Euzhan Palcy honorée. Euzhan Palcy: acceptance speech during the medal of recognition ceremony at the National Assembly | Discours d'Euzhan Palcy lors de la remise de la médaille de l'Assemblée Nationale

Euzhan Palcy honorée

Euzhan Palcy: acceptance speech during the medal of recognition ceremony at the National Assembly | Discours d'Euzhan Palcy lors de la remise de la médaille de l'Assemblée Nationale

Wednesday | Mercredi 3 mai 2023

Image: francetvinfo.fr

En français: voir vidéo ci-après

A very touching, moving acceptance speech by Euzhan Palcy

Translation from French by Beti Ellerson

She is indeed the pioneer, the trailblazer for afro-descendant women of France, the French Antilles and beyond!

It's a bit heart-warming. I recently had the honor of receiving an honorary Oscar award, that only one other Frenchwoman has received. I’m speaking about a great woman, our dear Agnès Varda. This recognition gives me great pride and pleasure. But it is one thing to be recognized by one's peers in Los Angeles, though a very different thing to be recognized by one's own in France. And while this recognition reverberated in the international press, when I returned to my country there was nothing or very little. My first film Sugar Cane Alley made me the first black woman to receive a Silver Lion in Venice. And the first also to be awarded a César almost 40 years ago.

Do I have a mission when I create? Yes I do, I create for diversity and more precisely diversity in France. For me, to make films is to discover each other, to be recognized by each other, to accept each other, to come together. When we know the other, we're no longer afraid of them and when we're no longer afraid, we are enriched, we grow up, we pass it on. Very early on I learned two things, that cinema can change the world, and from Aimé Césaire my spiritual father, who said in the depths of despair poetry is a miraculous weapon. And in turn, I wanted to, in my own way, make my cinema a miraculous weapon. The road was scattered with stumbling blocks from the start; at the age of 10, shocked by the fact that my brothers and sisters “nègres”—and I know that word offends some of you, but I use it in good spirit—I find it charged with both poetry and history. So my brothers and sisters “nègres” were conspicuous by their absence from the screens—the large ones and the small ones—I was torn between the pleasure and the fascination that was exerted on me by the films I saw and at the same time the persistent wound of this exclusion.

My relationship with cinema, my desire to do it, have been shaped by this paradox, and throughout my practice as a filmmaker, in Martinique, Guadeloupe, Los Angeles, South Africa, Reunion or Paris, this paradox has never left me. I didn't want to make of myself a pure and hard militant filmmaker. I wanted to approach this problem from various angles, whether historical fiction, animated film, comedy or documentary. When I devoted a few years of my life to dissidents, those resistance fighters that Metropolitan France didn't want to recognize. I wanted my tribute to them to go well beyond a simple documentary and it was in this same place that once the film was completed, I managed to bring these very old ladies and these very old gentlemen who at the twilight of their lives finally obtained the recognition from the institutions of the country for which they had fought. In this time of hatred and darkness, to quote Aime Cesaire once again, we need to work together more than ever, and above all I would like to add, to remember one thing, which has always haunted me, we are only fragile voyagers on this earth. I also say that life for us is not a given, otherwise no one would want to die; it is loaned to us, so let's live well, let's try to work together and love each other. So that we can enrich each other. So it's a special day for me since it concretizes this recognition, no longer that of my peers wherever they are from, but from my fellow citizens, and it is for me from this particular desire, that I accept this medal today with such pride. Thank you.

Rahma Benhamou El Madani: The Salt Pact | Le pacte de sel

Rahma Benhamou El Madani: The Salt Pact | Le pacte de sel

Partager le sel, manger le sel de la vie lie l'un à l'autre. Le voisinage est sacré. La voisine connait nos secrets, n'oubliera jamais les pleurs des enfants, leur douleur, leur mort. La couleur de leur peau, la raideur ou non des cheveux. La voisine sait le goût du sel, l'aventure de l'exil. La terre, cette terre qui nous lie nous rendrait-elle nos souvenirs communs ancestraux ?

***

Sharing the salt, eating the salt of life links one to the other. The neighborhood is sacred. The neighbor knows our secrets, will never forget the children's cries, their pain, their death. The color of their skin, the stiffness or not of their hair. The neighbor knows the taste of salt, the adventure of exile. Would the earth, this earth that connects us, give us back our common ancestral memories? 

Quelques réflexions | Some thoughts

Je découvrais le Maroc et l’Atlas à l’âge de 10 ans pendant les vacances d’été. Mes racines algériennes seront coupées douloureusement. Je tente de renouer avec ces racines à travers mes films. J’ai mis beaucoup de temps à trouver cet équilibre car les anciens ne se rendent pas compte que leurs chemins nous façonnent et qu’ils doivent nous laisser des traces pour ne pas perdre la mémoire. C’est ce que je tente de retrouver, la mémoire de notre monde entremêlé l’un à l’autre. L’histoire du Maroc, de l’Algérie et aussi de la France dans son rapport à ces deux pays.

***

I discovered Morocco and the Atlas at ten years old during the summer holidays. My Algerian roots have been painfully severed. I try to reconnect with these roots through my films. It took me a long time to find this equilibrium because the elders do not realize that their paths shape us and that they must leave traces for us, so that these memories are not lost. This is what I try to find again, the memory of our world intertwined with each other. The history of Morocco, of Algeria and also of France as it relates to these two countries.

***

Very powerful words by Rahma Benhamou el Madani

Translation from French by Beti Ellerson in BledNews - 7 June 2023

https://bled.news/trois-questions-a-la-realisatrice-rahma-benhamou-el-madani/

It is in Morocco that the Franco-Moroccan filmmaker, Rahma Benhamou el Madani chose to organize the preview of her latest documentary Le Pacte de Sel | The Salt Pact where she recounts her return to the source, in her native Algerian village which she left at the age of 6 to go to France.

BledNews: If you were asked to talk about your documentary The Salt Pact in a few words, what sets it apart from your previous work?

RB-E: It's sensitive! From all points of view: the sensorial, the effect of memory, the personal, the humane. I am in the image, behind the camera and in front of it. It's my most intimate film. And it is also the one that makes me sad at the moment because of the separation of my two identities.

BledNews: The situation of Moroccan families expelled from Algeria continues to make headlines. Is this what you wanted to allude to in The Salt Pact.

RB-E: I wanted to lift the ban on returning to Algeria. I grew up with the fear of Algeria. Because of the media. And fortunately my family had good relations with their neighbors. A stupid nostalgia and I wanted to see with my own eyes.

BledNews: To be a woman, of Moroccan origin, especially in the world of cinema in France. Are they two major obstacles or two formidable challenges?

RB-E: Honestly, it depends on with whom you associate. And especially the principles that are shared, or not. As far as I am concerned, I made choices very early on. I chose the most difficult path, the one passed on by my parents. Whenever I had a doubt I thought of them. So being Franco-Moroccan is an interesting challenge and at the same time I had so many obstacles as soon as I left the family sphere for my studies and then for my work. Structural racism in France is a reality.

Interview by LA

 Rahma Benhamou El Madani:  Le pacte de sel

Rahma Benhamou El Madani: The Salt Pact 

Sabrina Hammoum: ELLES - Vues d’Afrique 2023 - Prix Agir pour l’égalité remis par le CECI | Act for Equality Award presented by CECI

Sabrina Hammoum

ELLES

Vues d’Afrique 2023

Elles, de Sabrina Hammoum Prix Agir pour l’égalité remis par le CECI 

Elles, by Sabrina Hammoum - Vues d’Afrique 2023 - Act for Equality Award presented by CECI

TV series - 48min x 12 episodes - 2023

Why are you interested in women as a collective rather than individual initiatives?

It was the conceptual framework, because I am convinced that there is strength in numbers. I am passionate about all kinds of information, about history, about philosophy. I wanted to understand how women come together to improve their situation and society as a whole. It is a feminism that serves everyone. I believe in alliances, in community. Together, we can change things. I also had an extraordinary team and I felt that our approach had an impact on all of us.

***

Pourquoi t’être intéressée à des collectifs de femmes plutôt qu’à des initiatives individuelles ?

C’était à la base du concept parce que je suis convaincue que le nombre fait la force. Je suis une grande passionnée d’information, d’histoire, de philosophie. J’avais envie de comprendre comment des femmes s’unissent pour améliorer leur sort et par le fait même, la société. C’est un féminisme qui sert à tout le monde. Je crois aux alliances, à la communauté. Ensemble, on peut changer des choses. J’ai d’ailleurs eu une équipe extraordinaire et j’ai senti que nos démarches avaient eu un impact sur nous.

https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2023/04/15/5-questions-a-sabrina-hammoum-realisatrice-et-scenariste-delles

Translation from French by Beti Ellerson

Sarah Maldoror: Luanda hosts an exhibition of her works for the first time in Africa | Luanda acolhe, pela primeira vez em África, exposição sobre cineasta francesa

Sarah Maldoror: Luanda hosts an exhibition of her works for the first time in Africa

 Luanda acolhe, pela primeira vez em África, exposição sobre cineasta francesa 

Photo credit: B. H. Nicolaisen

https://mag.sapo.pt/cinema/atualidade-cinema/artigos/luanda-acolhe-pela-primeira-vez-em-africa-exposicao-sobre-cineasta-francesa-sarah-maldoror

The work of French filmmaker Sarah Maldoror, who was married to the first president of the MPLA, the nationalist Mário Pinto de Andrade, arrives in Luanda on Thursday, through the exhibition “Cinema Tricontinental”, for the first time in Africa.

With an opening scheduled for April 28, the exhibition curated by François Piron and Annouchka de Andrade will be on display at the Iron Palace, after its exposition at the Palais de Tokyo, in Paris, and Torreão Nascente da Cordoaria Nacional, in Lisbon.

The exhibition celebrates and recognizes an icon who was a pioneer in visualizing the struggle of the Angolan people for independence on the international stage, using cinema as a weapon.

The proposal focuses on “walking through a landscape – in effect, here, a landscape of films – mixing animated images, documents, correspondence, photographs and poetry”.

A space will be devoted to the connection that the filmmaker established with Angola through the testimony of two emblematic personalities, the writer Luandino Vieira and, above all, the intellectual and politician Mário Pinto de Andrade, her lifelong companion.

In addition, there will be 'master classes', a round table and film screenings, as well as guided tours in the month of May.

With more than 45 films, of various genres, and many other projects that she did not complete, none of which “completely obeys the laws of the cinematographic genre – documentary, fiction, portrait, landscape, among others –, but all of them are similar in their capacity to place poetry before the word, to fight prejudice and racism and never sacrifice the everyday experience of people's lives in favor of ideas”.

***

Exposição “Cinema Tricontinental” celebra e reconhece cineasta pioneira que apresentou na cena internacional a luta do povo angolano pela sua independência.

O trabalho da cineasta francesa Sarah Maldoror, que foi casada com o primeiro presidente do MPLA, o nacionalista Mário Pinto de Andrade, chega na quinta-feira a Luanda, através da exposição “Cinema Tricontinental”, pela primeira vez em África.

Com abertura marcada para 28 de abril, a exposição com curadoria de François Piron e Annouchka de Andrade vai estar patente no Palácio de Ferro, depois de passar pelo Palais de Tokyo, em Paris, e Torreão Nascente da Cordoaria Nacional, em Lisboa.

A exposição celebra e reconhece um ícone que foi pioneiro em apresentar na cena internacional a luta do povo angolano pela sua independência, usando o cinema como uma arma, segundo um comunicado da organização do evento.

A proposta centra-se numa “deambulação numa paisagem – com efeito, aqui, uma paisagem de filmes – misturando imagens animadas, documentos, correspondência, fotografias e poesia”.

Será consagrado um espaço à ligação que a cineasta estabelecia com Angola através do testemunho de duas personalidades emblemáticas, o escritor Luandino Vieira e, sobretudo, o intelectual e político Mário Pinto de Andrade, seu companheiro de toda a vida, refere a nota.

À margem da exposição vão realizar-se ‘master classes’, uma mesa-redonda e exibições de filmes, bem como visitas guiadas no mês de maio.

Com mais de 45 filmes, de vários géneros, e outros tantos projetos que não concluiu, nenhum “obedece completamente às leis do género cinematográfico – documentário, ficção, retrato, paisagem, entre outros –, mas todos eles se assemelham no cuidado que demonstram em colocar a poesia à frente do discurso, em combater o preconceito e o racismo e em nunca sacrificar a experiência quotidiana da vida das pessoas em prol das ideias”, realçam os organizadores. 

Natyvel Pontalier: Sur le fil du zénith (Towards the Zenith) - Ciné-rencontre 2023

Natyvel Pontalier

Sur le fil du zénith (Towards the Zenith)

Ciné-rencontre 2023

Documentaire de creation - 2021 - 55’ - Gabon

https://www.lille.fr/Evenements/Cine-rencontre-Sur-le-fil-du-Zenith

Je viens d’un peuple - les Fangs - où les morts ne quittent jamais les vivants. Mais depuis que nous sommes devenus chrétiens nous n’arrivons plus à les entendre. 

Perdue entre ce que je sais et ce que je vois, entre l’ici bas et l’au-delà, je mène une quête initiatique qui me permet de révéler notre histoire, celle qui n’a pas été transmise.

I come from the Fang people, where the dead never leave the living. However, since our conversion to Christianity, we can no longer hear them.

Lost between what I know and what I see, between here below and the beyond, I journey on an initiatory quest in order to reveal our story; the story that has not been transmitted.

Excerpts of an interview from the Tënk Blog. Translation from French by Beti Ellerson

https://leblogdetenk.fr/sur-le-fil-du-zenith-de-natyvel-pontalier/

Tënk : Peux-tu nous présenter ton film ?

Natyvel Pontalier : Pour mon film “Sur le fil du zénith”, je suis partie de la perte d’un objet ancestral, le Byeri. C’est un objet rituel qui était au fondement des croyances de mon clan, de ma famille. J’ai appris la perte de cet objet il y a quelques années, et ça m’a amenée à me questionner sur l’évangélisation et la colonisation du Gabon. Il y avait aussi l’actualité autour de la restitution des biens coloniaux qui me questionnait beaucoup. Ce sont ces deux questionnements qui m’ont animée, et qui m’ont permis de relier mon expérience personnelle à la “Grande Histoire”.

Tënk: Could you tell us about your film?

Natyvel Pontalier: For my film “Sur le fil du zénith”, I started with the loss of an ancestral object, the Byeri. It is a ritual object which was the foundation of the beliefs of my clan, of my family. I learned about the loss of this object a few years ago, and it led me to question myself about the evangelization and colonization of Gabon. There was also the controversy around the restitution of colonial property which provoked me to ask questions as well. These are the two main issues that spurred my critical inquiry, and which allowed me to link my personal experience to the “Great History”.

 

***

Tënk : “Sur le fil du zénith” s’ouvre sur une séquence de rêve, peux-tu nous parler de la place du rêve dans ton film ?

Natyvel Pontalier : Dans le cadre de ce film, le rêve occupe une place importante parce qu’il fait partie de la cosmogonie de mes ancêtres au Gabon, et c’était important de rester fidèle à ces traditions dont parle le film. Le rêve est un moyen pour les ancêtres de nous initier, de transmettre une histoire, ou de nous projeter vers le futur. 

Et puis l’idée aussi, c’était d’intégrer des séquences de rêve ou des restitutions de rite d’initiation pour brouiller l’aspect temporel et créer un décalage. Sur l’ensemble du film, j’avais une démarche de déréalisation qui se joue dans la narration, mais aussi à travers le dispositif filmique avec des ralentis. Je voulais que les spectateurs perdent leurs repères pour qu’ils puissent accepter ces histoires-là et croire à des choses qui ne sont pas concrètes.

 

Tënk: “Sur le fil du zénith” opens with a dream sequence, can you tell us about the place of dreams in your film?

Natyvel Pontalier: Within the film structure, the dream occupies an important place because it is part of the cosmogony of my ancestors in Gabon, and it was important to remain faithful to these traditions about which the film speaks. Dreams are the means through which the ancestors initiate us, how they transmit a story, how they project us into the future. 

The idea also was to integrate the dream sequences, the recovery of initiation rites, in order to blur the temporal aspect and to create a time-lag. Throughout the film, I had an approach of derealization that plays out in the narration, but also through the use of slow motion. I wanted the spectators to go beyond what they know in order to accept these stories and believe in things that are not concrete.

***

Tënk : Tu te mets toi-même en scène dans le film, pourquoi ce choix ?

Natyvel Pontalier : L’idée du film c’était de plonger dans ma tête, dans mes questionnements, pour éviter d’avoir un point de vue ethnographique. J’avais besoin d’assumer ma place, d’assumer mon regard, ma position d’entre-deux, d’être autant ici que de là-bas. C’est pour ça que c’était important pour moi de me mettre en scène. 

Dès l’écriture du film, j’avais déjà des envies de scènes: moi devant un miroir, moi en train de faire des soins, parce que c’était des réminiscences, des choses que j’avais déjà vues. Ce qui fait de ce film quelque chose de différent, c’est qu’il s’agit de mon point de vue, avec mes expériences et mon histoire. Et puis comme la matière du film est assez hétérogène, il fallait construire la narration de façon à ce qu’on retrouve ma présence par la voix off, mais aussi à travers ma présence physique et mon regard.

Tënk: You put yourself in the story, why this choice?

Natyvel Pontalier: The idea of the film was to plunge into my head, into my questionings, to avoid having an ethnographic point of view. I needed to take responsibility, to accept my place, to assume my gaze, my in-between position, to be as much from here as from there. Which is why it was important for me to put myself inside the film. 

Right from the beginning of the creation of the film script, I already had thoughts about what I wanted for the scenes: me in front of a mirror, me doing treatments, because they were reminiscences, things that I had already seen. What gives this film its specificity is that it is from my point of view, about my experiences and about my story. And since the material of the film is rather disparate, the narration had to be constructed in such a way that my presence is found at the same time through the voiceover, as through my physical presence and through my gaze.

***

 

Tënk : Justement, ta voix nous guide à travers le film, comment a-t-elle évolué aux différentes étapes du projet ?

Natyvel Pontalier : L’écriture de la voix-off s’est construite en parallèle du montage du film. C’est ma voix intérieure qui interroge ce qui est vécu. Elle apporte une distance, voire une dissonance, par rapport à ce que l’on voit et ce qu’on entend. Le ton de ma voix a la couleur de l’émotion de ce que je raconte. Elle prend tour à tour la forme d’une adresse, celle d’une introspection et celle d’une conteuse. Le récit se déploie suivant l’état de mes recherches, qui parfois nous laissent dans le doute, en suspens, puis ouvre à une autre étape qui nous pousse à continuer le voyage… 

Tënk: In fact, your voice guides us through the film, how did it evolved throughout the different stages of the project?

Natyvel Pontalier: The writing of the voice-off was constructed parallel with the film editing. It is my inner voice that questions what is being experienced. It brings a distance, even a dissonance, in relation to what we see and what we hear. The tone of my voice has the color of the emotion of what I relate. It alternately takes the form of a discourse, that of an introspection and that of a storyteller. The story unfolds according to the stages of my research, which sometimes leaves us in doubt, in suspense, then opens into another stage which pushes us to continue the journey...