Alliance Française de Toronto – Spadina Campus (24 Spadina Road Toronto, ON M5R 2S7)
Tuesday, October 10, 2023 at 6 p.m.
Conversation hosted by Bruno Boëz and Kama-Laure Kaba
In partnership with Le FRIC
As part of the Bulles exhibition, which highlights the work of artists featured in the Bulles d’Artistes series, the Alliance Française, in partnership with Le Labo and FRIC, is organizing an evening screening of films by two women filmmakers: Katia Café-Fébrissy and Saïda Ouchaou-Ozarowski.
Moun An Ba La by Katia Café-Fébrissy
This hybrid documentary combines cinéma vérité and ethereal experimental narrative to explore the question « Where do I belong? » through the prism of modern black immigration. In the film, we witness an intimate conversation between a French-speaking mother-to-be of Martinican descent based in Toronto and the filmmaker, during which the young woman makes sense of her identity after becoming a Canadian citizen, while delving deeper into what community means. Moved by a flood of emotions she hadn’t anticipated during the shoot, the filmmaker responds to what this film has awakened in her, through a visual poem she narrates, sometimes in French, sometimes in Creole, in which she reflects on her own identity and sense of place, as a Canadian of Guadeloupean origin born in France.
À pleine voix by Saïda Ouchaou-Ozarowski
Muslim women disturb, intrigue and polarize, trapped in a shackle forged by an amalgam of front-page stories. While the media like to portray them as submissive and silenced, director Saïda Ouchaou-Ozarowski preferred to distance herself from this caricature, to which she does not identify. She went to meet six Canadian women of the Muslim faith, ready to discuss what has shaped their identity. The documentary À pleine voix takes an intimate look at the journeys of these women, who all have one common desire: to share their vision of Islam.
Through their films, Katia and Saïda raise, each in their own way, questions linked to identity (ethnic for one, religious for the other), feminism, the sense of belonging and immigration.
Join us for a screening at the Alliance Française’s Spadina campus from 6pm, followed by a chat with the directors, hosted by Kama-Laure Kaba and Bruno Boëz.
Saïda Ouchaou-Ozarowski is an artist-director who tells stories that engage audiences. She recently arrived from British Columbia, where she spent over twenty years, and more specifically Vancouver, a multicultural city that reflects the spirit of her documentaries. She now lives in Toronto, where she continues to challenge our perspectives, giving voice to others who have important stories to share.
Director, author, screenwriter, stage director, documentary filmmaker, multidisciplinary artist, Katia Café-Fébrissy is a poet of image and sound. Her talent is great, because it is not limited to one form or another. Can we say that Katia Café-Fébrissy is a creator passionate about people, passionate about telling their stories? Certainly, since she loves stories, but especially those that represent reality. In her view, art is a way of reminding society of what works, and what could be changed. Art is also a way of reconciling with oneself, giving the artist a more-than-important place in a fast-moving world, at a time when introspection is not always on the agenda.