French from Afar

Directed by Jackie Bastide
Produced by Temps noir

Broadcasters: Canal + International (Overseas),
France Télévisions, Planète
Support: Région Ile-de-France,
ACSE,
EU Media Plus Program, Procirep Angoa, CNC

60’ – 2010

Festival selections:
FIGRA

Festival du film insulaire
Les Escales documentaires de La Rochelle
Les Ecrans documentaires

There are deportation campaigns so subtle that it never occurs to anyone to call them by their true name. The massive transfer of more than 70,000 people from the French-colonized islands to mainland France, organized by the BUMIDOM (Bureau of Migrations for Overseas Departments) between 1963 and 1981, was certainly one such case. This subtle and silent humiliation echoes an even more muffled and far-reaching battle that continues to brew both in mainland France and throughout the entire overseas French archipelago.