Distant Neighborhoods, 8th season! The programming of short films directed by “emerging filmmakers” from the African diaspora in France and the African continent can be seen in theaters from September 25, 2024. It offers four African shorts: The Messenger of God by the Nigerien Amina Mamani Abdoulaye, The Medallion by Ethiopian Ruth Hunduma, Astel of the Franco-Senegalese Ramata-Toulaye Sy and I am afraid to forget your face by Egyptian Sameh Alaa.
A major new feature this year is that these shorts will be accessible to students and teachers for two years as part of the “High school students and apprentice cinema” program in the Auvergne region. “It is a gateway to potentially 20,000 high school students since the program is offered to teachers,” explains Claire Diao, founder and programmer of Quartiers lointains.
Also at their disposal“an educational sheet focused on cinema in order to make people understand that the African countries in which the films take place are contexts”, explains Claire Diao. The main thing being “the staging, the filmmaker’s view of the situations and the cinematographic genres used”.
Alice Diop, César for short film in 2016 with Towards tenderness and Caesar of the first film with Saint Omer in 2023, participated in Quartiers lointains, of which she was also the sponsor in 2023. Ramata Toulaye-Sy, whose first film Banel & Adama was in the running for the 2023 Palme d’Or, is taking part in the 2024 edition.
The 8th season rhymes with Resistances. “Today, aClaire Diao analyzes, The world is changing and full of frictions, regardless of the continent. We are facing different resistances. Whether it is in relation to religion, to a military regime or in relation to a kind of cultural or traditional dogma.”
The films were chosen in partnership with Sauve qui peut the short film, “the association which supports the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, and Acrira, an association based in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, which coordinates the High School Students and Apprentices at the Cinema program”. “Some of these short films have been shown at the Clermont-Ferrand Festival”says Claire Diao.
“This is the case ofAstel of Ramata Toulaye-Sy who won numerous prizes there, and The Medallion by Ruth Hunduma, which won a Special Jury Prize in the international competition this year. It is a documentary. A testimony: a daughter collects her mother’s words about the Red Terror genocide in Ethiopia in the 1970s. In our knowledge of genocides and global conflicts, there is sometimes a bias linked to where we live and our concerns. We always look closer to ourselves, but with Quartiers lointains, we try to look further.”
Two other films complete the program 2024. “The Messenger of God by Nigerien director Amina Mamani Abdoulaye who evokes the kidnapping of young girls by terrorists. They then use them as bait and bomb carriers. This is what we saw, for example, in Nigeria with the jihadist movement Boko Haram.”
We also find I am afraid to forget your face of Sameh Alaa. “The film won the Palme d’Or for short films in 2020, the year of Covid. It therefore went a little unnoticed even though it is the only African short to have received this award,” recalls Claire Diao. “Here, we are in a resistance to the established order: the fact that during mourning, men do not mix with women. What to do then when a man wants to go see the one he loves?”
Distant Neighborhoods was born in 2013. “I used to write a lot about African cinema. From the 2010s, I started writing for The Bondy Blog about French filmmakers who came from working-class neighborhoods. Very quickly, I discovered that many of them had one thing in common: their African origins. In addition, they were in struggles linked to the fact of not having access to subsidies, of not being broadcast on television or in theaters”explains Caire Diao.
“This problem of diffusion, which I thought was specific to African films, was also found in the diaspora. In addition, there was a mutual lack of knowledge: in African countries, there are clichés about France and vice versa. I thought it would be interesting to be able to show different aspects of these two realities. Quartiers lointains was launched to make the distant closer and reveal the common points between these universes, being myself mixed race [franco-burkinabè]“
Furthermore, notes Claire Diao, “It’s really a pivotal moment to be able to support filmmakers at the short film stage and to strengthen them in their position as directors. The status of the short film is always separate“. Even more so in terms of distribution, particularly short films from the African continent. Quartiers Lointains is also about meetings with the public. In a world where we are inundated with images, “That’s what we need most, discussions about films,” estimates Claire Diao. The traveling program, sponsored by Rwandan filmmaker Joël Karekezi (Golden Stallion of Yennenga in 2019 for The Mercy of the Jungle), circulates for a year in France and internationally, including in the United States and African countries.
:quality(50)/2024/09/20/ql8-affichea3-bat-1-66ed9e0405c8a424117061.jpg)
Gender : Drama, Documentary
Filmmakers: Sameh Alaa, Ramata-Toulaye Sy, Amina Abdoulaye Mamani and Ruth Hunduma
Distribution : Salamatou Hassane, Djaoro M’Badi Youssouf, Oumarou Aboulaye Mamani
Country : Niger, Burkina Faso, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Great Britain, France, Senegal, Egypt, Qatar, Belgium
Duration : 1h22
Exit : 25 september 2024
Distributer : Sudu Connection
Synopsis: Resistance has often been spoken of when it comes to war, civil or military. But the actual revolt, the insubordination to what is imposed on us in a family, political, religious or cultural framework is also a form of resistance. Whether they are based in the north or the west of the continent, the protagonists of the four short films of this 8th season of Distant Neighborhoods politically and poetically address several forms of tenacity and insurrection against the established order. They are the heroines and heroes of The Messenger of God by Amina Mamani Abdoulaye, The Medallion by Ruth Hunduma, Astel from Ramata-Toulaye Sy and I am afraid to forget your face Sameh Alaa.
Special sessions:
A preview on the 24th september 2024 at 8:30 p.m. at Saint-André des Arts in Paris
A school screening at the Luxy cinema in Ivry-sur-Seine (94) on Friday 27 september 2024 at 2 p.m.
A public screening at the Cinéma Le Rex in Châtenay-Malabry on Thursday 3 october 2024 at 8:30 p.m.