Francophone Short Films In Harlem

Schedule of Events

3:30 pm

Post-screening discussion moderated by Joseph Pomp with directors:
Arnold SETOHOU, Producer NEW DIRECTION FILMS (Cotonou/Bénin) (Mon vélo)
Winners of Lycée Français rough-cut festival 2025

Sita Bella

Eugenie Metala
Cameroun
2023, 30 minutes

An anonymous grave between those of her parents, a rundown cinema in the premises of the Ministry of Arts and Culture, this is what remains as signs of the passage of Sita Bella on Earth. And yet she was the first woman journalist, the first Cameroon's airliner pilot, one of the first filmmakers in Africa whose film ‘Tam Tam in Paris' was selected at the first edition of Fespaco in 1969.
To pay tribute to this exceptional woman is the challenge of this work of a young director Eugénie Metala under the supervision of Jean Marie Teno.

Kin My Beautiful

Junior Moses
Democratic Republic of the Congo
2022, 8 minutes

Walking through Kinshasa, the capital of Democratic republic of the Congo.In its grandeur, in its ugliness and in its ardor, beautiful Kinshasa, which is my beautiful, is where my daily life comes to life, through its atmosphere, through its luminance.

Merlich, Merlich

Hannit Ghilas
France
2024, 19 minutes

Karim learns of his grandfather's death and the family begins funeral preparations. While retrieving forgotten coffee with his cousin Myriam, a car accident occurs. Karim stages a theft to cover it up, but his younger brother Idriss blackmails them. Myriam finds a solution.

Mon Vélo

Francky Tohouegnon
Bénin
2023, 12 minutes

Oumar, a 12-year-old boy, yearns for a bike. His father promises to give him one if he comes top of his class. When his school results are announced, stress overwhelms him and plunges him into a frightening dream in which his brand-new bike is stolen. Determined, he teams up with his best friend, Comlan. Together, they set a clear goal: to find the bike at all costs before his father discovers it's missing.

Winners of Rough-cut Festival

Lycée Français
New York City
2025, 15 minutes

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7:00 pm

Post-screening discussion + coktails to follow

Directors:
Elen Sylla Grolimund (Villa Madjo)
Brian Hawkins (Les Vouèsins)

Villa Madjo

Elen Sylla Grolimund
Senegal-France-Belgium
2024, 13 minutes

Starting from the observation that her father -who is white- was born in Africa, and that her mother -who is black- was born in Europe, the director reveals the complex history of her family, from colonialism to their experience of the interracial couple in Europe in the 1950's and 70's.

Eldorado

Mathieu Volpe
Belgium
2024, 19 minutes

Awa, a Cameroonian snow groomer operator, helps a determined young migrant cross the border from Italy to France. As their journey unfolds, a poignant story of redemption emerges amid a web of snow and hidden truths.

Sylvie en Liberté

Sara Bourdeau
Québec/Canada
2024, 24 minutes

Sylvie's out of jail and back in town. She secretly visits her mother, trying to convince her to leave her violent husband. Facing her mother's refusal, Sylvie stays determined to enjoy every second of her new freedom. She rides her old chopper bicycle across the dirt roads, gets drunk, and thinks about kidnapping a neglected dog. But one thing is on Sylvie's mind: seeing her old lover, Coyote. Time flies, things change, and Sylvie must choose the only freedom available to her.

Le Flou des Arbres

Fanny Perrault
Québec/Canada
2024, 11 minutes

Two incarcerated women in a secured forest of the North of Quebec are subjected to hard labor of reforestation. Confronted to their body's instrumentalization and its underhand control, they enjoy a little area of freedom they managed to create thanks to a prison guard particularly empathetic towards them.

Les Vouèsins

Brian Hawkins
USA/Missouri-French Créoles
2024, 15 minutes

When he arrived in the summer of 1934, J. M. Carrière described Old Mines as "a straggling, quiet little village in the foothills of the Missouri Ozarks, about sixty-five miles south of Saint Louis. Scattered all along the countryside, I found six hundred French-speaking families living in this community. "Carrière sought out the most accomplished storytellers and meticulously transcribed 73 folktales, documenting both the Creoles' worldview and the local French language, rapidly falling out of use. When researchers returned to the community in the 1970s, many of the stories Carrière collected had already faded from memory. Others left an indelible impression, such as Frank "Boy" Bourisaw's Le Petit Bœuf aux cornes d'or.

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