RC to host film series

From staff reports
Published: September 4, 2008

A little French culture is coming to Randolph College.

“Beur is Beautiful,” a six-week film series that showcases the experiences and challenges faced by Moroccan, Tunisian and Algerian immigrants and their children, begins 7 p.m. Sept. 8 with “The au haurem/Tea in the Harem.”

The 1985 film, based on Mehdi Charef’s book of the same name, gave the “beur” subgenre its name. The term “beur” is the French slang of the word “Arabe” and refers to French-born children of North African immigrants who, for the most part, grew up in the low-income housing projects of France’s working-class suburbs.

“Tea in the Harem” is about the friendship of two teenagers — one beur, the other white — and the commonalities that unite them despite their differences.

The films will be shown at 7 p.m. Mondays in Leggett 537. For more information, call (434) 947-8142 or (434) 947-8501.

The rest of the schedule:

Sept. 15: “Vivre au Paradis/Living in Paradise,” which follows North African Lakhdar, a construction worker who brings his wife and children to live with him in France, only to have his relationship with his wife deteriorates when she joins other immigrants in a political movement to resist French oppression.

Sept. 22: “Where Fig Trees Grow,” an ensemble piece set in a North African neighborhood that follows Djamila, a middle-aged, bell-dancing femme fatale whose long-term lover, hairdresser Marfouz, finally gives in to his family and imports a demure young bride from the Maghreb.

Sept. 29: “Cheb/Flight from Africa,” which follows Merwan, the 19-year-old son of Algerian immigrants who grew up in France and gets sent to his homeland, where he’s forced into the army.

Oct. 6: “Wesh wesh qu’est-ce qui se passe?/Wesh Wesh, what’s up?,” a film about brothers Kamel and Mouss, who take alternative paths to survive in French society. The film also explores the gender differences in the expectations of young people of North African descent by focusing on Kamel and Mouss’ Westernized sister, a lawyer.

Oct. 13: “Voisins, Voisines,” which is about a rapper who in desperation finds for lyrical inspiration in the often-comic struggles of his neighbors in the Mozart Estate housing
project.