The monthlong Tournées French film festival held at Grambling State University ended on Tuesday with the film Caché (Hidden). Caché is a thriller centered on Georges and Anne Laurent, a wealthy French couple, and their son Pierrot. They receive threatening phone calls and videotapes of surveillance of their private life and weird drawings.
Eventually, Georges gets a clue from a tape showing footage of his childhood home. This leads him to his adopted brother, the Algerian Majid, the man Georges accuses of sending the tapes. He does not disclose this information to Anne, and it causes friction in their relationship. Georges does not want to share this information because it brings to light France’s damaged relations with Algeria.
Professor Roshunda Belton, head of GSU’s history department, moderated this film. She said that this film was a critique on imperialism. Belton said, “This film seems to ask, ‘Are you guilty? How do you feel about colonization?'”
On Thursday, Jim Kim moderated Daratt (Dry Season). Daratt focuses on 16-year-old Atim, who must avenge his father’s death. His blind grandfather decides this after a radio announcement reveals that the government in Chad has granted amnesty to all war criminals.
According to his grandfather, Atim’s father was a war hero who was as brave as a lion. Atim is given his father’s gun to avenge his death. Accomplishing this task is no small feat. Nassara, a breadmaker, is the man who killed Atim’s father. However, he is not the villain that Atim thought him to be. He gives loaves of bread to the poor and takes Atim under his wing and teaches him how to run the bakery and invites him into his home.
Eventually, Atim leads Nassara to his blind grandfather under the guise of avenging his father’s death. In the end, Atim learns that people can change.
Kim said, “This ending is brilliant. It is similar to Shakespeare’s revenge theme. Atim could not kill the man because Atim was not evil.”
Through a grant that she received from the French American Cultural Exchange, Dr. Chimegsaikhan Banzar coordinated the festival. She said one of the reasons that the festival was held was to help motivate students to learn French for their academic and professional growth and cultural enrichment.