The Hindu : New Delhi News : Spotlight on the young French society

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Thursday, Mar 20, 2008
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Spotlight on the young French society

Parul Sharma

Each film depicts a new horizon where freedom emerges winner in the end
Underscores lives of certain members of Muslim, North African community

NEW DELHI: Capturing modern day stories about French society is a film festival being organised at Jamia Millia Islamia here next week by the Centre for European and Latin American Studies in collaboration with the French Embassy in New Delhi.

The festival will showcase five French films on the theme “Living Together” in the M. A. Ansari Auditorium and Edward W. Said Hall on the Jamia campus for three days beginning Monday.

Sometimes sad, always sensitive, the films to be screened take an up-close and personal view of the pain, frustration, enthusiasm and hopes of young people dealing with hardships and exclusion. Their daily lives burst through the screen, where aspirations come up against disappointment, setbacks and anxiety, but where the power of friendship and love forms life-long bonds.

Each film depicts a new horizon where freedom emerges the winner in the end. This series particularly underscores the lives of certain members of the Muslim and North African community who often encounter economic, social or identity conflicts and talks about their experience in French society.

While “Indige`nes” is a film portraying the recruitment of soldiers in the French First Army of the Free French Forces formed to liberate France after the Nazi occupation and their participation in the campaigns in Italy and southern France, “Zim & Co” is about the life of 20-year-old Zim and his gang of friends.

“Samia” is about a young girl, sixth in a family of eight children of Algerian descent, who feels suffocated in the moralistic atmosphere made oppressive by beliefs and rules she respects, but no longer shares.

“L`esquive” showcases the life of a happy-go-lucky teenager called Krimo, who falls for his classmate and wants to declare his love to her without losing face, while “Wesh Wesh qu’est-ce qui se passé” is on the life of a group of young adults confronted with the social decomposition of their neighbourhood. All the films are sub-titled in English.

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