Bosla Arts Recommends: Les larmes de la Seine (The Seine's Tears)
Each month Bosla Arts recommends a book, film, exhibition, or anything else by artists and activists that we believe is instrumental in transnational solidarity. For April, we have chosen the film, Les larmes de la Seine (The Seine's Tears), by Yanis Belaid, Eliott Benard, Nicolas Mayeur, Etienne Moulin, Hadrien Pinot, Lisa Vicente, Philippine Singer and Alice Letailleur.
Les larmes de la Seine (The Seine's Tears) is a 3D-animation set in Paris, October 1961. The film depicts a group of French Algerian demonstrators who take to the streets in protest of a mandatory curfew set by the Parisian government on Algerians.
The film is based on real events that took place towards the end of the Algerian War of Independence against the French who colonised the country since 1860. In October 1961, a curfew was placed on the Algerian community in Paris, who subsequently took to the streets in protest.
On 17th October, the French brutally cracked down on the protestors; beating and throwing people into the Seine. The event was then covered up by the authorities. To date, we do not know how many people were killed but it’s predicted between 48 - 200 died that day. [1]
The film is a touching reinterpretation of that horrific day. It begins much as it would have really started, a protestor goes to the demonstration and is met with extreme police brutality as he is thrown into the Seine.
“The goal of the first part of the movie is to present the facts, and a handheld camera was a perfect way to achieve this goal. The viewer is immersed at the heart of the demonstration and follows the Algerian workers.” - Yanis Belaid [2]
The second half allows for more interpretation. In the film, we see the group head in a bus to a concert where they dance together in the midst of a police takeover. In reality, groups of protestors were taken to a football stadium where they were arrested and beaten.
“For the second half of the film, we wanted to keep telling the story of what happened on October 17th, 1961, but we also wanted to bring in our idea, our vision, of a communion. It is very important to remember the past of our country, to accept the fact that these dark events took place, in order to build our future. And this party, this communion, is a symbol of this idea.” -Yanis Belaid [3]
We chose this film for April as an important reminder for the right to protest and the right to remember and mourn the past.