Banlieues With Attitude

Saturday, October 11, 2008, starting at 11:30am
Sunday, October 12, 2008, starting at 1pm

Part of I Kiffe NY: French Urban Cultures Festival
Produced by the Cultural Service of the French Embassy
Co-presented by FIAF

Banlieues (suburbs), cités (projects), quartier (neighborhood or hood): Many words are used to describe the complex reality of the urban suburbs throughout France. French and American speakers will present the ambivalence maintained by the current perception of French urban realities through a day-long series of documentaries and round-table discussions presented by FIAF. Discover the world of French banlieues: from fascination to rejection this culture defies definition through its constant evolution and shifting boundaries.

Each discussion will feature a screening of a documentary, which emphasize the themes presented by the panelists.

Talk
The Banlieues:
A “Sensitive Urban Area”
Saturday, October 11 at 11:30 am

With Christophe Nick, Daniel Sabbagh, Michel Wievorka
Moderated by Alec G. Hargreaves

Together with a screening of The Bad Guys, scholars address one of France’s most pressing social issues: the negative connotations surrounding the banlieues; the possible sources of these attitudes; and the challenges these perceptions present for France’s republican values.

Documentary
The Bad Guys
Les mauvais garçons

David Carr-Broown, Pierre Bourgeois, Patricia Bodet, 2004.
Color. 90 min. In French with English subtitles.

An intimate portrait of the cité “La Commanderie” in Creil, which presents a critical look at the city’s immigration and urban planning policies over the past four decades.

RSVP   |   Venue Info

Talk
Urban Talk: Rap, Slam,
and Verbal Expressions
from the French Banlieues
Saturday, October 11 at 3pm

With John Banzai, Souleymane Diamanka, Joy Sorman, Anthony Pecqueux, Pascal Tessaud
Moderated by Vinay Swamy

Artists, writers, poets, slammeurs, rappers and experimental artists are forever using new words to articulate complex cultural realities, inadequately grasped by more traditional means of expression. In a conversation between artists and scholars, this inventive, often subversive urban vocabulary proves to be a fertile ground for analysis.

Documentary
Words Are Burning Us
Slam, ce qui nous brûle

Pascal Tessaud, 2007. Color. 52 min.
In French with English subtitles.

A documentary on the spoken word movement in France, through the portrait of various slammeurs.

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Special Screening
U.S. Premiere
9/3 History of a Territory
9/3, histoire d'un territoire
Saturday, October 11 at 5:30pm

Yamina Benguigui, 2008. Color. 90 min.
In French with English subtitles.

A new documentary by Yamina Benguigui, director of the acclaimed films Immigrant Memories (1997), Inch'Allah Dimanche (2001), and The Glass Ceiling (2004). This film depicts the evolution of the Department 93, a volatile banlieue located in the Parisian suburbs, from 1850 up to the riots of 2005. It seeks to explain why this area has become emblematic of the social problems plaguing France and why it, as a banlieue or “cité-ghetto”, projects such a frightening image.

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the director.

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Talk
The Banlieues in the Media:
Fantasy or Reality?
Sunday, October 12 at 1pm

With Abdel Raouf Dafri, Jérôme Polidor, Frederic Valabrègue
Moderated by Mark Dery

The media representation of the banlieues is a pressing issue as it risks stereotyping a nuanced and complex cultural phenomenon. This panel seeks to explore how banlieue inhabitants, artists, and scholars fight against this biased picture of reality through discussions and film screenings.

Documentary
La Commune

Philippe Triboit, 2007. Color. 52 min.
In French with English subtitles

La Commune, a dark, controversial TV-series, depicts life in a banlieue where unemployment, drug trafficking, and organized crime are part of daily life.

Documentary
The Image of the Neighborhood
L’image du quartier

Les Engraineurs, 2001. Color. 12 min.
In French with English subtitles

Les Engraineurs is an association created by the inhabitants of the cité in Courtillières, which uses short films to illuminate the rich realities of their often misunderstood neighborhood.

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Talk
Art and the Banlieues:
Culture Beyond the Block
Sunday, October 12 at 3:30pm

With Karim Amellal, Kader Attou, Malik Chibane
Moderated by Jonathan Buchsbaum

This panel considers the diverse ways that urban art forms, highly influenced by American cultures of transgression, take root as important cultural movements in France, as well as how traditional artistic institutions relate to them.

Documentary
Under the Concrete Slab, the Sun
Sous la dalle, le soleil

Franck Sanson, 2006. 51 min.
In French with English subtitles

A portrait of the cité of Mantes-la-Jolie, which focuses on its cultural center.

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Discussions in English

Tinker Auditorium
55 East 59th Street

RSVP by Oct 8
646 388 6683
rsvp@fiaf.org

Free but RSVP required. Please indicate the specific talk(s) you wish to attend.

I Kiffe NY Festival Sponsors:
Cultural Services of the French Embassy, Florence Gould Foundation, FACE (French American Cultural Exchange), Fondation Jean-Luc Lagardère, BNP Paribas, Playbill

FIAF Season Sponsors:
American Airlines is the official airline of FIAF
The Florence Gould Foundation

Photos: All rights reserved.