It was three and a half years ago: everywhere in France, a people rose up, protesting first of all against the increase in the price of fuels linked to an ecological tax. Wearing the compulsory fluorescent yellow vests in the trunks of cars, they began to occupy the roundabouts of the countryside and peri-urban centers, then the streets of the big cities, every Saturday.
What has become of this so-called “Yellow Vests” movement? Premise of a democratic renewal or symptom of a sick democracy?
Avatar of a populist revolution or popular awakening?
For three and a half years, we saw a lot of television reports, a few films, including the documentary by David Dufresne, A wise people, we talked about it here, a film about police violence and policing policy. The film is released on French screens A People, by documentary filmmaker Emmanuel Gras.
In 2017, Emmanuel Gras had drawn up in Makala, the extraordinary portrait of a Congolese villager toiling away making and selling charcoal, the winner of the Cannes Critics’ Week grand prize.
In A People, it is in a group that he is interested: the Yellow Vests of Chartres.
Also showing in our cinema:
62 films, selected including a Senegal focus of 6 films, and a tribute to the pioneer of African cinema Safi Faye with Peasant letters. Without forgetting masterclass workshops (devoted to two very feminine professions of cinema scriptwriter / and decorator). We are talking about women, of course, since the festival since its creation in 2016 has intended to highlight the work of women in African cinema. We talk about it with Martine Ndiaye, the president and founder of the festival, at the microphone of Elisabeth Lequeret.
- Report by our correspondent in Bangui on the screening of the film Granite. Would the Central African capital become a must for Russian propaganda cinema?
At the end of January 2022, the film Granite was presented to the Central African public in the large hall of the Omnisports stadium. The film tells the story of Russian mercenaries from the private military company Wagner who fought until 2019, alongside Mozambican forces against the Islamist insurgency in Cabo Delgado. The mercenary company, accused of serious human rights violations against civilians and which has no legal existence since mercenary activities are banned in Russia, operates in Libya, Sudan, Syria and Ukraine , according to experts. It deploys, in parallel to its military activities, propaganda operations which pass in particular by cinematographic productions maintaining the vagueness between fiction and reality to justify its interventions. Report in Bangui, filmed during the screening of the film, with the reactions of Central African spectators.
