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"I have two loves ..." From Josephine Baker, we mainly remember the images of her banana dance and her rainbow family. And yet, behind her senseless frivolity was a very difficult childhood, marked by the racism and segregation she fought all her life. A struggle today almost forgotten. Hence the urgency of the film directed by Ilana Navaro, "Josephine Baker, first black icon". An exciting documentary, full of surprises and discoveries, thanks to the collected images, often rare and sometimes unpublished. A gem, competing at the International Documentary Festival (Fipadoc), Biarritz.
On stage, his rage to get out and succeed was through nudity and poses extremely daring. Adulated by some, she was dreaded by others. During his European tour, the church rang the bells to warn the faithful of the arrival of the "danger" Josephine Baker, for them the incarnation of decadence.
The documentary shows its meteoric rise, the awakening of its political commitment and the ingredients necessary to transform itself into Josephine Baker, the first black icon .
Born June 3, 1906 in the United States, St. Louis, Missouri, African-American mixed race and Native American, Freda Josephine McDonald was first the little good black who burns her hand when she drops a hand. plate. She will find her salvation in the dance. Nevertheless, arrived in New York in 1921, she is considered too small, too thin and too black to break into the music hall. In spite of everything, his absolute will to succeed impresses an impresario who finances him the crossing of the Atlantic.
For the main role in the Revue Negro , she is ready for anything and does not hesitate to satisfy the desires of the public. In 1925, at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, the "African savage" with bare breasts conquered All-Paris and became the first black star in the world. It is at the same time acclaimed by the liberated bourgeois of the crazy years and the artists, from Hemingway while passing by Calder, until Picasso. In Europe, it triggers a real "Bakermania". There remains the wound of his native country. In the United States, despite its global glory, it is still denied to stay in the same hotel as whites.
The feat of documentary is to put images on these often forgotten realities, precisely in the absence of images. On the screen appears a Josephine Baker ready to fight for his convictions. To liberate women and blacks, she not only defied many rules, but when the time came, she even put herself at the service of the Resistance as an agent of counterintelligence. Another highlight: after the war, she will be the only black woman on the platform of the famous Civil Rights march in Washington in 1963. A historic event for which director Ilana Navaro also found archival footage.
[Interview]
RFI : Josephine Baker was the first black star in the world. Why is it so little known ?
Ilana Navaro : In fact, she is known, but she is poorly known. That's exactly why we wanted to make a film. Our film is focused on his political awakening. An awakening we do not know.
When did his political commitment begin ?
It is a political commitment that is forming little by little. First, it starts with an awakening, an awareness of what happens to him. And this is huge: she becomes the first black superstar in history. She does not even understand what is happening to her, because she comes from an extremely segregated background in the United States where blacks dance for blacks and whites for whites. When she arrives in France, suddenly, she becomes the icon of whites.
It is an extremely precise path that happens especially during her travels, in the 1920s, when she goes around Europe. And in every country, she creates controversy: because she is black and because she is naked. A story that makes her aware of the place she occupies and which is totally beyond her. Later, it is especially by returning to the United States, where she again undergoes ordinary racism, that she decides to gradually transform her status into a political tool, to improve the situation of African Americans.
On her arrival in Paris, she is the object of all sorts of fantasies: the black, the savage, the femme fatale, the black Venus, the object of desire ... And her reaction consists both in stirring up and returning these often racist fantasies. For example, with his legendary banana costume.
Indeed, she uses racist imagery, banana, as dress. She dances as if she was swinging phallic objects in the eyes of the spectators who want that. But, it's as if she was giving them a mirror of their own racism. So Josephine Baker used a lot of racist imagery, but each time she found a way to do it in her own way, just to raise the racism of society.
We know very well the episode of his creation of a rainbow family with a dozen adopted children from all cultures and all religions. At the same time, one rarely sees images of his role in the Resistance and his commitment to civil rights. How do you explain this absence ?
Why do we know her badly? No doubt, because we wanted to remember only the banana dancer. She was considered a light girl, she was nothing and we did not want to dwell on it. Afterwards, when she created her rainbow tribe, yes, the people were with her, we followed her and we supported her. I think it was important to put in France multicultural ideas that are still relevant today. But the fact that she continued at the end of her life to sing to support the needs of this castle [contributed] a little [to] the old fashioned in the eyes of the French. She was a star of the roaring twenties, it was her period of glory, but we almost wanted to forget the rest.
Where did you find these incredible archive footage to describe the political turning points in Josephine Baker's life ?
We searched a lot. It was very difficult. Fortunately, we had a very good documentalist. The images are very rare and there are many that are unpublished.
► Joséphine Baker, first black icon , documentary by Ilana Navaro, in competition at the International Documentary Festival (Fipadoc, January 22-27), Biarritz, France.
► See also: Fipadoc: Rithy Panh speaks with the dead in "The Tombs Without Names" , rfi, 25/1/2019
► See also: Fipadoc: "You and Me" in Bangui, Central African Republic, rfi, 24/1/2019
► See also: Opening of Fipadoc: "It will be the Cannes of the documentary" , rfi, 22/1/2019
► Read also: "The Color Line", a re-evaluation of African-American artists, rfi, 7/10/2016