The last candidates for the Palme d'Or in the starting blocks. A few days before the closing ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival, which will take place Saturday, Hollywood stars made a remarkable return Tuesday night on the red carpet, on the occasion of the premiere of "Asteroid City". The new feature film by the whimsical director Wes Anderson brings together one of the most beautiful castings of the festival with Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Margot Robbie, Matt Dillon, Steve Carell and Tilda Swinton.

In this crazy comedy-drama, a contest of little geniuses of science, organized in the middle of the desert, is upset by the visit of an unlikely alien who provokes an intervention of the army. Despite some nice discoveries of inventiveness, the film received a mixed reception from critics, which its incredible cast failed to completely convince.

Team of the film "Asteroid City", on the red carpet. © Cristophe Simon, AFP

In addition to this string of stars, the Cannes Film Festival has warmly welcomed two iconic filmmakers of Italian cinema. Winner of a Palme d'honneur in 2021, Marco Bellocchio, 84, is back on the Croisette with "Rapito" based on the true story of the forced conversion to Catholicism of a Jewish child, taken from his family by order of the pope in the 19th century.

In a radically different register, Nanni Moretti uses self-mockery in "Towards a Bright Future", the story of an adored Italian director, who tries somehow to make a new feature film while the elements seem to be against him.

See also Sudan makes its debut in Cannes with a drama that explores the roots of the conflict

The African breakthrough continues

The rise of African cinema has continued in recent days with the screenings of two landmark films from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon.

"Augure", a choral film by rapper and performer Baloji, explores the theme of ostracism through the journey of several characters rejected because accused of indulging in witchcraft and who will join forces to get out of this straitjacket. This first Congolese entry at the Cannes Film Festival was presented in the Un Certain Regard Section.

Finally, "Mambar Pierrette", broadcast in the Filmmakers' Fortnight, paints an intimate portrait of a Cameroonian seamstress, a single mother, who is struggling to make ends meet, under the threat of flooding caused by the rainy season. This everyday warrior is constantly working on her sewing machine as the new school year approaches to be able to provide her children with the necessary equipment. In his small living room, customers and neighbors linger, sharing their joys and disappointments, drawing a meticulous portrait of the complexities and contradictions of Cameroonian society.

Screened as part of the Filmmakers' Fortnight, this poignant drama is director Rosine Mbakam's first fiction film, after several acclaimed documentaries, exploring the themes of filiation or the exodus to Europe. In an interview with France 24, the filmmaker spoke about her creative process, as close as possible to the reality of her characters, as well as her commitment to valuing African stories in the film industry.

The director of the film "Mambar Pierrette", Rosine Mbakam (left) with her cousin and heroine of the film Pierette Aboheu.

"Mambar Pierrette" is your first fiction feature film although it features your cousin in a role very close to her reality. Where do you draw the line between documentary and fiction?

Rosine Mbakam: Pierrette's reality is at the center of the film. I was inspired by his life to write this story. Then during the shooting, the characters seized the story to bring the scenario back to their own reality.

Fiction never takes over, it comes to densify and complicate the narrative, to make visible elements of context. In particular, it clarifies that Pierrette's social situation is not only linked to her husband's irresponsibility, the fact that she does not earn enough money or the political situation in Cameroon, but also to the neocolonialism that persists and means that there is still great precariousness in some countries.

The sewing salon occupies a central place in the film. Why did you highlight this activity and what does it symbolize?

My film tells the story of Pierrette who is a seamstress in real life. Sewing embellishes, it brings people together and the sewing salon is a place conducive to confidences. I wanted to highlight the value of this work of making and processing that almost no longer exists in Western society. We go shopping but we have lost this relationship, this commitment to what we wear.

The sewing salon also symbolizes the relationship between men and women in Cameroon. The men stay at the entrance, at the door, while the women settle there, embody the workshop and spread there. These opposing positions mark the contrast between a new generation of women who are increasingly assuming themselves and who want to build themselves in the face of men who do not accept this reality and therefore find themselves in a situation of fragility. Pierrette does not do a sewing for women, she works for everyone, it is not a space that excludes. By staying at a distance, men protect themselves, avoid questioning their position and protect their power.

This year marks a breakthrough for African cinema in the Cannes selection, through a new generation of directors, especially women. Does the presence of your film in this context have any particular value for you?

This is indeed very important to me. We know how much Western cinema has nourished Africa and continues to nourish it. It is high time that our works make the opposite journey and contaminate world cinema to bring other types of narration, other ways of speaking French, other figures that we are not used to seeing... The West has to get used to all this.

There is a lot going on in African cinema but these productions are very little visible in Europe. Africa is overwhelmed by European and American cinema, but how many of its films leave the continent? That's why these selections at the Cannes Film Festival are very important. This is how our films can be shown in Italy, France or elsewhere. Without these festivals we cannot export ourselves. I feel very proud to see this year all these selections from Africa.

What do you think of the image of Africa as it is conveyed by the film industry? Is there, as the Malian director Souleymane Cissé denounced, a "contempt" and a reluctance to distribute African films in the West?

The film industry formats a lot. The few so-called African films that are exported are often filmed by Westerners who in reality film themselves. Sometimes in these films we want to show everything about Africa except the essential: the essence of the people. I've been asked a lot why my film doesn't show more of the neighborhood. I asked them why they wanted to see it, but I want to film Pierrette. I can't blame them because we're used to that, to this image of Africa associated with a certain precariousness, and they want to feed what has built their imagination. But they are not going to impose a way of doing things on me because it is Pierrette, the center of my film. It is she who infuses and guides the movements of my camera, the aesthetics, the rhythm and the narrative.

What impact do you think the screening of these African films in the world's biggest festival can have?

The desire for cinema was born in me while watching Western films. This cinema opened me to the world but not enough to my own reality so I had to deconstruct that. Because in reality, it is my environment, the people of my daily life that inspire me and not Brad Pitt who has nothing to do with my reality. Africans need to see themselves on screen to understand that they can be inspired by characters like Pierrette or others. The role of cinema is to make people think, to question, to think about our reality. How can we impact this reality if we do not see it? How can we change society by being chained to a thought that is not ours?

People who come to this festival today will come back with seven African films in their imagination, and not one or two as is usually the case, it's huge. These stories will feed the West but also the imagination of young Africans who will see their stories valued outside their continent.

Cannes © Film Festival Graphic Studio France Media World

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