Stage and Screen – Aïssa Maïga

Cinema is intertwined with the history of theater in France. Since the 16th century, there has been a representation of non-white people on stage. This shows that there’s been an interest of French people for the world, of course, but also for this subject matter of race and politics. It’s not something new and it continued after and with the history of theater, with the arrival of cinema.

As a French Black actress of West African origin, I’ve often heard that we have to be patient. We have to wait until the French society is ready to have a representation that is not only white. And when I look back to this time, I have the feeling that we, as French people, no matter where we come from, we have the same legacy. And this legacy is made of métissage. It’s made of this multiplicity of the French society. We didn’t arrive two decades ago with the waves of immigration. We’ve been there for a long time. Métissage is not only about mixed races. It’s not biological only. To me, it’s about a new culture that is constantly evolving because there’s such a mix of different people, different cultures that it doesn’t become one culture forever

Cinema is intertwined with the history of theater in France. Since the 16th century, there has been a representation of non-white people on stage. This shows that there’s been an interest of French people for the world, of course, but also for this subject matter of race and politics. It’s not something new and it continued after and with the history of theater, with the arrival of cinema.

As a French Black actress of West African origin, I’ve often heard that we have to be patient. We have to wait until the French society is ready to have a representation that is not only white. And when I look back to this time, I have the feeling that we, as French people, no matter where we come from, we have the same legacy. And this legacy is made of métissage. It’s made of this multiplicity of the French society. We didn’t arrive two decades ago with the waves of immigration. We’ve been there for a long time. Métissage is not only about mixed races. It’s not biological only. To me, it’s about a new culture that is constantly evolving because there’s such a mix of different people, different cultures that it doesn’t become one culture forever

Cinema was born in Paris at a time when there was what we call in France already some métissage, which is not exactly mixed race. It’s the mix of cultures, the encounters of different people coming from different places, and the fact that France was a colonial country at that time, and many French people used to go to China, used to go on the African continent, used to go everywhere in the colonial empire. As a performer myself, as an actress and as a director, it’s important for me to show the audience that this legacy exists, that we have this history in common and, more than history, it’s a question of culture, of what we do with history as a culture, as a common language. So it’s important to me that even in the places of power in the industry, people have access to this knowledge that métissage, the mix of our cultures, has been here for a long time, since cinema was created. I think we have to do it, especially for the younger people, for the younger generation, for them to watch stories that show who they are in terms of history, of course, but also in terms of who we are together now, as a nation, as people.

It gives me a feeling of strength to know that there’s been a presence of foreign people for a long time in France, and now we’re not foreigners anymore. We are part of the French society. Completely. This feeling of legitimacy is quite important because it gives us the strength to go forward and to take what is ours.

Cinema is intertwined with the history of theater in France. Since the 16th century, there has been a representation of non-white people on stage. This shows that there’s been an interest of French people for the world, of course, but also for this subject matter of race and politics. It’s not something new and it continued after and with the history of theater, with the arrival of cinema.

As a French Black actress of West African origin, I’ve often heard that we have to be patient. We have to wait until the French society is ready to have a representation that is not only white. And when I look back to this time, I have the feeling that we, as French people, no matter where we come from, we have the same legacy. And this legacy is made of métissage. It’s made of this multiplicity of the French society. We didn’t arrive two decades ago with the waves of immigration. We’ve been there for a long time. Métissage is not only about mixed races. It’s not biological only. To me, it’s about a new culture that is constantly evolving because there’s such a mix of different people, different cultures that it doesn’t become one culture forever

Things are moving forward, but in terms of results, in terms of real change, we are not there yet.

The discriminations are really heavy in our country. So even if we have the feeling that things are moving forward, we have to push things forward to make the real change happen. We have won a certain amount of symbolic struggles. No one in France, I mean in the media fields, says that there’s no problem at all in terms of discrimination. I mean, some people say that everything is okay, but most people would acknowledge the fact that there is a problem and we have to solve it and voilà, et cetera. But this symbolic struggle is not enough, of course. As long as we are not in a place where everyone has the same equal chance of getting access to the opportunities, we’re not there.

Let’s envision a utopia. I don’t know if I’ll get a chance to witness that, because things are so slow, but let’s just imagine that we’re in a place where everyone can express his or her creativity without being endangered. To me, it sounds like magic, because it means that everyone can identify with a story with no connection, no immediate connection with this story. So if you can connect to a world, to representations that are not you, it means that everyone is going to connect to everyone.

Cinema is intertwined with the history of theater in France. Since the 16th century, there has been a representation of non-white people on stage. This shows that there’s been an interest of French people for the world, of course, but also for this subject matter of race and politics. It’s not something new and it continued after and with the history of theater, with the arrival of cinema.

As a French Black actress of West African origin, I’ve often heard that we have to be patient. We have to wait until the French society is ready to have a representation that is not only white. And when I look back to this time, I have the feeling that we, as French people, no matter where we come from, we have the same legacy. And this legacy is made of métissage. It’s made of this multiplicity of the French society. We didn’t arrive two decades ago with the waves of immigration. We’ve been there for a long time. Métissage is not only about mixed races. It’s not biological only. To me, it’s about a new culture that is constantly evolving because there’s such a mix of different people, different cultures that it doesn’t become one culture forever