June 21, 2023 The Skanner Portland & Seattle Page 5
By Carla Hay, NABJ
Black News & Views
T
he annual Cannes
Film Festival in
Cannes,
France,
has a reputation as
one of the most glamor-
ous and prestigious film
festivals in the world.
But the ugly truth is that
Black artists are perpet-
ually underrepresented.
That pattern continued
for the 2023 Cannes
Film Festival, which took
place May 16 to May 27.
Consider:
• Out of the 21 films
that competed for the
Palme d’Or, the festi-
val’s grand prize, only
one was from a Black
director: Ramata-Tou-
laye Sy, for her fea-
ture-film directorial
debut “Banel e Adama,”
a romantic drama set
in Senegal. Sy, who is
French-Senegalese, is
only the second Black
female director in
Cannes Film Festival
history chosen to com-
pete in this category.
• It wasn’t until 2019
that the Cannes Film
Festival chose a Black
female director to be in
the feature-film com-
petition for the Palme
d’Or: Mati Diop, also
•
•
•
•
•
French-S enegalese,
for “Atlantics (Atlan-
tiques),” which won the
Grand Prix Award, the
equivalent of second
place in the competi-
tion.
There was only one
Black winner for the
2023 Cannes Film Fes-
tival Awards: Balo-
ji, who won the New
Voice Prize for his fea-
ture-film directorial
debut, “Omen,” a movie
about witchcraft in Af-
rica. Baloji was born in
Congo and lives in Bel-
gium.
There was only one
Black person on the
nine-member
2023
Cannes Film Festival
grand jury: Rungano
Nyoni, a Zambian-Brit-
ish filmmaker, who is
best known for her
2017 drama “I Am Not
a Witch,” which pre-
miered at the Cannes
Film Festival that year.
A Black director has
still not won the Palme
d’Or.
A Black director has
still not won the Best
Director prize at the
festival.
Oscar-winning
film-
maker Spike Lee is
the only Black person
so far to be chosen
as president of the
Cannes Film Festival
grand jury. He served
as jury president in
2021. Lee was original-
ly selected for this po-
sition in 2020, but the
Cannes Film Festival
was canceled that year
due to COVID-19.
The Cannes Film Festi-
val did not respond to re-
quests from Black News
& Views for comments
on the low representa-
tion of Black filmmakers
at the festival and other
race-related issues in-
volving how Black peo-
ple are treated by the
Cannes Film Festival.
Lee, who is outspoken
about civil rights issues
pertaining to Black peo-
ple, also did not respond
to a Black News & Views’
request for comment
on how the Cannes Film
Festival handles rep-
resentation of Black
filmmakers. As of this
writing, two movies di-
rected by Lee have had
their world premieres at
the event: 1989’s “Do the
Right Thing” and 2018’s
“BlacKkKlansman.” The
latter film won the festi-
val’s Grand Prix Award.
“Banel e Adama” direc-
tor Sy told the French
PHOTO BY SCOTT GARFITT/INVISION/AP
Arts & Entertainment
A Sunny, Idyllic Version Of 1960s Alabama Black Filmmakers Say Melanin-
Challenged Cannes Film Festival Can Do Better
Mamadou Diallo, from left, director Ramata-Toulaye Sy, and Khady Mane pose for photographers upon
arrival at the premiere of the film ‘Banel & Adama’ at the 76th international film festival, Cannes, southern
France, Saturday, May 20, 2023.
newspaper Le Monde:
“I am very proud to
represent
Africa
at
Cannes. And I am happy
that there are so many
of us this year. But we
shouldn’t have to count
African filmmakers, that
should be the norm.”
It should be noted that
although the Cannes
Film Festival had six
feature films from Afri-
can directors this year,
four of those movies are
from African filmmakers
who identify as Arab, not
Black. These filmmak-
ers are “’The Mother of
All Lies” director Asmae
El Moudir, who is from
Morocco; “Les Filles d’Ol-
fa” director Kaouther
Ben Hania, who is from
Tunisia; “Les Meutes”
director Kamal Lazraq,
who is from Morocco;
and “Goodbye Julia” di-
rector Mohamed Kordo-
fani, who is from Sudan.
“Goodbye Julia” is the
first movie from Sudan
to be selected for the
Cannes Film Festival.
Compared to other
high-profile internation-
al film festivals, where
Black directors make up
at least 15% of awards
contestants, the Cannes
Film Festival has been
slow to include fair rep-
resentation of Black film-
makers.
Read the rest of this story at
TheSkanner.com