematography. And even before completing the first year, I dared to make a film, in which I acted as well. And then people said: “Voila! Now a black woman makes films.”

People have always connected me with Jean Rouch. Jean Rouch was my French father. I met him in 1966, during the First World Festival of Black Arts when I was a young teacher. He told me that I was very charming and that he would like for me to act in his film. Since I was a teacher my father called to tell him that we could only shoot during the Christmas and Easter holidays. And for three years, during the Christmas and Easter vacations we shot the film and I traveled the world. But as I always say, there is the impression that Africans can do nothing without an overseer. Rouch never said that it was because of him that I am a filmmaker and neither have I made that assertion. People make up things, and Africa ends up being viewed in simplistic terms.

I have made many documentaries, docu-dramas, re-enacted, but never with a large mise-en-scène. Around these elements a narrative comes together, often a little love story that connects it. I chose the rural world because I am from the peasantry. My father went to school for a short time; my mother, never. These were the peasants who went to the city to work. My father came back to the village when he was 89 years old, my mother at 72. I wanted to highlight this world, which is the only sector that can actually make Africa self-sufficient, so that it can feed itself. We do not have industries or oil. Therefore, we must farm the land so that future generations of children may eat. I have underscored the rural problem in every way. I have been unrelenting because I am from the peasantry; I am not from the city.

People say all the time, “Safi, the documentarist, she makes documentaries, docu-dramas, (or whatever other new terms), but never fiction films.” I said to myself, well now I will see what this fiction really is. I began to write, search for innovative images—but I am still not convinced that this is fiction. I view fiction in the context of science fiction or war films. I wrote the script, I edited it, I sketched out the images, I asked others their thoughts. And after having completed Mossane, I am not yet persuaded that I have made a fiction film, because my imagination comes from what I have lived, the values that have been instilled in me, the education that I was given. And I think for an African it is very difficult to put a boundary between the fiction and the documentary.

Mossane was not conceived solely by me. If these beautiful images come out of an Africa full of misery and struggle it is because the greatest of German cinematographers, Jürgen Jürges, Fassbinder’s director of photography, read my story, liked it and filmed it. As we both had fourteen-year-old daughters, our love for them was transported onto Mossane. We had a mutual feeling of how we envisioned Mossane. I learned many things during the process. During two years before the shooting of Mossane we went to Senegal to study the lighting and the colors in order to be as close as possible to the story that I had written. I wanted the young girl to be the blackest of black, a blue black. She is so beautiful that the spirits, whose parents died very young, long, long ago, heard about the birth of the most beautiful girl in the world, and came back among the humans to take her away. Mossane did not commit suicide; Mossane followed her destiny. The ancestors came back in search for her, and took her back with them. I set out with this idea and that is what excited me, because I had never seen a visualization of the ancestors and I found an original image in cinema: the dead will return upside down.

Until 1996, I refused to go to festivals, I stayed to myself. People can watch my film and need not have me around. Because I have always felt that a film belongs to the public. It is a bit anguishing for me to be here. One need not explain her conceptualization, her process. The film—either one likes it or not. The story—you like it or you don’t.

Translations of the video clips from French by Beti Ellerson