February 2: May Allah Bless France / Abd al Malik / 2014 / 95 min

Opening Reception (6.00 p.m.)

Introduction: Patricia-Pia Célérier (Vassar College, French & Francophone Studies)

Respondent: Alexander Kupfer (Vassar College, Department of Film)

 

This riveting first feature by acclaimed French rapper and novelist Abd Al Malik is a coming-of-age story based on the writer-director’s youth in the Strasbourg projects. The film follows the life of a budding rapper relying on petty crime to fund his passion for music. But as his fellow artists begin to deal drugs, Régis finds salvation in French literary classics and conversion to Sufi Islam.

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This Tournées Film Festival is made possible with the support of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the U.S., the Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée (CNC), the French American Cultural Fund, Florence Gould Foundation and Highbrow Entertainment. This festival is also supported by a generous Humanities New York Action Grant (humanitiesny.org).

The festival is cosponsored by the Department of Film, the Women’s Studies and International Studies Programs, the Dean of Faculty and the VSA French Club.

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