From French-Ivorian filmmaker Isabelle Boni-Claverie comes a new documentary titled “Too Black to Be French,” which explores the role of race and the persistence of racism in France, as well as the impact of the country’s colonial past, soliciting anonymous individuals to speak on their daily experiences with race, class, discrimination and so-called microaggressions.

Through an exploration of her own personal family history, and interviews with historians and academics, Boni-Claverie peels back the layers of race relations in supposedly institutionally colorblind France, unpacking how socio-economic privilege doesn’t mean protection from racial discrimination (the filmmaker grew up in upper class French society).

The film also features interviews with acclaimed sociologists and historians including Pap Ndiaye, Eric Fassin, Achille Mbembe, and Patrick Simon to help contextualize racial history in France, all with the aim to start an urgent conversation on French society’s inequalities and discrimination.

The film is scheduled to screen as part of the Celebrating Haiti: Day of the Dead Revisited series in New York City at the Metrograph theater, curated by Michelle Materre of Creatively Speaking.

The series kicks off today, October 28, and runs through Sunday October 30.

Program summary: “In Haitian culture, ‘Fetes des morts’ is a time for honoring the ancestors with offerings of food and music. Not unlike Halloween, this holiday originates in the indigenous religion of ‘Vodou.’ In most Western societies, ‘Vodou’ is misunderstood and typically seen in a negative light; in actuality, it is a celebration of the history, religion and people of Haiti.’

Other films set to screen as part of the program, which we’ve also previously profiled on this blog, include a documentary from filmmaker Rachelle Salnave, 4 years in the making, titled “La Belle Vie: The Good Life,” which follows the filmmaker’s journey in discovering her Haitian roots, examining the complexities of Haitian society, but also chronicling her voyage to find hope in a nation on the brink of a new beginning. There are also films from directors Jeremy Robins – “The Other Side of the Water,” a documentary that follows the 20-year journey of the Haitian-American community in Brooklyn); the New York Premiere of director Dudley Alexis’ “Liberty in a Soup,” which follows the journey of three families celebrating the origin of the Soup Joumou and its connection with Haitian culture and history; Mario Delatour’s “Storming of Papa Doc,” which tells the story of the events of July 28, 1958, when three Haitian ex-army officers from Florida, accompanied by five American mercenaries, went to Haiti to take possession of leader of the Haitian Revolution and first ruler of an independent Haiti, Jean-Jacques Dessalines’ Barracks to remove Haitian President Dr. François Duvalier; and more, including several short films, like “Papa Machete” fromdirector Jonathan David Kane, which introduces viewers to the esoteric martial art of machete, evolved from the Haitian Revolution, through the practice and life of an aging farmer and one of the art’s few remaining masters.

For more information about the Celebrating Haiti: Day of the Dead Revisited screening series, visit Metrograph’s website here: http://bit.ly/2e12n16

Watch 3 clips from Isabelle Boni-Claverie’s “Too Black to Be French” documentary below:

Celebrating Haiti: Day of the Dead Revisited

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