Black Women are the French Film Industry’s Future – Will Cannes Catch Up?
Noire N’est Pas Mon Metier meaning Being Black Is Not My Job), a project 16 French actresses of African descent authored. They walked down the Cannes red carpet more than a year ago to talk about the project. The actresses shared their experiences in the film industry with sexism and racism making up the subject of the talk.
It occurred at a time when the #OscarsSoWhite and #MeToo movements gained momentum worldwide. The movements saw changes made to the Academy Awards. It was one of a kind because French actresses rarely get noticed with the exception of Aissa Maigra.
Moreover, talking against racism made them susceptible to being blacklisted as the experience of Luc Saint Eloi, an actor, about two decades ago.
Generally, the red carpet experience was received well not just in France, but worldwide. The primary actresses got huge coverage on media with features such as Vogue U.S. and Le Monde, Le Figaro.
The Cannes Film Festival’s president warmly welcomed the actresses. Although the gatekeepers in the French cinema made no promises to the actresses, they were optimistic.
The actresses have been busy working after the release of the book. Whereas some have been lucky to be able to showcase fully-fledged characters, others were reduced to stereotyping the ‘black woman’ over and over again.
Karidja Toure, one of the French actresses featured in the Girlhood film, said that she was good at mimicking ‘African accents.’ However, that is quite revealing because Africa is neither a country nor is there anything like an African accent.
Apart from being covered extensively on media, did the actresses-led movement make any viable contribution to any change? Still longing for the glorious days of the new wave to return, the French cinema is like a huge dinosaur that refuses to die.
The industry is ripped with many issues: it is full of racial stereotypes, produces the same films all the time, which can’t be distributed outside France with much success and stories in the films are boring, often featuring middle-class Parisians with stunted emotions in their thirties.
French movies features black people categorize them into three: illegal migrants, thugs from the banlieues (the projects) or drug dealers, or desperate prostitutes (a category invented specifically for back women).
The three categories picture the pain blacks experience as trauma porn for audiences of other races, who despite their struggles, feel better that at least they’re not suffering as much as the black people.
Although the blockbuster Les Intouchables is plausible for featuring Omar Sy, a black actor, as the magical Negro trope, can’t make it into the American market after remake. That’s attributed to the fact that it’s not just filled with ableism and racism, but looks like a film produced in the 80s.
That explains (partially) why many young French audiences, including the black French people prefer to watch movies on Netflix instead of local films that adamantly showcase them if whatever form, shape or way they deem fit. It also explains why the Cannes Film Festival is persistent in ceasing receipt of film submissions.
Moreover, Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, requested set up of a 225 million euros fund to support the country’s creative industry. He asked European countries to come together and fight against Disney and Netflix media.
The president’s documentary on his 2017 winning elections campaign is on the Netflix platform. The documentary helped enhance his popularity. Since then, Netflix has released its first French film on the platform.
Netflix is bound to win the war between it and the French film industry. It is just a matter of time before that becomes a reality. But, why is the French film industry not making efforts to reshape itself and include all the French people (as well as the blacks) in its stories?
Why can’t the French film industry diversify to beat Netflix in the raging war between the two? Can’t they see the racism and boredom in their films? Can’t they see the need to redefine and reshape the industry?
It could be they do. Just maybe.
The Cannes Film Festival
The epitome of French cinema is the Cannes Film Festival. Most of the films played at the festival are self-absorbed and feature boring stories. Cannes is part of the administrative region known as Provence Alpes Cote d’ Azur where the Rassemblement National aka National Front, the far right party is well-known.
Like Alabama in the 1960s, Cannes is a racist city. A group of black people walking to bars or clubs are denied entry just because of their skin color. Certain French clubs have a percentage of non-white people allowed to enter. Only black security people are always allowed in such clubs.
However, the Cannes has opted to embrace diversity. For instance, a Senegalese actress and director, Maimouna N’Diaye, is a member of the festival’s jury. A film, Atlantiques, produced by a female filmmaker of African descent, Mati Diop, was the first of its kind to be chosen at the Cannes Competition program.
Atlantiques and Les Miserables (produced by Ladj Ly, a black French filmmaker) stereotype blacks as illegal migrants and drug dealers. However, the former is a warm and beautiful film. It doesn’t have the usual clichés seen in French films and tells a bittersweet story about a young woman who comes of age, learning to love herself, sexuality and even choices.
Cannes is slowly making progress towards a diversified industry and films that feature all races in a positive limelight. However, unlike other international festivals, it’s so at a slower pace.
That’s unlike what the black people have access to on YouTube and Netflix; content that showcase them as humans and who they truly are. The kind of content they’re denied in the French film industry.
Will Cannes feature more diversity with an effect as Noire Nest Pas Mon Métier? Will the French film industry feature more films produced by French filmmakers with African descent?
The answer lies in the future and only time will tell. Yes, that’s right. And, the clock is already ticking!
Image credit: Photo by Stephane Cardinale – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images.
By Mercy Adhiambo Oginga
Africa Global News Publication
