The text is signed by Olivier Assayas, Mathieu Kassovitz, Stomy Bugsy, Julien Leclercq, Firmine Richard, Olivier Marchal, Aïssa Maïga, Eriq Ebouaney, Sonia Rolland, Edouard Montoute, Jimmy Jean-Louis, Gabrielle Lazure… and denounces the “invisibility of actors, directors and producers ”from the French overseas departments and territories and from African and Asian immigration in French cinema. Taking advantage of the next Cesar ceremony, this Friday, February 28, the forum regrets that France "maintains its actors of color in insignificant roles which will never justify any nomination for the Cesars".
While criticizing the “secondary and stereotypical roles” to which actors from immigrant backgrounds are confined, the signatories hope that the announced renewal of the leadership of the Academy of the Caesars will allow the inclusion of artists from what is called the diversity ".
It is the tribune of movie stars against the functioning of the Cesars that motivated the author of this text, Eriq Ebouaney. "The column published in Le Monde calls for more parity within the Academy of the Cesars, assures the French actor of Cameroonian origin. I would have liked it to also call for better inclusion of film professionals from the French overseas departments and territories, and from African and Asian immigration. "
The actor, who appeared in “Lumumba”, “Femme fatale”, “Les Rivières pourpres 2” or “Hitman”, would like to take advantage of the new wind blowing over the Caesars to “include Afro-descendant artists in the family photo ". "I know a lot of comedians from immigrant backgrounds who come out of theater schools, go all the classical way ... and who ultimately find themselves without role," regrets Eric Ebouaney. In the theater, things change, but in the cinema, not yet enough ... There are some exceptions, like Omar Sy. But most of the time, when colored actors have a role, it is to act in a film on the cities ”.
Eric Ebouaney therefore wrote the text below, which was signed by around thirty artists and which we publish exclusively
“In a few days, during the 45th Cesar ceremony, we will celebrate the great family of French cinema. The movie theater ! An eminently popular art that brings together in a shared celebration all strata of the population without distinction of social class, gender or origins. Cinema is a powerful tool for transmitting a culture, a tool for facilitating the integration of the populations of our country. It is also a tool for transmitting shared values of a society. Our cinema should therefore be, as Stendhal said of the novel, a mirror in which society is reflected in its reality and its diversity.
Twenty years ago, at the 20th César ceremony, the Equality Collective already castigated the lack of inclusion of our fellow citizens from overseas and immigrants in French cinema. In 2018, the collective essay Noire is not my job also denounced the discriminations and stereotypes of which African-descendant actresses are victims.
Here we want to point the finger at the paradoxes of a country, France, which appoints Spike Lee, an African-American director and producer, president of the jury for the next Cannes Festival, and who at the same time keeps his actors of color in insignificant roles which will never justify any nomination to the Césars.
Does our cinema, in this century of globalization, in these times of mixed cultures and mixing of populations, give us to see the reality and the diversity of French society? Does it account for the intertwined and mixed stories of our common history which are nonetheless part of the national novel? The history of France is that of all its inhabitants without exception. A column recently published in Le Monde castigated the organization of the Césars by questioning its functioning and its opacity. These grievances are legitimate and we can only make them ours! We would have appreciated, however, that the signatories included in their criticisms of the management of the Césars the absence of actors and directors from what is called laziness and reluctance of language diversity !
This invisibility of actors, directors and producers from this section of the population accentuates the uneasiness and the feeling of exclusion already experienced in real life. When will inclusion take place? Will the collective resignation of the Cesar board of directors change the situation?
Today, it is no longer a question, for all cinema professionals from immigrant and overseas territories, of being assigned to the secondary and stereotypical roles to which they have long been confined. Anglo-Saxon cinema entrusts leading roles to all its actors without distinction of color or origin and without this affecting its quality, quite the contrary!
The box office successes of the films He already has your eyes from Lucien Jean-Baptiste, Les Misérables by Ladj Ly, and the audience records on Netflix for the films of Kery James Banlieusards and Le Gang des Antillais by Jean-Claude Barny are significant expectations of an audience that is far ahead of this issue of the representation of minorities on our screens than the institutions of French cinema.
The adoption of inclusion measures is urgent if we do not want to leave these French cinema professionals only one option: the commitment to the path of American-style communitarianism to express themselves and flourish in their trades. It's time to open the doors and windows of French cinema. Because talent, like emotion, has no color.
#BlackCesars ?! "
Signatories: Eriq Ebouaney, Olivier Assayas, Olivier Marchal, Mathieu Kassovitz, Stomy Bugsy, Euzhan Palcy, Julien Leclercq, Firmine Richard, Aïssa Maïga, Greg Germain, Nathalie Marchak, Sonia Rolland, Edouard Montoute, Jimmy Jean-Louis, Gabrielle Lazure, Reza Pounewatchy, Salim Kechiouche, Jean-Claude Barny, Vanessa Djian, Kentaro, Sam Bobino, Issaka Sawadogo, Marie-Philomène Nga, Fanny Bastien, Mata Gabin, Mehdi Nebbou, Beatriz Levin, Annouchka de Andrade, Alex Ogou, Yasmine Chouaki…