- 12/07/2025
Across the world, from Paris to Los Angeles via the steps of the Cannes festival, actress and director Aïssa Maïga questions the way black women are represented on-screen and how diversity is promoted. With personal accounts from Adèle Haenel, Ava DuVernay, Tais Araujo, Firmine Richard, Sonia Rolland.
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00:00:00I came to the big door of the cinema with a first role.
00:00:04I never thought of becoming actress one day,
00:00:06because for me it was impossible.
00:00:08You're black, you're in France,
00:00:10you have to work even more than others.
00:00:13At the beginning, it was not too black at the same time.
00:00:16It's a bit what we still hear.
00:00:18In a bit subtle,
00:00:20we were always using a dose homoeopathic,
00:00:22not three at the same time.
00:00:24Once I came to a casting,
00:00:26and I told myself,
00:00:28we don't want black.
00:00:29I'm a comedian.
00:00:33I'm a comedian.
00:00:35There's no way.
00:00:38We don't want black.
00:00:40I didn't know that black was a role.
00:00:44I didn't know that black was a role.
00:00:46Being a woman, it's a fight,
00:00:48but being a black woman,
00:00:50it's a totally different fight.
00:00:52Once,
00:00:53on
00:00:58Aman
00:01:05Man
00:01:06The
00:01:39My name is Aïssa Maïga.
00:01:41In my ethnically diverse country, La France,
00:01:45being one of the few renowned black actresses makes me a rare breed.
00:01:54I was bold and I worked really hard.
00:02:00But I was also very lucky because my chances of carving out a place in the industry were pretty limited.
00:02:07Here I'm 25 and I know I'll have to fight the odds for a place in the film world.
00:02:22Man, do I feel alone.
00:02:23It's true that there are certain measures that are taken.
00:02:26I think of the quota.
00:02:27I also think of measures that are supporting the production, because the war is money,
00:02:32the production of works including actors of foreign origin, as we say.
00:02:37Of foreign descent?
00:02:39Why did I say that?
00:02:40No.
00:02:41Blacks, Arabs, Asians, all French.
00:02:44Il commence à y avoir depuis un certain nombre d'années quelques acteurs d'origine maghrébine qui deviennent des stars.
00:02:50Chez les comédiens noirs, ça stagne.
00:02:52Donc le problème, il est vraiment, je crois, lié au taux de mélanine.
00:02:57Melanine is the pigment that determines skin color.
00:03:00Fighting stereotypical roles individually?
00:03:06No way.
00:03:07We actresses with a high amount of mélanine got together to make our voices heard.
00:03:12Black Isn't My Profession, a book brandished by a shimmering horde of actresses.
00:03:18At the Cannes Film Festival, Fist Raised, we created the opportunity to tell the world
00:03:23that what we go through in the industry is typical of the non-white experience in society at large.
00:03:30On a survécu au blackface, on a survécu au rôle de terroriste, on a survécu à tous les rôles de filles hypersexualisées.
00:03:37Vous tous qui n'êtes pas forcément impacté par les questions liées à la couleur de la peau, pensez inclusion.
00:03:44Can I just say, after 20 long years of repeating myself, my patience is running low.
00:03:50But my optimism remains high.
00:03:53Our search for inclusive initiatives takes us to the other side of the Atlantic, to Brazil and the US.
00:03:59But we'll talk about France too, because homegrown solutions exist, obviously.
00:04:04Lorsque du Anglo-Saxe
00:04:05Tu sais quoi ?
00:04:06Et toi ?
00:04:20Toi ça te parle ce sujet ou pas ?
00:04:24Pas trop.
00:04:26Pourquoi ?
00:04:27Je sais pas, je me suis pas trop intéressé non plus à ça.
00:04:31And then, in the cinema, in the film,
00:04:34we don't talk a lot about it.
00:04:38When you were at school, you had to wear them black?
00:04:44We had a few students.
00:04:47Noir, they were in class.
00:04:50You were born in all classes?
00:04:51On the different colors, yeah.
00:04:53At school, you didn't know that?
00:04:56Well...
00:04:57Well, not necessarily, in fact.
00:05:02We'll go?
00:05:03Okay.
00:05:05Thank you, Marion.
00:05:09Hello, Aisha.
00:05:10Hello, everyone.
00:05:12And we're going to change the plan, guys.
00:05:14We're going to change the plan.
00:05:16Hi, everyone.
00:05:26How are you going to change the plan?
00:05:28How about the diversity of French cinema?
00:05:30At the level of the parity?
00:05:32The discussion is clearly on the level of diversity.
00:05:35But at the level of diversity,
00:05:37we feel like it doesn't move.
00:05:40So how do you do it?
00:05:41have less resources, so even less to access the studies that allow them to do cinema.
00:05:48Toi, you're director of prod, is it you who embauches?
00:05:51Yes, but the question is not because there is no candidates.
00:05:55It is true that the candidates who are presented to me for 25 years since I've done this job,
00:06:00I haven't seen a Noir.
00:06:02The only Noir that I've met in my career is Perchman.
00:06:05But as a director of prod, is it something that we see?
00:06:11Is it something that we see?
00:06:12It's not under the radar.
00:06:13It's so much an usage that we don't ask the question.
00:06:24This generation, apart from saying that we are killers, we are terrorists, we are galers,
00:06:29we are dealers of shit, it's this image that we give.
00:06:32It's so much, you know, it's a total connection.
00:06:35Toi, at the bottom, if I was a person, I would have been indignant.
00:06:41Why would I accept to live in a society that corrobore this inequality?
00:06:50You know, I would also be in colère, and I'm not.
00:06:53I minimise, I cotérise, but I would have been indignant to live in a society where we have this problem.
00:07:01It's not normal.
00:07:02It's not normal.
00:07:03PHONE RINGS
00:07:04PHONE RINGS
00:07:06PHONE RINGS
00:07:07PHONE RINGS
00:07:08PHONE RINGS
00:07:09PHONE RINGS
00:07:10PHONE RINGS
00:07:13PHONE RINGS
00:07:14PHONE RINGS
00:07:15the French are black, and I don't know what we're waiting for.
00:07:22Women of ménage...
00:07:25I'm not against women of ménage.
00:07:28We had a tendency to give me this kind of role.
00:07:32After that, I became a nurse.
00:07:34Well, I had taken care of.
00:07:36I was a generalist.
00:07:38So it was simple.
00:07:40We camped in a role, and we had trouble coming out.
00:07:44I was in the euphoria of things.
00:07:46I said, it's too good.
00:07:47I turn around.
00:07:48It's really a job that I like.
00:07:50And then, growing up, I said, no, it's not possible.
00:07:53I have to take care of my roles.
00:07:55So I talked to my agent, and I said,
00:07:57I would like to stop me on this type of role,
00:08:01because I can play it once,
00:08:03but I don't want it to be constantly.
00:08:05We always call me to be a girl with a lot of temperament,
00:08:08hard.
00:08:09I don't want to call me only for that.
00:08:11In the last 20 years, new talents have emerged in front of
00:08:15and behind the camera.
00:08:17But for non-whites, breaking through the glass ceiling
00:08:20of comedies or social dramas remains a tour de force.
00:08:26Laj Lee and Huda Benjamina are two filmmakers
00:08:29with award-winning debut movies.
00:08:31They've been providing free training for years to young people
00:08:34from disadvantaged urban and rural areas.
00:08:38Among these young people, who are still underrepresented
00:08:41in conventional film schools,
00:08:43there are undoubtedly many future stars.
00:08:46But how many talents have been sacrificed,
00:08:49generation after generation?
00:08:51On me a dit beaucoup au début,
00:08:53quand je suis arrivée, on me disait beaucoup,
00:08:54oui, oui, toi, va aux USA, ça te correspondra plus,
00:08:58il y aura plus de...
00:08:59D'abord, je me dis que dès comme moi,
00:09:00ils en ont 10 000.
00:09:01Je voyais pas l'intérêt, j'étais vexée.
00:09:04Parce que je ne correspondais pas à quelque chose
00:09:06qui, ici, était la norme d'être noir.
00:09:08Parce que la minorité, il faut aussi être dans ta case,
00:09:13ta norme de minorité.
00:09:14Et j'aimais pas qu'on me dise tout le temps ça.
00:09:16C'était une façon aussi de me dire, tu n'as pas de place ici,
00:09:18on n'a pas de place ici, on n'a pas de place pour toi ici.
00:09:20Va chercher bonheur ailleurs, un peu, un truc comme ça.
00:09:22Et...
00:09:24Non.
00:09:48Nothing stands in her way.
00:09:50When Oprah speaks,
00:09:51you sit up and listen.
00:09:53Movies, TV, literature.
00:09:55For many Americans,
00:09:56this hugely popular and influential celebrity
00:09:59has what it takes to end up at the White House.
00:10:02A new day is on the horizon!
00:10:06With just a few series, showrunner Shonda Rhimes
00:10:17became the undisputed queen of the small screen.
00:10:20Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder.
00:10:24Her ethnically and racially diverse protagonists
00:10:27are educated, independent and powerful.
00:10:30In Shonda Rhimes' work,
00:10:3250-plus actresses have the power to inspire the world.
00:10:42Over 50 years after the comic's creation,
00:10:45the Black Panther movie gave us the superhero
00:10:48we were waiting for.
00:10:50Director Ryan Coogler crafted a genuine feminist story
00:10:54and united the African diaspora.
00:10:57Out with the white savior complex.
00:11:00Thanks to this billion dollar box office hit,
00:11:03movie majors now acknowledge that Black leads
00:11:06mean big bucks in every market.
00:11:08Where does your need of changing the representation
00:11:11of Black women come from?
00:11:13Oh wow, you see my need?
00:11:16I think I have motivation to add to the conversation,
00:11:22to add to that fight just because I've been blessed
00:11:26to have some amazing women in my life.
00:11:28You know, my mom, amazing Black woman, my wife,
00:11:32you know, my friends, my aunts.
00:11:33You know, it's something that I've always seen growing up.
00:11:36When I make movies, they reflect the life around me,
00:11:39you know, that reflect the world around us,
00:11:42you know, and talk about what Black women mean to us
00:11:45in the States, you know, it's everything.
00:11:47You know, they kind of hold up our communities, man,
00:11:49like when everything else is breaking down.
00:11:51So for me, having, you know, strong Black female characters
00:11:57in diverse, you know, diverse range of types of characters
00:12:02is very important to me, you know,
00:12:04and I hope to continue to have the opportunities
00:12:06to keep to do that.
00:12:07So when you talk about Black women and the opportunities
00:12:10that are available, the roles that are available,
00:12:12you know, the opportunities behind the camera that are available,
00:12:14you know, it's something that needs to be changed,
00:12:16you know what I mean?
00:12:17Opportunities need to be opened up.
00:12:19And what I love is for women such as yourself.
00:12:28I'm in the hills in LA, and I can't wait to meet Ava DuVernay.
00:12:33She picked up a camera for the first time at the age of 32,
00:12:37and is now the leading figure of Black indie and feminist cinema.
00:12:42Oh my God! Can we talk about Ava DuVernay?
00:12:45She gets an Oscar nod for her highly acclaimed documentary,
00:12:48The 13th, and a Golden Globe nomination for her feature film, Selma.
00:12:53Film after film, like a woman on a mission,
00:12:56she reclaims and celebrates the African American heritage.
00:13:00Meeting with Ava DuVernay, the self-taught, the game-changer,
00:13:04gives you a huge shot of energy, creativity, and audacity.
00:13:09How are you? Wow, what a beauty! What a queen!
00:13:14So much. Thank you so much.
00:13:16Really wonderful to meet you.
00:13:18So sorry about that.
00:13:19No, I appreciate it.
00:13:20If you don't know it, I'm so sorry.
00:13:22Three. Three. Three.
00:13:27Telling stories that change people's minds.
00:13:39Telling stories that challenge what people think they know,
00:13:43particularly around Black people.
00:13:44We use our imagination to create a world that doesn't exist, right?
00:13:48So in so many ways, artists and activism work hand in hand.
00:13:53Artists are changing society, shaping culture, shifting perceptions.
00:13:58I mean, it's a lot more than playing dress up in front of the camera.
00:14:01And when you think about the Black woman,
00:14:03and the positions that our Black women have been put in on screen,
00:14:08so often adjacent to the main action.
00:14:11So often on the side.
00:14:13So often just walking through.
00:14:15So often only there to prop up or assist the main character.
00:14:20So I have a lot of respect for actors in general.
00:14:23You know, but particularly the Black actor,
00:14:25and then the Black woman actress.
00:14:27Is, you know, queens in our midst too often,
00:14:30we see that the industries don't embrace in the way that they should.
00:14:37They tell our stories in ways we can't tell.
00:14:41And when I make a wrinkle in time, Woodstorm Reid,
00:14:44a Black girl taking over the role that's this iconic book,
00:14:48I'm making it for girls like her who don't usually see themselves.
00:14:55How are you?
00:14:56I'm good.
00:14:57Nice to meet you.
00:14:58Nice to meet you too.
00:14:59Nice to meet you too.
00:15:00Thanks for coming.
00:15:01Thank you for having me.
00:15:02Thank you, Nicole.
00:15:03When I booked Wrinkle, and I realized Wrinkle wasn't written for a girl like me.
00:15:10It was written for a Caucasian girl, which is totally fine,
00:15:13and I loved the book when I read it.
00:15:15But to just have that impact of, like, little girls coming up to me and saying,
00:15:22thank you, I was finally able to see myself.
00:15:24I knew there was a need and a lack of representation.
00:15:28It's amazing to have an African American person in a film, but if they're only getting represented in one way,
00:15:37which is like the stereotypical way of how the world sees African American people,
00:15:43then we're not really progressing.
00:15:45I feel like it's a struggle in all types of ways.
00:15:48One, with the stereotypes that are perpetuated, and stereotypes is one.
00:15:55And then not getting the opportunity to be in films or be in positions of power because,
00:16:02one, we are women, and two, we are African American women.
00:16:06So I feel like the odds are stacked against us, and yes, we have made progress.
00:16:11Or people who are breaking barriers, but there's still a lot of work that needs to be done.
00:16:18Things have changed, and we have a few beautiful examples throughout cinematic history, but not enough.
00:16:24And so, and yet, you know, women continue to go to audition, continue to walk on sets,
00:16:29continue to hold themselves with dignity, continue to try to portray us, you know,
00:16:35as beautifully and gracefully as they can within often not so beautiful and graceful circumstances.
00:16:42So within that framework, black film and black actors and actresses that participate within that are doing,
00:16:50I think it's really social justice work in a lot of ways.
00:16:53Actress Viola Davis is a megastar, but honors and awards do not necessarily protect from misogynoir,
00:16:59the discrimination faced by black women.
00:17:01I got the Oscar, I got the Emmy, I got the two Tonys.
00:17:05I have done Broadway, I have done Off-Broadway, I have done TV, I have done film, I have done all of it.
00:17:10I have a career that's probably comparable to Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, Sigourney Weaver.
00:17:16They have the same path as me, and yet I am nowhere near them, not as far as money,
00:17:22not as far as job opportunities, nowhere close to it.
00:17:27And yet, I have to constantly get on that phone and people say, you're a black Meryl Streep.
00:17:32We love you. There is no one like you.
00:17:35Okay, then if there's no one like me, you think I'm that, you pay me what I'm worth.
00:17:41Is racism only a moral issue? Good versus evil, right versus wrong? Or is it embedded in our brains?
00:17:50We're in New York to meet with Alexis McGill Johnson, the co-founder of the Perception Institute,
00:17:56which uses cutting edge neuroscience to unravel biases.
00:18:00Our brain is constantly searching for meaning, seeing the way we make meaning is we create what we call schemas.
00:18:07These mental structures help us categorize people.
00:18:10So there are negative stereotypes that we associate with particular groups.
00:18:14And those negative stereotypes become embedded in our brain, and that's what we call implicit bias.
00:18:19We have stereotypes about women as being, you know, warm and soft and gentle and loving.
00:18:27And we have stereotypes about men being strong and brave.
00:18:30We have correlate stereotypes around blacks as being incompetent, as being lazy, as being someone to fear.
00:18:40For most women, we are recognized through our gender stereotype first.
00:18:47We're seen as women first.
00:18:48But for black women, race trumps gender.
00:18:52And the stereotypes about men, black men, are what are used to create the filter for how they see black women.
00:19:01You know, black women are just not seen.
00:19:03We're not seen as women when we're seen as a function of our race.
00:19:07We're seen first through the prism of black men.
00:19:10And so it's our invisibility that we are left with.
00:19:14This kind of intersection between race and gender where we're actually rendered invisible.
00:19:18And when we are seen through a lens, it doesn't even actually represent who we are.
00:19:22So the implicit biases in our neurons would be responsible for the lack of black women on screen.
00:19:29It was exciting at the beginning because you said,
00:19:31Ah, it's a role that I correspond.
00:19:33Because it's made for a black woman.
00:19:35So you're so happy.
00:19:36You want to postulate all that.
00:19:37And you say, ah, yeah, the story is good.
00:19:39Because you're happy because the story is good.
00:19:41Because it doesn't look like it.
00:19:43I'm not coming from a family of 50 children.
00:19:46I'm not excited.
00:19:49So it's really exciting.
00:19:51That's what I'm looking for.
00:19:52What's the difficult thing is that when you look for a character and you say,
00:19:55but you don't look for a character, it's you.
00:19:58It's like,
00:19:59but at the end you understand that the other person is in the middle of it.
00:20:04It's you in your real life.
00:20:06And what's the difficult thing is that you're also aware of that you're not going to make it rêver.
00:20:10That's why your parents are to be in the middle of it.
00:20:13Because...
00:20:15Yeah, what they love is to be able to be able to dream.
00:20:17They love to be able to dream.
00:20:18Yeah, in fact,
00:20:20you're here.
00:20:21You're here.
00:20:22You're here.
00:20:23You're here.
00:20:24You're here.
00:20:25My parents didn't want to do this theater.
00:20:26So they beat them.
00:20:27And their mother was at the middle of it.
00:20:29So they're like,
00:20:31That's why they're smart.
00:20:32You're here.
00:20:33And when you're in the middle of it,
00:20:34And when you're not in this background,
00:20:36you're not going to dream.
00:20:37let's head to brazil where the largest population of black people lives outside of the african
00:20:46continent this nation imported more black slaves than any other in the americas which is why at
00:20:53the turn of the 20th century brazil encouraged the mass immigration of europeans to whiten
00:20:59the population and eradicate people of color here 136 words exist to define skin color shades
00:21:08mariana nunes became popular thanks to her role as the mother of brazilian soccer legend
00:21:16peli her talent and commitment have made her one of the faces of independent brazilian cinema
00:21:23i am a black actress i am a brazilian black woman and when i arrive in the set if the stuff do not me
00:21:33they don't believe that i can be the actress of the the the movie you know i have to make the first
00:21:39scene and make it well done to people believe that i am the actress you know here in brazil we don't want
00:21:48to see the races we see black people like the people who clean your house clean the places we cannot
00:21:56imagine a black doctor or a black lawyer or a black actress o negro no brasil quanto mais identificado
00:22:05a black woman with a white appearance more acceptable he is so here it is common to hear about the
00:22:11traces finis if you have a thin nose more thin, a lower mouth, a darker skin, a darker skin
00:22:17with a less dry hair, you will be more accepted.
00:22:21And this is something that comes from our construction.
00:22:25Because we are a miscigened country,
00:22:28and the mixture is there, we can see.
00:22:32And the more clear you are,
00:22:34the more far you are from Senzala,
00:22:37the place where the slaves lived,
00:22:40and the more far from the big house.
00:22:42The big house is the house where the white people lived.
00:22:45So you are more accepted,
00:22:48you have more capacity to participate in our society.
00:22:51We allow you to enter.
00:22:53So, to be a successful actress,
00:22:59it's easier to accept you if you have these white traces.
00:23:15Before I even got to Brazil,
00:23:19I knew I couldn't leave without meeting Nayara.
00:23:23In 2014, Nayara Justino was crowned Brazil's next Globeleza.
00:23:28Becoming Globeleza means a shot to fame as a samba champion,
00:23:32carnival queen, and winner of Brazil's most popular TV contest.
00:23:37Globeleza 2014 is Nayara.
00:23:43Too black to be beautiful,
00:23:44GloboTV stripped Nayara of a crown.
00:23:46I received many attacks, many messages on Facebook.
00:23:51At that time, I didn't use so much Instagram,
00:23:54but on Facebook, you know,
00:23:56it was very strong, you know,
00:23:57the messages were very strong.
00:23:58They called me ugly,
00:23:59I didn't call you,
00:24:00I didn't call you,
00:24:01I didn't call you,
00:24:02I didn't call you,
00:24:03I didn't call you.
00:24:04But what made me uncomfortable
00:24:05was the issue of preconceived.
00:24:08It's a cow,
00:24:10it's a place where it's not there,
00:24:11it's a kitchen,
00:24:12you know,
00:24:13this type of comment is what really
00:24:15made me very sad and very sad.
00:24:17After you won the crown,
00:24:23GloboTV decided to remove the crown
00:24:26from your head.
00:24:27You being Globeleza,
00:24:29a symbol of the Carnaval,
00:24:31so you get marked.
00:24:33So I thought,
00:24:34and now,
00:24:35what I'm going to do?
00:24:36You're the girl who was taken out of the place,
00:24:41who left,
00:24:42who didn't do it.
00:24:44I never imagined this position,
00:24:51but people come and say to me,
00:24:54you're my reference,
00:24:55I struggle,
00:24:58I go back,
00:24:59I do what I do,
00:25:01because you've encouraged me,
00:25:03even if I didn't say anything,
00:25:05but just to have the courage
00:25:07to have me put in that situation,
00:25:12to have faced all of that,
00:25:15with my head and head.
00:25:17Our two countries might be different in many ways,
00:25:19but Nayara's experience seems like déjà vu.
00:25:22France's former Minister of Justice,
00:25:24Christiane Tobira,
00:25:25has been compared to a monkey,
00:25:27and our black football players
00:25:29have had the same racist slurs
00:25:31as well as bananas hurled at them.
00:25:37In a country where telenovelas reign supreme,
00:25:39Thais Araujo is one of the few black actresses
00:25:42to have broken the barriers of stereotyping.
00:25:45Thais, Thais Araujo.
00:25:49Today, this huge Brazilian star
00:25:51produces socially engaged plays
00:25:53and hit TV series.
00:25:59We are a country full of prejudice.
00:26:02What kind of prejudice are you talking about?
00:26:05Colored prejudice, a lot.
00:26:08A lot, mainly prejudice,
00:26:09but what, I don't know what you think about Brazil
00:26:11when you heard about Brazil out of Brazil.
00:26:14That everybody here is happy,
00:26:16everybody are together.
00:26:17Yes.
00:26:18But when you get here,
00:26:19we live in a country
00:26:20that we have 54% of black people here.
00:26:24And when you turn on the television,
00:26:26you will swear that you are in north of Europe.
00:26:32If you shoot a series in Bahia
00:26:33where blacks make up 76% of the population,
00:26:37yet cast only three black actors
00:26:39out of a cast of 26 and all in minor roles,
00:26:42in this age of social media,
00:26:44you are bound to prompt internet outrage.
00:26:47That is precisely what happened
00:26:48with the series Segundo Sol.
00:26:50But its creators swore the actors
00:26:52were selected on talent alone.
00:26:56French expat Alexandra Loras gives us the lowdown.
00:26:59This keynote speaker advocates against racism
00:27:02in Brazil's high society and media.
00:27:04A black woman in this Brazilian elite,
00:27:07I go to a space where I am always the only black,
00:27:11where I have a treatment
00:27:13that is very different
00:27:15from the treatment that is given to the black.
00:27:19So I am going to go to a conference
00:27:23for the biggest television television
00:27:27– Global.
00:27:28– Global.
00:27:29– Global.
00:27:30And then I sit in the first row,
00:27:32reserved for the speakers.
00:27:34And then I have a person from the organization
00:27:36who comes to me and tells me
00:27:38that you can't stay here.
00:27:39And I say you are laughing.
00:27:42And she tells me that
00:27:43here it is reserved for the speakers.
00:27:46And so she is unable to see me
00:27:49as the person who will give a conference
00:27:52for this channel,
00:27:53since I am black.
00:27:55So the blacks know their place,
00:27:57the blacks also.
00:27:58The apartheid here
00:27:59doesn't need to have put in place
00:28:02a small plaque
00:28:03that explains
00:28:04that this place is reserved for the blacks,
00:28:06this place is reserved for the blacks.
00:28:07Each one has their place.
00:28:09Of course, the blacks are treated as a minority,
00:28:12despite the fact that they are 54% of the population,
00:28:16which corresponds to 114 million people.
00:28:20And so I found it interesting
00:28:23to find myself in a country
00:28:25that managed to reinvent the apartheid
00:28:29and segregation
00:28:30and modern slavery
00:28:31in a cordial way.
00:28:33a black majority treated like a minority,
00:28:38small and big screens reflecting this bias.
00:28:41The land of Samba leaves me with a heavy heart.
00:28:44If I say,
00:28:59Amistad,
00:29:00Inside Man,
00:29:01Love Actually,
00:29:02American Gangster,
00:29:03Doctor Strange,
00:29:04or 12 Years a Slave,
00:29:05you'll naturally think of Chiwetel Ejiofor.
00:29:09This British actor of Nigerian descent
00:29:11is one of the darlings of independent cinema
00:29:14and big-budget movies.
00:29:17For his feature directorial debut,
00:29:20he chose an inspiring true story
00:29:22in which he and I play the parents
00:29:24of a young schoolboy
00:29:25who harnessed the wind.
00:29:27If many black British actors
00:29:46make the leap across the Atlantic to Hollywood,
00:29:49it's because they speak English much better
00:29:52than their French counterparts.
00:29:54But in the UK,
00:29:55things still seem kind of complicated.
00:29:57In this context,
00:29:59Chiwetel is an exception
00:30:00who has broken through
00:30:01all the glass ceilings.
00:30:03When did you decide to go to the US?
00:30:05And is this decision linked to
00:30:09what being a black actor in the UK is,
00:30:13or not at all?
00:30:15I wanted to be a theatre actor,
00:30:16and that's what I was training to be.
00:30:18And I had at that point very limited aspiration
00:30:21to work in television or to work in film.
00:30:25There were certain things that I had taken for granted
00:30:27in terms of being a black actor at that point,
00:30:29in terms of what would be available to me.
00:30:32And, you know,
00:30:34which is sort of best characterised by the fact
00:30:36that people were asking me
00:30:38if I was going to change my name, you know,
00:30:40because that feeling that just, you know,
00:30:43blackness and being black,
00:30:45or associations of blackness and so on,
00:30:47or just the cultural blackness,
00:30:50was just a negative, you know.
00:30:52And anything that could try and strip that back
00:30:54or remove that,
00:30:55be that changing your name,
00:30:56be that whatever,
00:30:57you know, would be helpful.
00:30:58But I didn't want to change my name, obviously.
00:31:00And so,
00:31:03I kind of had sort of internalised some idea
00:31:06that I would maybe
00:31:08just have to kind of push through certain things.
00:31:11I mean, there was resistance.
00:31:12I remember when I,
00:31:13well, people not engaging with colour blind casting.
00:31:17Anyway, so I auditioned for the Spielberg film, Amistad.
00:31:21So I was 19 years old.
00:31:23And that was my first experience of Los Angeles
00:31:27and my first proper experience of making film.
00:31:30When I got back to London,
00:31:33there was a change in the reaction to me,
00:31:35because I'd worked with Spielberg.
00:31:37Can a casting be non-racial?
00:31:43In France, casting directors claim
00:31:46they are ready to offer all types of roles
00:31:48to all types of actors.
00:31:50So why isn't it happening?
00:31:53Good evening.
00:32:21When I passed the last year in the Conservatory,
00:32:25I got a second award winner.
00:32:27At the beginning, I was very happy.
00:32:29And the director told me, like this,
00:32:33to my ear,
00:32:34you deserve a first award,
00:32:36but you're black, you're not going to do a career.
00:32:40So we didn't give you the first award.
00:32:44And I was 17 years old.
00:32:46I was walking to the Fort Dutron with friends,
00:32:48so that the director of casting approached me
00:32:51and told me to look for someone like me for the first role of the film.
00:32:56I found it a bit strange at the beginning.
00:32:58I thought it was not a common goal.
00:33:00And at the end, I realized that
00:33:03there was no black actresses in France.
00:33:08So they were forced to cast us in the streets,
00:33:10at concerts, at Châtelet,
00:33:12everywhere we could find young girls.
00:33:15Combien de castings pour des rôles principaux avez-vous déjà passés ?
00:33:19Un.
00:33:20Oui, c'est sur les doigts d'une main, mais...
00:33:22Moins zéro.
00:33:24Je crois un, pas plus.
00:33:26Des acteurs noirs, asiatiques et maghrébins dans les rôles principaux,
00:33:30c'est pour quand ?
00:33:31Eh bien, on est...
00:33:32Eh bien, il y en a quelques-uns, ça arrive !
00:33:34C'est pas assez, il en faudrait beaucoup plus dans les seconds rôles.
00:33:38Je pense que c'est là que ça se fait.
00:33:39Exactement.
00:33:41Alors, dans certains castings, la couleur de peau peut-elle être considérée comme un handicap ?
00:33:45Oui, mais ça vient pas de nous, ça vient donc de la chaîne alimentaire.
00:33:49D'accord.
00:33:50Nous, on est relativement en bas de la chaîne alimentaire.
00:33:51Oui, je comprends.
00:33:53En vrai, qui a le dernier mot sur le casting ?
00:33:56En France, en long-métrage, réalisateur quand même et producteur.
00:34:02Une casting m'appelle parce qu'elle avait un film à faire qui se passait en Afrique.
00:34:06Et elle m'appelle, elle me dit bonjour, alors je vous appelle parce que comme je ne vous connais pas vraiment,
00:34:10on m'a parlé de vous, j'ai su que vous aviez fait tel et tel film.
00:34:13Je voudrais savoir si vous avez un peu plus de chocolat,
00:34:17mais un peu plus de lait dans votre chocolat ou un peu plus de lait dans votre café
00:34:20que de café dans le lait ou dans le chocolat.
00:34:22C'est jamais la bonne couleur, en fait.
00:34:24C'est...
00:34:27Soit il faut être noir foncé, soit il faut être blanc,
00:34:30mais quand on est métis, en fait, il y a une métis plus connue.
00:34:33Ça, ça va jamais, quoi.
00:34:36Et parfois, ouais, plusieurs fois, je me dis, ah, j'aurais bien aimé être noir.
00:34:38Au moins, il y a des castings, c'est noir, quoi.
00:34:41Il y a un...
00:34:44un nivellement dans l'incarnation qui est plus ou moins acceptable.
00:34:47Et je dois dire qu'effectivement, j'ai eu la chance de assez souvent,
00:34:51presque plus que certaines amies, travailler,
00:34:55parce que comme on me disait, mais toi, ça passe.
00:34:57Elle est derrière «The Walking Dead ».
00:35:00Elle est derrière «The Handmaid's Tale ».
00:35:03Elle est Sharon Byerly, une de Hollywood's hottest casting directors.
00:35:07Vous avez fait plusieurs projets de cinéma, de TV,
00:35:12donc je pense que vous avez un vision global de l'évolution
00:35:16de la diversité et l'étnicité.
00:35:21La diversité et l'étnicité de l'étnicité.
00:35:24Vous avez vu des acteurs de l'étnicité.
00:35:25Je veux dire que j'ai remarqué que tant d'acteurs de France,
00:35:30de l'England et d'autres pays, acteurs de couleur,
00:35:33étaient venus vers l'Amérique
00:35:35parce qu'ils avaient pensé qu'ils avaient donné
00:35:37plus de possibilités pour être castes
00:35:39que dans l'Église ou France.
00:35:42Et je suis surprise.
00:35:44Pourquoi vous êtes surprise?
00:35:46Je pensais que vous seriez nous en termes de cette progression.
00:35:51Donc, comment vous influencez les gens que vous travaillez avec?
00:35:55Vous commencez la conversation quand vous avez le script.
00:35:58Vous vous demandez,
00:35:59«Èz-vous open à toutes les étnices? »
00:36:01Et parfois, ils disent, «Èz-vous, non ? »
00:36:03Et nous demandons, «Èz-vous, pourquoi ? »
00:36:05C'est très intéressant que quand vous commencez un nouveau show,
00:36:09vous avez un showrunner qui dit,
00:36:11«Èz-vous, je veux un monde qui réfléchit aujourd'hui. »
00:36:13C'est un exemple, «The Handmaid's Tale ».
00:36:15Le rule était que les personnages peuvent être de couleur.
00:36:20Ce n'était pas important.
00:36:21C'est qui qui a donné la meilleure audition.
00:36:24Et, vous savez, nous avons tout le monde sur la table
00:36:26pour assurer que nous avions une diversité.
00:36:28Donc, vous pensez que cette simple sentence,
00:36:31«Èz-vous open à toutes les étnices »
00:36:34peut changer le jeu, si c'est...
00:36:36Je pense que c'est une bonne façon de faire le même.
00:36:39En tout cas, le message est à l'agent pour les rôles.
00:36:43C'est «Èz-vous open à toutes les étnices. »
00:36:45«Èz-vous open à toutes les étnices et être une personne de votre word. »
00:36:50«Èz-vous open à toutes les étnices et voir où ça fonctionne et où ça ne fonctionne. »
00:36:59«Èz-vous open à toutes les étnices et à toutes les étnices ? »
00:37:02«Èz-vous open à toutes les étnices ? »
00:37:07say no to anti-black police brutality and systemic racism. A reaction to the
00:37:13harrowing cries of George Floyd filmed dying under the weight of a white cop.
00:37:18What is the most challenging thing? To be a woman or to be a person of color?
00:37:23I would say to be a person of color. To be a person of color in this world
00:37:33right now, even in this industry, is a scary thing.
00:37:39What do you mean a scary thing?
00:37:41Um, I would just say there's a lot of hate crimes going on against people of color.
00:37:49We walk around trying to be free and trying to be open, but there's like this bubble,
00:37:55this cloud around us where we can't forget our race. And we're not trying to forget it,
00:38:03but I feel like that is a bulletin on our back.
00:38:08Black men, it starts with you.
00:38:10Hey, it's done, man.
00:38:12We can't be strong, no more.
00:38:14We'll never be done.
00:38:16Yeah, come on.
00:38:17Well, let's go.
00:38:29You deserve it.
00:38:38What's going on?
00:38:39The people who didn't even want to see
00:39:08what they thought of being a fan of a black community,
00:39:15always in the victim's discourse,
00:39:17today they see it.
00:39:23Every time I was on the social media,
00:39:25I looked at my videos and I thought,
00:39:27that's not normal.
00:39:29How can we get there, in fact?
00:39:33I had a lot of anger, really.
00:39:38I'm proud to be a black film actor.
00:39:48I'm always...
00:39:49It's a sense of pride when people say I make black films,
00:39:52you know, because I feel like I do.
00:39:55That said, there is a little bit of an issue
00:39:58because there's no such thing as a white film.
00:40:00And do you think that this question is a global question?
00:40:03Absolutely.
00:40:04Why?
00:40:05Oh, yeah.
00:40:06Um, I think it's because, you know,
00:40:10the world has been kind of shaped by the same things.
00:40:12You know what I mean?
00:40:13I think right now we're kind of dealing with a world that's,
00:40:15like, it's a post-colonial world.
00:40:17You know what I'm saying?
00:40:18Like, so colonization is kind of shaped everywhere,
00:40:20you know, no matter where you are on the planet.
00:40:22The Atlantic slave trade in the land of human rights.
00:40:26Four centuries of enslavement of black men, women, and children,
00:40:30which officially became a crime against humanity in France in 2001.
00:40:35What remains of this embarrassing legacy in today's fictions?
00:40:40La Renaissance est un moment d'épanouissement, de progrès,
00:40:45d'avancée sur tous les plans,
00:40:47et notamment dans le domaine intellectuel.
00:40:49Mais au moment où se déploie la Renaissance,
00:40:52les blancs, on va dire, pour le dire simplement,
00:40:55se lancent à la découverte de l'ensemble de la planète,
00:40:58grâce à la caravelle en particulier,
00:41:00et la découverte, évidemment, d'autres populations,
00:41:03ceux qu'on appellera des sauvages, par exemple,
00:41:06va amener sur le plan économique
00:41:09la mise en place de cette fameuse ère de l'esclavage et de la traite.
00:41:16La tradition à la Renaissance voulait qu'il y ait des ballets courts,
00:41:19donc les aristocrates prenaient en charge eux-mêmes,
00:41:23c'est-à-dire qu'ils se déguisaient, ils dansaient,
00:41:27enfin, il y avait donc tout un phénomène théâtral
00:41:30qui était donc très amusant,
00:41:32et ce déguisement permettait aussi de jouer sur une espèce d'a priori
00:41:37entre l'apparaître noir repoussant,
00:41:39ou en tout cas pas censé être attractif,
00:41:42c'était aussi un jeu en fait, un jeu total,
00:41:46où on se déguisait en noir pour mieux séduire les dames de la cour.
00:41:49C'est en fait aux États-Unis qu'on a utilisé le terme de blackface.
00:41:53Et en France, la pratique du travestissement en noir a existé donc au théâtre,
00:41:59parce qu'il s'agissait de jouer les bamboulas,
00:42:01et que donc le mot au 18ème, dans les petits vaux de ville,
00:42:04on jouait ce genre de personnages, et les comédiens se maquillaient en noir.
00:42:08Et on va retrouver ça dans les phénomènes de carnaval,
00:42:11notamment dans le nord de la France, à Dunkerque, où on a ce phénomène-là.
00:42:16Et j'ai une amie, blonde aux yeux bleus, qui m'envoie un message et elle me dit
00:42:20« J'ai fait un post, les gens disent que c'est raciste, qu'est-ce que tu en penses ? »
00:42:24Elle m'envoie une photo d'elle, avec un afro, et donc un blackface.
00:42:29Et elle me dit « Mais pour moi, c'était un hommage ! »
00:42:31Et donc moi je lui ai expliqué, je lui ai dit « Tu sais, l'héritage du blackface,
00:42:35peut-être que tu ne le connais pas.
00:42:36La personne noire, elle est moins que rien, mais elle est même moins que rien,
00:42:39puisqu'elle n'existe tellement pas qu'on peut être elle.
00:42:43On peut se peindre en elle. »
00:42:46C'est un déguisement.
00:42:56Quand on parle de race, on ne parle pas de biologie.
00:42:59Tous les êtres humains appartiennent à la même race, à la même espèce,
00:43:03qui est la race humaine.
00:43:04Les races existent du fait du racisme, elles existent socialement.
00:43:08Ça veut dire que si on est tous pareils biologiquement,
00:43:11quand on va dans la rue, quand on va chercher un appartement,
00:43:14quand on veut devenir acteur ou actrice, on n'est pas traités de la même manière.
00:43:18Et ce qui fait exister les races, c'est le traitement différentiel.
00:43:21Elles existent dans la tête, tout simplement, des personnes qui discriminent.
00:43:25Et donc, on ne peut pas dénoncer le racisme si on ne dénonce pas ces catégories,
00:43:29bien que fictives, qui sont opérantes au quotidien.
00:43:32Autre chose qui caractérise la France, on a mis en place ce qu'on appelait des eaux humains,
00:43:37jusqu'en 1931.
00:43:39Il s'agissait de ce qu'on appelait les expositions coloniales.
00:43:42On faisait venir massivement des populations colonisées d'Asie, d'Afrique, d'Amérique,
00:43:48où en fait, elles étaient tout simplement exposées comme dans un zoo.
00:43:51Et les Français et les Françaises pouvaient aller les regarder.
00:43:55Elles étaient déguisées, dénidées, etc.
00:43:58Les regarder d'une certaine manière ce qu'on appelait les sauvages à l'époque.
00:44:01Et ça, c'était au XXème siècle.
00:44:03Donc ça veut dire qu'il y a quand même des gens qui ont visité ces zoos coloniaux lorsqu'ils étaient enfants.
00:44:09Donc vous imaginez quel regard vous portez sur les populations anciennement colonisées,
00:44:13quand, dans l'enfance, vous les avez vues présentées comme des animaux dans un zoo.
00:44:19Et ça, c'est quelque chose qui était sur le sol français,
00:44:22qui a eu lieu au jardin d'acclimatation à Paris.
00:44:25L'imaginaire colonial, l'imaginaire esclavagiste, a vraiment construit les personnes noires
00:44:35comme étant des corps sauvages et des corps à la fois puissants,
00:44:39mais à la fois dangereux parce que non maîtrisés.
00:44:41Et c'est vrai que quand on pense au passé, on pense au noir cannibale.
00:44:45C'est un imaginaire qui est aussi réactivé aujourd'hui par la figure notamment du jeune garçon de banlieue.
00:44:50Et pour neutraliser cette figure-là, en fait, on a l'impression qu'un corps noir doit se montrer
00:44:56à la fois docile, divertissant et de nature non menaçante.
00:45:02Et c'est vrai que le noir étant un grand enfant, étant la figure du bon sauvage,
00:45:07étant une personne un petit peu limitée intellectuellement,
00:45:10mais qui fait toujours rire, qui est toujours de bonne humeur,
00:45:12d'une certaine manière l'exposer essentiellement dans des comédies,
00:45:15ça permet d'atténuer ce registre du sauvage qui pourrait se montrer incontrôlable.
00:45:22J'avais vraiment pas du tout de boulot.
00:45:24Et on me dit voilà, il y a un casting, et donc je regarde le texte,
00:45:29et je vois le personnage qui s'appelle Blanchette.
00:45:32Donc la blague c'était ça, Blanchette, Blanchette !
00:45:35Et j'ouvrais et j'arrivais sur le plateau, et donc c'était censé faire rire les spectateurs.
00:45:39J'avais un short le plus court du monde, après on est dans un slip,
00:45:48un petit haut panthère, une perruque de cheveux comme ça,
00:45:54et j'étais un objet, j'étais un objet de fantasme.
00:46:01Et je me rappelle, j'ai fait venir aucune personne proche de moi.
00:46:07J'avais une colère de...
00:46:14Qu'on me donne pas des rôles à la hauteur de ce que j'étais.
00:46:19J'ai été à une représentation d'un film dans lequel je jouais,
00:46:23et le personnage que j'interprétais c'était comme quand les gamins vont au théâtre et voient Guignol.
00:46:28Avant même que Guignol arrive, ils savent que c'est Guignol et qu'il faut rigoler quoi.
00:46:33La stigmatisation de mon personnage déclenchait en fait le rire.
00:46:38Et du coup, ben voilà, moi je me questionne en fait sur ce qui peut faire rire,
00:46:42ce qui peut être drôle comme ça, de voir une nana habillée en boubou,
00:46:46et puis parler avec un accent africain.
00:46:49C'est quoi qui est drôle là-dedans ?
00:46:51J'ai l'impression d'un humour colonial, enfin voilà, de quelque chose qui vient de très loin,
00:46:56et qui te rattrape quand t'es dans la salle de cinéma silencieuse,
00:47:00et que t'as tout le public blanc qui rigole à gorge déployée,
00:47:04mais en fait tu te prends ça dans la figure et t'es tout seul.
00:47:07Tu peux rien exprimer, t'es super mal à l'aise.
00:47:10Et donc je me rendais compte qu'en fait, entre Hattie McDaniel et moi,
00:47:16il n'y avait absolument aucune différence.
00:47:19Sauf que Hattie McDaniel c'était quand même avant les droits civiques aux Etats-Unis quoi.
00:47:25Et moi c'est aujourd'hui.
00:47:271940, and the Oscar goes to Hattie McDaniel for Gone with the Wind,
00:47:32the now controversial epic historical romance.
00:47:35The rich and famous actress with 74 maids' roles under her belt,
00:47:39is the first African American to ever win the award.
00:47:43But she receives no special treatment,
00:47:46as she is seated all the way at the back of the room,
00:47:49due to racial segregation.
00:47:51There was even resistance to the idea of a black actor playing Othello.
00:47:55And when I played Othello for the first time at the National Youth Theatre,
00:47:59it wasn't that people said I shouldn't play Othello,
00:48:01but what they said was that this trend of black actors playing Othello
00:48:06is going to mean that our great white actors can't play Othello.
00:48:09Whitewashing.
00:48:12The art of washing whiter than white.
00:48:16An age-old practice in which light-skinned or even white performers
00:48:22portrayed real and fictional black characters.
00:48:27Alexandre Dumas was a bit crazy.
00:48:30He had the hairband, he had an incarnation like mine.
00:48:35At that time, we said it was hard to finance a film when we were not an actor known.
00:48:40On a completely eluded the physical reality, so noire, of Alexandre Dumas.
00:48:50Alors qu'Alexandre Dumas is still an important to the imagination of the French,
00:48:58because it's the Three Muscataires, it's really popular literature.
00:49:04The actors afro-descendants of France, who are many, how do we play the hero,
00:49:13the figure emblematic of the history of the French literature,
00:49:20when there could be a extraordinary role to play, we give it to an actor bankable.
00:49:27At this moment, the Afro-descendants are feeling lésies.
00:49:31If we believe that there is no big noir comedians to represent the important characters in the French history,
00:49:37then we're going to drop, I think it's a drop.
00:49:40To be honest, it hurts me to say that we're losing opportunities like that.
00:49:47Dumas deserves to be able to reveal a comedy, for real.
00:49:52It's a very French problem.
00:49:55Because with all the Noirs together, it doesn't bother us.
00:49:58That comes from the United States.
00:50:01When we saw Cosby Pio, or the Prince of Bel Air and others, it was the Noirs together.
00:50:06But it came from the United States.
00:50:08It wasn't French.
00:50:09It's a very French problem.
00:50:11The Noirs together, it hurts.
00:50:13But it doesn't bother us, it doesn't bother us.
00:50:17In the 80s, she was the embodiment of the modern woman.
00:50:21Loving mother, lawyer, feminist, Felicia Rashad is black, proud and beautiful.
00:50:28In the U.S. and throughout the world, she revolutionized the image of black women in the Cosby show.
00:50:34I grew up in Houston, Texas, and as an African American person, a woman, a child, there's not the feeling of separation from other people until you see the sign that says,
00:50:53for white only, or for colored only, and then one time when I was nine years old, I stood there looking at that sign in the supermarket, and I wondered why was that sign there?
00:51:06And I determined to find out, and I went over to the white only fountain and drank it, and the water tasted the same, and in that moment, I knew humanity had tricked itself, and I couldn't be a part of that.
00:51:22What did it mean to you to portray your character in the Cosby show?
00:51:26Was it something new?
00:51:28Yes, it was.
00:51:30It was very new.
00:51:32Claire Huxtable was a different kind of lady.
00:51:34Claire Huxtable was, um, well, first of all, she was a woman, for real.
00:51:42And what did it change in terms of perception of African American women, for example?
00:51:50Did it change something?
00:51:51I think it changed a lot in the minds of young children who were watching.
00:51:57They saw different things about their own capabilities.
00:52:04They saw vistas that they had not considered before.
00:52:10They saw that the world was open.
00:52:13And they could grab the brass ring.
00:52:17They saw that they could do it, too.
00:52:21And they did.
00:52:22The conversation of diversity is really a conversation about who's telling the stories, you know what I'm saying?
00:52:31Who has access to the capability to tell these stories, you know what I mean?
00:52:37And if you ask that question everywhere, you know, no matter where you are on the planet, so that's kind of the thing we kind of all have in common, in a way.
00:52:47So I think you've got to start asking, you know, you've got to start asking yourselves those questions.
00:52:50And I think it is a global conversation, you know, everybody should have the ability to tell their own story.
00:52:55Next stop, Fruitvale Station.
00:52:59In the United States, very quickly, there were films on Vietnam, on Afghanistan, on Iraq, on almost simultaneity.
00:53:07That's to say that the cinema had very quickly ingrained the national dramas to create artistic stories and to create popular stories.
00:53:14In France, where are the films about colonization?
00:53:16It's a-bottom movie that has been in the past 50 years, 50, 100, 100% for some, 100% for some, 100% for some of the Amazon of Algérie.
00:53:26What film is going to tell this?
00:53:27There's no film that tells the revolution in 2005, at Clichy-sous-Bois.
00:53:32We don't get to tell them, not in real time, nor in decades.
00:53:36The audience is ready.
00:53:38I think that the legislators are not ready.
00:53:40They don't want to open this door.
00:53:41So every time we make films like that, there's no audience.
00:53:45It's when we've done all the opening, but at 20h30 people want to see all the black people together?
00:53:51Like if it was black people, it was an insult to the French TV.
00:53:56No, at the contrary, it's also to show not to let Americans, or not to let the English, the need to do that.
00:54:03I feel that it is necessary that the people who decide, decide frankly.
00:54:09Because it's not a risk, it's simply a position for a society in which we live.
00:54:14C'est nous les Africains qui arrivons de loin, prenant de nos pays.
00:54:20Director Rachid Bouchareb's Days of Glory is an exception.
00:54:24Led by French comedian Jamel De Bouze, it follows the fortunes of the North African infantrymen who fought for France in World War II.
00:54:32The movie touched audiences worldwide, and served as a wake-up call to France and its government.
00:54:39Almost 70 years after these men participated in the war, President Chirac ordered long overdue back payments to some veterans.
00:54:48And welcome to the 88 Oscars Jeremy Awards!
00:55:16Everybody wants to know, in the world, is this Hollywood racist? Is Hollywood racist?
00:55:24I was at a fundraiser for President Obama, a lot of you were there.
00:55:28And, you know, it's me and all of Hollywood. And all the, you know, it's all of us there.
00:55:34And there's about four black people there. Me, uh, let's see, Quincy Jones, Russell Simmons, Questlove.
00:55:42You know, the usual suspects, right?
00:55:44So, at some point, you get to take a picture with the president, you know?
00:55:48And as they're setting up the picture, you get like a little moment with the president.
00:55:52I'm like, Mr. President, you see all these writers and producers and actors?
00:55:58They don't hire black people. And they're the nicest white people on earth.
00:56:04They're liberals!
00:56:06Jeez!
00:56:07But what I'm trying to say is, you know, it's not about boycotting anything.
00:56:14It's just, we want opportunity. We want the black actors to get the same opportunities as white actors.
00:56:26That's it! That's it! You know? Just, you know, not just once. All the time.
00:56:33In France, usually we say, in America, they don't have our problems. And Oscars So White happened.
00:56:41For us, it was a surprise. Was it a surprise for you?
00:56:45Well, Oscars So White happened around my film, Selma.
00:56:48The hashtag was started because of people feeling like our film should have had certain nominations that it didn't.
00:56:55And the hashtag began, and so we found ourselves in the midst of this social media campaign
00:57:01that was instigated by this sister named April Rain. She started it.
00:57:05And it caught on, and it became a call to action, more than a hashtag.
00:57:10A call to action for the industry to really look at itself and say,
00:57:14it's not only about Selma and Ava and David Oyelowo this year.
00:57:18This is about, historically, this award's body has excluded too many people too many times.
00:57:26The Academy before Oscars So White can be summed up in two figures.
00:57:3294% of voting members were white 60-year-olds, and just 2% were black or Latino.
00:57:39In Hollywood, as in all realms of power, the lack of diversity exposed white privilege in all of its arrogance.
00:57:46I started as a publicist, so I worked on a lot of publicity campaigns for the Oscars.
00:57:51And I was really sober. I was very, you know, clear about the fact that black filmmakers are not honored in that way.
00:58:00They're not respected in that way. They're not valued in that way.
00:58:03There's historical precedent from the Academy. We know this to be true.
00:58:06People will tell me, oh, no, we value you, we respect you. Uh, I don't know.
00:58:10Spike Lee, he's been working for 35 years.
00:58:12The canon of work, the breadth of his body of work should have been lauded and awarded long before now.
00:58:22He's one of many filmmakers that I can talk about that just are not on the radar
00:58:28or not in the value system of the majority of the Academy.
00:58:32And I know that around the world, the Academy Award is a mark of excellence,
00:58:38regardless of what it actually means, what the system actually is,
00:58:44who's actually giving it, what they value, what they care about,
00:58:48being very different from most of the things that I value and care about.
00:58:51But I know that my people around the world look to that as a mark of excellence.
00:58:58So I can't ignore it. And so Oscar So White becomes something that is important to listen to.
00:59:05In less than five years, the Academy has included women, non-whites, LGBT people,
00:59:12and even international talents among its voting members.
00:59:15And Ava DuVernay has recently been elected to the Academy's prestigious Board of Governors,
00:59:21where they set the rules from the inside.
00:59:24Did you say game changer?
00:59:27I feel very honored and privileged to be here tonight.
00:59:34I also feel conflicted because so many of my fellow actors that are deserving don't have that same privilege.
00:59:43I think that we send a very clear message to people of color that you're not welcome here.
00:59:50I think that's the message that we're sending to people that have contributed so much to our medium and our industry and in ways that we benefit from.
01:00:02I think that it is the obligation of the people that have created and perpetuate and benefit from a system of oppression to be the ones that dismantle it.
01:00:14So that's on us.
01:00:19And if the Blancs were to talk about it?
01:00:21I don't know much about what is the participation of people that are not concerned about racism.
01:00:26In France, it's perhaps a sort of tétanique
01:00:31of having no longer work,
01:00:33of having to take it so that it's not our place.
01:00:36There's something a bit of fear, of feeling of illegitimity.
01:00:41I don't know much about it.
01:00:42I don't know much about it.
01:00:43I was positioned at the end of MeToo,
01:00:48at the end of a planetary movement,
01:00:50where I saw women talk about their experiences.
01:00:54And in fact,
01:00:55to put my body, my story, my secret,
01:00:58like that,
01:00:59it means to jump somewhere.
01:01:01You just jump and you say
01:01:03that now I have more than my sincerity.
01:01:06In my personal journey,
01:01:08I had to take something for myself,
01:01:10to open my eyes
01:01:11and to me solidarize with other causes.
01:01:14And in fact,
01:01:16the causes of people racist at the cinema,
01:01:19Blacks, Arabes.
01:01:22It opened up to the issues anti-racist,
01:01:26of the representation of non-Blancs in the cinema,
01:01:28and to feel traversed by the injustice
01:01:31in the face of this exclusion.
01:01:33I think there is a particular responsibility
01:01:36in the cinema.
01:01:37And I have the impression
01:01:38that the cinema side of the author
01:01:40cannot be exempted from a conscience exam.
01:01:43Because if today,
01:01:45it is so difficult to move,
01:01:47we have contributed to the fact
01:01:49that the representations of the world
01:01:52are hiding.
01:01:54Most of us will say
01:01:55that we believe in the equality of races,
01:01:57we believe in the equality of genders.
01:01:59It's the implicit reaction that we have
01:02:01that helps us understand
01:02:02that even though we believe ourselves to be fair,
01:02:05when we reconcile that with the outcomes we see,
01:02:08there is essentially a paradox,
01:02:10right?
01:02:11A kind of racial paradox
01:02:12in how we actually are living our values.
01:02:14For a white person on the other side
01:02:16of that conversation,
01:02:17they're in that interaction
01:02:18and they're wondering,
01:02:19okay, wait a minute,
01:02:20I'm saying something.
01:02:21I'm seeing you're getting defensive.
01:02:23Like, is this going to land?
01:02:24Wait.
01:02:25She thinks, oh my God.
01:02:26She thinks, you know,
01:02:27and the brain starts to go a little crazy, right?
01:02:29So you have these two automatic brains
01:02:32going into fight or flight mode, right?
01:02:34Imagine, right?
01:02:35One brain is going here.
01:02:36There's no way for us to engage.
01:02:39And so it ends up in avoidance.
01:02:41It ends up in missed opportunities to connect
01:02:44and really use the diversity of our brains together
01:02:48to create amazing innovations and ideas.
01:02:54There's a statistical invisibility.
01:02:56We can't count the number of Blacks,
01:02:58the number of Arabes,
01:02:59the number of Asiatics in France
01:03:00because we can't, of course,
01:03:02talk about the question of the statistics.
01:03:05Oh!
01:03:06Oh, I'd have to cut myself
01:03:07with the question of the statistics.
01:03:09Let's go.
01:03:10Let's go.
01:03:11Okay.
01:03:12Because if you say,
01:03:13let's talk about ethnic statistics,
01:03:15it doesn't bother me.
01:03:16It doesn't bother me.
01:03:17I went to the United States,
01:03:18to Washington,
01:03:19and to New York.
01:03:20I learned a lot.
01:03:21And especially with the pression groups
01:03:23who told me,
01:03:24oh, you don't have data.
01:03:26You don't have the data.
01:03:27You don't have the data.
01:03:28You can't do anything if you don't have the data.
01:03:29You can't do anything if you don't have the data.
01:03:30In France, we're philosophically
01:03:31we're not ready to accept it.
01:03:33For some reasons that I understand,
01:03:35which are historical reasons,
01:03:36which are liable to the Second World War
01:03:38and the way the numbers
01:03:40and the figures of the population
01:03:42have been used for deportations
01:03:44and exterminations.
01:03:45So I understand
01:03:46that this is a national traumatism
01:03:48and that we have a lot of difficulty
01:03:49to not imagine
01:03:50that the numbers
01:03:51could lead to the oppression
01:03:53of a population.
01:03:54But, despite all,
01:03:55I think we can't advance
01:03:57if we don't have any specific data.
01:03:59Those who need the numbers
01:04:00have the numbers.
01:04:01I think today,
01:04:02with all the technological data
01:04:05that arrive in your boxes,
01:04:06we know if it's Memona Afegi
01:04:09who lives at a place
01:04:10or if it's Ahmed Afegi,
01:04:12my brother,
01:04:13or Sarah Afegi
01:04:14and we can know
01:04:15who is who
01:04:16and how much we are in France.
01:04:18If we take an analogy,
01:04:19it's the question
01:04:20of the inequalities of women.
01:04:21It's like if we wanted
01:04:22to reduce the inequalities
01:04:23of women
01:04:24without saying,
01:04:25for example,
01:04:26the word femme,
01:04:27without proposing
01:04:28any catégorization
01:04:29and being in a total artistic flow.
01:04:32There are many people,
01:04:33for example,
01:04:34who are fascinated by the fact
01:04:35that Barack Obama,
01:04:36a Métis,
01:04:49a North American,
01:04:50could be President of the United States.
01:04:51But,
01:04:52to their opinion,
01:04:53how did it happen,
01:04:54in fact?
01:04:55How did it succeed
01:04:56to become President of the United States?
01:04:58Because
01:04:59he has benefited
01:05:01from the actions
01:05:03of affirmative action
01:05:04to enter
01:05:06in the best campus
01:05:07and to be able
01:05:08to do the best things
01:05:09and the same thing
01:05:10for Michelle Obama
01:05:11who says very well
01:05:12in his book.
01:05:13So,
01:05:14if we don't put in place
01:05:16statistics
01:05:17that allow
01:05:18to have
01:05:19more efficient policies,
01:05:21more voluntary,
01:05:22and to fight
01:05:23against discrimination,
01:05:24there is no change
01:05:25possible
01:05:26to rise
01:05:27to the social level.
01:05:28Well,
01:05:29it is time
01:05:30that the quotas
01:05:31are imposed.
01:05:32And at a moment,
01:05:33we will forget
01:05:34that people are black,
01:05:35Arab,
01:05:36and everything.
01:05:37We will simply say
01:05:38that there are good comedians,
01:05:39and they will not have
01:05:40color.
01:05:41Because we are going to
01:05:42habitually people,
01:05:43the public will have people
01:05:44in all roles.
01:05:45And if we don't go
01:05:46through the quotas,
01:05:47I think that
01:05:48in 10 years,
01:05:49in 20 years,
01:05:50in 30 years,
01:05:51they will not have
01:05:52the quotas.
01:05:53Anders Nygaard
01:05:54is a Danish casting director.
01:05:57Obviously,
01:05:58statistics
01:05:59and quotas
01:06:00do not appear
01:06:01to be dirty words
01:06:02in Denmark.
01:06:03Habitants in Denmark
01:06:04are not from Denmark,
01:06:05it's from other countries.
01:06:07You have numbers?
01:06:08In Denmark?
01:06:09Yes.
01:06:10In France.
01:06:11It's forbidden.
01:06:12Ah, it's forbidden.
01:06:13Yes.
01:06:14It's illegal.
01:06:15And do you think
01:06:16that in Denmark
01:06:17it helps to have
01:06:18these statistics?
01:06:19But you can use
01:06:20the statistics
01:06:21in positive ways.
01:06:22For example,
01:06:23if we could,
01:06:24one tenth of the
01:06:26people participating
01:06:27in films
01:06:28should actually be
01:06:30from another country.
01:06:32A couple of years
01:06:33we've been doing
01:06:34something called
01:06:35a diversity workshop
01:06:37where the
01:06:38Danish Film Institute,
01:06:39which is owned
01:06:40by, you know,
01:06:41the state,
01:06:42put money into a project
01:06:43where we get
01:06:44more people
01:06:45with different
01:06:46diversities,
01:06:47work with them
01:06:48as an actor,
01:06:49put them into a database.
01:06:50The problem is also
01:06:51we don't have
01:06:52that many that acts
01:06:53with colour.
01:06:54So we have
01:06:55to motivate.
01:06:56Do you want to
01:06:57try to act?
01:06:58Do you want to
01:06:59try to, you know,
01:07:00meet with some of
01:07:01the casting directors?
01:07:02Please come.
01:07:03And whose idea is it?
01:07:04The Danish Film Institute
01:07:05thought it was a good idea.
01:07:06The organisation
01:07:07of the script makers
01:07:08thought it was a good idea.
01:07:09The directors organisation
01:07:11thought it was
01:07:12a very good idea.
01:07:13So they, all of them
01:07:14funded it
01:07:15so it, you know,
01:07:17could work.
01:07:18They put money
01:07:19in this programme?
01:07:20Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:07:21And the actors' union
01:07:22might put money
01:07:23in it as well.
01:07:24You can't, you can't
01:07:25find it.
01:07:26Mr. Miyagi.
01:07:27Mr. Miyagi.
01:07:28Mr. Miyagi.
01:07:29That's him.
01:07:30Wellcome to
01:07:32Khoo's Barbishop.
01:07:33Here areante
01:07:35who is Elsan's Barbier.
01:07:36We'll be right now.
01:07:38Wouh!
01:07:39I'll cut the
01:07:4024 hours a week
01:07:41every day.
01:07:426 days.
01:07:434 days a week.
01:07:44Thank you all,
01:07:45One, two, three!
01:07:49There is nothing to do with
01:07:50this.
01:07:51It is always my example
01:07:52to say today,
01:07:53you're going to shut up
01:07:54the TV.
01:07:55You're going to
01:07:56and you're going to
01:07:57count the number
01:07:58of people
01:07:59You will see people who are not white, but more importantly, you will refer to what kind of place they have in the movies.
01:08:09Because worse than being inexistent, when you are, it's to defend what kind of subject or...
01:08:20Yeah, of roles.
01:08:22The Malogatest is a way to evaluate the presence or not of stereotypes in the manifestations of minorities.
01:08:32And it turns around three points.
01:08:34The visibility at the antenna.
01:08:36Is the person who has a role in the first place that will allow the identification of the spectator?
01:08:43Is it in the manifestations of the people who are visible?
01:08:46So that's the second point.
01:08:48Do we have stigmatization, stereotyped representations that we know well?
01:08:54And in a third time, who made the film?
01:08:57Because it's important that it's not always the same people who tell the stories of minorities.
01:09:03It's also to see what kind of questions we can ask as a spectator,
01:09:08to understand the question of minorities' representations.
01:09:13With a global inclusion strategy, digital platforms swallowed up the fiction market.
01:09:19Diversity of genders, of ages, of narratives.
01:09:22They have opened up possibilities for a new generation of creatives.
01:09:30Issa Rae, with her misadventures of Awkward Black Girl,
01:09:33and Jean-Pascal Zaddy, were complete unknowns to traditional TV networks.
01:09:42But the digital revolution allowed them to find an audience,
01:09:45make the leap into the mainstream, and yet remain authentic.
01:09:50It's about money in Hollywood, and I think the studios finally noticed,
01:09:55and the producers, that if you put diverse people in your project,
01:09:59diverse people in the world would start watching.
01:10:02And that was kind of great when that started happening.
01:10:06So you got the pressure from above and below.
01:10:09You know, the studios started saying,
01:10:11OK, somebody has to be African-American, somebody has to be Latino.
01:10:15So they put the pressure on the writers and the producers,
01:10:18and then it came from us as well.
01:10:22Tyler Perry became rich and famous playing a gun-toting,
01:10:25weed-dealing grandma.
01:10:27Long shunned by Hollywood for his productions,
01:10:30specifically tailored to an African-American audience,
01:10:33his revenge is spectacular.
01:10:35With several hundred million dollars of profits,
01:10:38he has built a colossal movie studio
01:10:41bigger than all the Hollywood studios combined.
01:10:44When I built my studio, I built it in a neighborhood
01:10:47that is one of the poorest black neighborhoods in Atlanta,
01:10:49so the young black kids can see that a black man did that,
01:10:52and they can do it, too.
01:10:56The studio was once a Confederate army base,
01:10:58and I want you to hear this,
01:10:59which meant that there was Confederate soldiers on that base,
01:11:02plotting and planning on how to keep three people
01:11:04and how to keep 3.9 million Negroes enslaved.
01:11:07Now that land is owned by one Negro.
01:11:17No matter what continent we're on,
01:11:19we know that we work in an industry that's all about
01:11:21commerce, profit, monetization,
01:11:23a lot more than sometimes it feels to be about creativity,
01:11:26art, and talent.
01:11:28That we need to be able to communicate with each other.
01:11:30We need to be able to share what we're experiencing.
01:11:32We need to be able to do that for our emotional health,
01:11:35but also to strategize, to share tactics and tools
01:11:39for how to change things.
01:11:42We need to repair what has been done.
01:11:44Of course, the black of today is not responsible for what happened yesterday
01:11:47with the slavery,
01:11:48like the German of my generation is not responsible for the Holocaust.
01:11:51But we are all responsible for re-equilibrium.
01:11:54And we can't wait for the black to be the only one
01:11:58to have to re-equilibrium our place in the society.
01:12:02The blacks still have the key to the game,
01:12:04and so they need to do this work on our side.
01:12:08And not just to believe in racism,
01:12:11but to become anti-racism actors.
01:12:14Are you your ancestors' wildest dreams?
01:12:18I hope so.
01:12:20That's my prayer.
01:12:22You know?
01:12:23My prayer is that my ancestors,
01:12:26and I wear that shirt every time I'm starting a movie,
01:12:29because I know that what I'm doing as a filmmaker
01:12:32is something they didn't even ever dream of,
01:12:35because I didn't even ever dream of it.
01:12:37I hope that that is,
01:12:39that was my ancestors' wildest dreams,
01:12:42and that I'm living up to it.
01:12:44My vision of the future is
01:12:46that we don't talk more about racism,
01:12:48that we don't talk more about race,
01:12:50that it's so far,
01:12:51that we don't even know what it means.
01:12:53I really hope that, at a moment,
01:12:55that it has been totally,
01:12:58and that it's totally behind me,
01:13:00that it's my life.
01:13:02That it's my life.
01:13:04Glitz and glamour cannot erase racism nor sexism.
01:13:08But I feel strong and empowered
01:13:10when I think about these resilient people,
01:13:13these fighters,
01:13:14these powerful women.
01:13:16And the words of Christiane Taubira
01:13:18resonate on both sides of the Atlantic.
01:13:22Now that the whole world has been discovered,
01:13:27we must discover the world together.
01:13:31And it is through this globality
01:13:33that imaginations will become intertwined.
01:13:37And if Europe can see what it has become
01:13:41as a result of its ventures in the world,
01:13:44its colonial ventures,
01:13:47if it can understand what it carries inside itself,
01:13:51it will then understand that it embodies
01:13:55all the power in the world.
01:13:58And it is that it embodies
01:14:00all the power in the world.
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