We Nous
by Alice Diop
Alice Diop will be attending
Out of Competition 2021
Official synopsis
The RER B line takes commuters from the north to the south of Paris. The film offers a journey inside these indistinct places that are called suburbs. One encounters a mechanic at La Courneuve, some believers commemorating the death of Louis XVI at the Saint-Denis basilica, a nurse visiting her patients, the memory of young deportees in Drancy, children, young people enjoying the tranquility of summer, a writer in Gif-sur-Yvette, the follower of a hunting crew and the filmmaker who revisits the place where she spent her childhood. Each is part of a whole, a possible "We".
“The day after the march of January 11, 2015, which brought together two million people, following the Charlie Hebdo and Hyper Cacher attacks, Libération enthusiastically headlined: “We are a people”.
I, who had curiously felt alone in this crowd, wondered who were this "people" the newspaper was talking about?
I believe that the desire for this film stems from this question formulated in these dire circumstances: what does "We" stand for?"
(Alice Diop)
The programmer’s eye
While people live in the same territory without understanding or speaking to each other, the director explores her intimate geography to visit the nooks with which she has failed to communicate. The film offers a stroll around the different stops of the RER B line, as well as an exploration of the director’s genesis. We had never seen the suburbs like this. “We” is theoretically very powerful, without ever instrumentalizing its protagonists as political or sociological concepts. What luck to be able to meet these people, their modesty, their dignity. I’m not getting over it.
— Natacha Seweryn
Biography and Filmography
Alice Diop is a French screenwriter and director who was born in 1979. After studying History and Visual Sociology at the Sorbonne, she became a documentary filmmaker. Several of her short and medium-length films have been selected and awarded at festivals, such as “Les Sénégalaises et la Sénégauloise” (2007), “La Mort de Danton” (2011), but also “Towards Tenderness” (2016), which was awarded the César for Best Short Film in 2017. Her documentary feature “We” (2022) won the Best Documentary Award at the Berlinale and premiered at the FIFIB in 2021. “Saint Omer”, which won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival 2022, is her first fiction feature film.
2022 : SAINT OMER - Alice Diop - Director and Screenwriter
2020 : WE - Alice Diop - Director and Screenwriter
2016 : LA PERMANENCE - Alice Diop - Director and Screenwriter
2016 : VERS LA TENDRESSE (SHORT) - Alice Diop - Director and Screenwriter
2011 : LA MORT DE DANTON - Alice Diop - Director
2007 : LES SÉNÉGALAISES ET LA SÉNÉGAULOISE (SHORT) - Alice Diop - Director
2006 : CLICHY POUR L’EXEMPLE (SHORT) - Alice Diop - Director
2005 : LA TOUR DU MONDE (SHORT) - Alice Diop - Director
Ismael Soumaïla Sissoko, N’deye Sighane Diop, Pierre Bergounioux...
Athénaïse
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Totem Films
by Alice Diop
Alice Diop is a French screenwriter and director who was born in 1979. After studying History and Visual Sociology at the Sorbonne, she became a documentary filmmaker. Several of her short and medium-length films have been selected and awarded at festivals, such as “Les Sénégalaises et la Sénégauloise” (2007), “La Mort de Danton” (2011), but also “Towards Tenderness” (2016), which was awarded the César for Best Short Film in 2017. Her documentary feature “We” (2022) won the Best Documentary Award at the Berlinale and premiered at the FIFIB in 2021. “Saint Omer”, which won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival 2022, is her first fiction feature film.
2022 : SAINT OMER - Alice Diop - Director and Screenwriter
2020 : WE - Alice Diop - Director and Screenwriter
2016 : LA PERMANENCE - Alice Diop - Director and Screenwriter
2016 : VERS LA TENDRESSE (SHORT) - Alice Diop - Director and Screenwriter
2011 : LA MORT DE DANTON - Alice Diop - Director
2007 : LES SÉNÉGALAISES ET LA SÉNÉGAULOISE (SHORT) - Alice Diop - Director
2006 : CLICHY POUR L’EXEMPLE (SHORT) - Alice Diop - Director
2005 : LA TOUR DU MONDE (SHORT) - Alice Diop - Director