PART 1: My time at the 21st Lesbian Film Festival in Paris (with a focus on the UPeople screening)
I was "très excitée" when I found out about that I happened to be in Paris at the same time as the annual lesbian film festival, and happily doled out my 50 Euros to buy a festival pass! The 21ème Festival International du Film Lesbien et Feministe de Paris took place from 29th October through today, November 2nd 2009. I happily found out that there is a focus on African Diaspora feminist and/or lesbian stories this year. The opening night on Thursday, was a concert by Mélissa Laveaux, a Canadian songstress with Creole roots. She was such a talented guitarist, performing with her drummer - a show in which the audience felt involved, as though we were all sitting in her living room, hearing her stories and relaxing into her melodies.
The next day, Friday, I particularly enjoyed the screening of a movie called Cameroun: Sortir du Nkuta about life for those in the "gay community" in a small town in the African country, Cameroon. Truly interesting, and educational - opened my eyes to life for those who live in a country that specifically outlaws homosexuality, and yet find ways to live an actively social lifestyle. Later that afternoon was the screening of Upeople. It was clear that the festival organizers weren’t expecting huge attendance at the screening because it was screened at the smaller auditorium being used by the festival, with a capacity of 80. Well, it was clear that the interest definitely surpassed their expectations as it was packed, not a free seat in sight, and there were actually people seated on the steps!!
Initially, the start of the film was delayed because they were waiting for the person who had done the subtitles. She arrived shortly after with an explanation that she received the DVD that afternoon and had to create the subtitles which was sometimes very complex because of the man concurrent conversations going on.
Upeople, or rather, “Vous Autres” then started. In general, all the jokes were well received. There was a loud round of applause at the end when the credits started rolling. The biggest laughs during the film were after Olive statement that there is no room for a boy in her relationship, and the 2nd was when Hannifah’s mum recited her line “Yeah, that’s right”, and then put her head down. The audience also laughed when the comment was made about people in the UK not being “of color”.
Surprisingly (or perhaps not surprisingly given that its France, in Europe), the audience didn’t laugh at some of the other statements that I know from experience have been very humorous to American audiences in the U.S. (statement about getting married in Jersey compared to the destination wedding in the Bahamas, and also when Hannifah showed the picture of herself as a little girl, writhing in agony from the pain from the relaxer chemical that was on her head in the picture.)
Guess some things literally do get lost in translation!!
The next day, Friday, I particularly enjoyed the screening of a movie called Cameroun: Sortir du Nkuta about life for those in the "gay community" in a small town in the African country, Cameroon. Truly interesting, and educational - opened my eyes to life for those who live in a country that specifically outlaws homosexuality, and yet find ways to live an actively social lifestyle. Later that afternoon was the screening of Upeople. It was clear that the festival organizers weren’t expecting huge attendance at the screening because it was screened at the smaller auditorium being used by the festival, with a capacity of 80. Well, it was clear that the interest definitely surpassed their expectations as it was packed, not a free seat in sight, and there were actually people seated on the steps!!
Initially, the start of the film was delayed because they were waiting for the person who had done the subtitles. She arrived shortly after with an explanation that she received the DVD that afternoon and had to create the subtitles which was sometimes very complex because of the man concurrent conversations going on.
Upeople, or rather, “Vous Autres” then started. In general, all the jokes were well received. There was a loud round of applause at the end when the credits started rolling. The biggest laughs during the film were after Olive statement that there is no room for a boy in her relationship, and the 2nd was when Hannifah’s mum recited her line “Yeah, that’s right”, and then put her head down. The audience also laughed when the comment was made about people in the UK not being “of color”.
Surprisingly (or perhaps not surprisingly given that its France, in Europe), the audience didn’t laugh at some of the other statements that I know from experience have been very humorous to American audiences in the U.S. (statement about getting married in Jersey compared to the destination wedding in the Bahamas, and also when Hannifah showed the picture of herself as a little girl, writhing in agony from the pain from the relaxer chemical that was on her head in the picture.)
Guess some things literally do get lost in translation!!
Comment
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Comment by RealSoul9 on November 12, 2009 at 8:44pm - The experience sounds awesome; on to part two!
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Comment by Hanifah Walidah on November 5, 2009 at 12:40pm - Wow this is fricken great! Thank you for writing this!
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