Solène Delinger 12:10pm, May 09, 2023

On the poster of "Principal", the new film by Chad Chenouga, Roschdy Zem confided in our colleagues of "Liberation" on his debut in the cinema. The actor, who now collaborates with the biggest names in the seventh art such as Louis Garrel, has not always been entitled to the trust he deserves. 15 years ago, the actor was even excluded from a project because of the racism of a colleague.

After shining in Louis Garrel's The Innocent, Roschdy Zem is back in the cinema on Wednesday, May 10, 2023 with the film "The Principal", by Chad Chenouga. The 57-year-old actor plays the role of a father, deputy principal of a college, ready to do anything for the academic success of his son to the point of breaking the law...

"I felt humiliated"

In an interview with our colleagues from Libération on Tuesday, May 9, 2023 on the occasion of the release of the film, Roschdy Zem confided in his debut in the cinema. If he is now recognized by all his peers, the actor had to redouble his efforts to impose himself in this sometimes racist environment (editor's note: the actress Aïssa Maïga wondered about racism in cinema in the documentary Black Gaze).

Roschdy Zem has a very specific example of discrimination he suffered because of his origins. Fifteen years ago, the actor was fired from a blockbuster project just before filming began. He then received a simple phone call from the director who told him: "We have a problem, the main actress does not want to share the poster with an Arab". "Today, I am still angry with him, and sad for her," Roschdy Zem told Libération. But at the time I felt humbling."

"I am offered more complex characters"

Fifteen years after this shocking incident, Roschdy Zem notes a real evolution in the world of cinema (and in society in general). "I am offered more complex characters, with more nuanced backgrounds," says the actor. "We are no longer politically correct when it comes to giving a role to a child of immigration. The danger that awaited us was to have to be systematically exemplary and I thought it was a real form of condescension to forbid us from border roles."