INTERVIEW
Simply black , which hits theaters this Wednesday, retraces the story of "JP", a failed actor who rows after having participated in numerous castings. The main character, played by Jean-Pascal Zadi, who also co-directed the film, then decides to prepare the first "black man's march for dignity". The camera follows him as he tries to convince influential black personalities, like Lilian Thuram, Fary, Joey Starr, Fabrice Eboué or Soprano, to accompany him in his fight. Result: a comedy that looks like a fake documentary, a bit like It happened near you , which applies, behind jokes, to denounce police violence or the place reserved for black actors in France .
"A project that I have been carrying out since 2015"
On Wednesday, for the film's release, Jean-Pascal Zadi gave himself over to Pascale Clark's microphone in "Culture Médias" on Europe 1. And he notably mentioned the difficulty of giving birth to this film. The 39-year-old director-screenwriter waited four long years before seeing his film on the screens. "It's a project I've been carrying out since 2015. I had a lot of rejection of production boxes. People told me that black people didn't interest anyone. I was told that I was not serious enough and that you can't edit a film about me. Tell me that I don't have the profile of a serious director annoyed me, "he says.
It was ultimately Gaumont who decided to finance the feature film, without knowing that the subject would be hot at the end of the film, which fell just after the death of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movements.
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"We tried to be true to ourselves"
"Of African origin", Jean-Pascal Zadi grew up in Normandy facing racism on a daily basis. "Being black and French, it is clear that I have been confronted with situations of racism a lot. I understand that it can be traumatic for many, but I rather experienced it as a strength", testifies the artist born in Bondy, in Seine-Saint-Denis. He used comedy "to make it a weapon" against this discrimination. "We tried to be true to ourselves and since the background is not disgusting, that's it, it makes a pretty cool film," he concludes.
"It's a bit of Voltaire's Candide", explains the co-director about his own role in front of the camera. "He balances truths that sometimes should not be said. At the same time he is a little haughty, on the pretext that he is campaigning for a noble cause, he allows himself 'phew stuff' to people. It was good to play with this paradox. "
"We are more black in people's eyes than between us"
In the film, the adventures of "JP" sometimes absurdly reflect the prevailing racism in France. "We tried to have an outside and also an inside point of view, within our community, to show the complexity of the phenomenon", details Jean-Pascal Zadi. "In the film, we realize that we are all black in skin, but that apart from that, there is not much that unites us. In the end, we are more black in people's eyes than 'between us."