AIMÉ CÉSAIRE – LE MASQUE DES MOTS
France | 1987 | 47 min | col. | o.v. French
A portrait on the move of the great Martinican poet and politician Aimé Césaire in dialogue with Léopold Sédar Senghor and Maya Angelou or reciting poems in the midst of Miami’s urban noise. Sarah Maldoror made a documentary that is also a film poem, with bodies moving about actual cityscapes while words become flesh, gesture, breath. This “mask of words” is a metaphor for the power of language: to conceal, uncover, and protect. An impassioned, clear homage to black speech and its role in the liberation of peoples and in identity affirmation. (L.F.)
Local Time
- Timezone: America/New_York
- Date: 05 Nov 2025
- Time: 10:30
Location
- Cinema Astra - Piazza Cesare Beccaria, 9 50121 Florence (FI)
Organizer
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Sarah Maldoror
Sarah Maldoror (1929–2020) was a French director, Pan-African by adoption, revolutionary voice, and the first female filmmaker in African cinema. She chronicled the wars of liberation in the former Portuguese colonies, with a particular focus on the role of women in the struggle. After founding the first theater company of black actors in France, Les Griots, in 1956, she was assistant director to Pontecorvo for The Battle of Algiers in 1966, and then to William Klein for Festival panafricain d'Alger (1969). Her first feature film was also the first ever made by an African female director: Sambizanga (1972). Her other major works include her debut short film Monangambééé (1969), Aimé Césaire, un homme une terre (1976), Aimé Césaire – Le Masque des mots (1987), Portrait de Assia Djebar (1989), and Léon G. Damas (1994).
