I Kiffe NY: This New New French Fest Is About to Boil Over

Get ready for one of the more interesting -- and certainly comprehensive -- French festivals to come to NYC for some time: I Kiffe NY, beginning this Monday, October 6, and continuing over three weeks until Tuesday, October 28. If you're imagining that this is a French "take" on the ever-popular "I Love NY" theme, you'd be

correct. However, Kiffe (pronounced keef) is French slang, borrowed from the Arabic language, and translates more like "I'm absolutely nuts-to-the-max" about NY. Another French word you'll need to know is banlieues, which, though correctly translated as "the surburbs," more accurately -- for urban Americans -- should read "the projects."

A celebration of the urban culture of France and its largely immigrant banlieues, the programs is a veritable grab-bag of the best the country has to offer in this vernacular. Included is everything from eight narrative films (shown in twelve screenings); nine more documentary programs, with speakers and/or panel discussions (most of these will be in English); two programs of dance (the Accrorap and Pockemon companies in five performances); three of music (Les Nubians, La Caution, Wax Tailor and Mangu); and three gallery shows of two visual artists and one photographer (Jérôme Lagarrigue, Fabien Verschaere and Denis Darzacq). Venues include everywhere from NYU to FIAF, Columbia University, Medger Evers College, the French Embassy Cultural Services, Hiro Ballroom and Joe's Pub.

Best of all, perhaps, many of these programs are being presented to the public free of charge: the documentaries, speakers and panels, as well as the gallery shows. Tickets for the narrative films are $10, the dance programs cost $25, and the music events $15, $20 and $25.

Since film's my forte, I'll concentrate on the eight narrative movies, five of which I've seen, and all of which I believe to be worth your time. If you have any interest in watching living/breathing/feeling banlieue kids on a downward roll, do not miss Audrey Estrougo's AIN'T SCARED, shown above, bottom left (the link is to my earlier review, which appeared on GreenCine: scroll down a bit once you've arrived). Ms. Estrougo -- smart, vivacious and extremely talented, if this first full-length feature is any indication -- will field a Q&A after the 7 pm, Tuesday, October 7, screening.

Two years previous to Estrougo's film, a little movie called L'ESQUIVE (or Games of Love and Chance on this side of the Atlantic), above right, surprised France by winning Césars (the French "Oscar") for best film, director and original writing. Though I prefer Ain't Scared, L'Esquive is no piker in the good-film department. Built around the banlieue students' rehearsal and performance of -- yes! -- a Marivaux play, the movie simultaneously tracks a budding love story between two of the characters who can barely communicate with each other, let alone with the text of this famous 18th Century playwright. The kids in this film use an argot/patois that the subtitles do not do justice (subtitling has rarely seemed more tricky than here), but their thoughts and feelings still shine through. The film's French release preceded the banlieue riots that started, yet again, the ball rolling toward better communication between the French and their Algerian immigrant population. (Speaking of, I suspect Americans might learn something they could use in their own country from the films, documentaries, speakers and panelists in this festival.)

The banlieue as a microcosm of the larger world is the subject of WESH WESH, WHAT'S HAPPENING? by Rabah Ameur-Zaimèche, shown above. Here, a man returns from an Algerian prison to his family in France and tries desperately to succeed -- on French terms, of course. This one was shot on an obviously low budget, but in the hands of a talented filmmaker and crew, it works very well and should leave you, as it does the central family, bereft.

Another, lighter view of the banlieues is provided by VOISINS VOISINES (My Neighbors), in which a rap artist discovers the material for his next album via the lively and diverse people all around him. This is what I'd call banlieue-lite, but it is delightful all the same and features a wonderful group of characters brought to life via some of France's best actors. You can meet the director, Malik Chibane, at the Tuesday, October 14, 7pm screening.

I reviewed Karin Albou's 2004 film LITTLE JERUSALEM (above left) some time back for GreenCine, and it, too, is worth a watch. Also showing in the series is this year's big César winner THE SECRET OF THE GRAIN (shown at top), which should be receiving its theatrical release later this year via IFC and is directed by the same fellow who did L'Esquive, Abdel Kechiche; TWO LADIES from Philippe Faucon (who will field a Q&A at the 7pm, Tuesday, Oct. 21, screening) and Jean-François Richet's MY CITY IS GOING TO CRACK, shown just below. (M. Richet did the very good 2005 remake of Assault on Precinct 13.)

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Without belaboring the point, it seems to me that there may be much to learn from our French compatriots, who, after all, embraced "democracy" around the same time as did the US, and in fact helped us fight the British for ours. With immigrants now providing as hot a topic here as there -- it's a hot one all over Europe -- the films, speakers, dance, music and art of this festival should be pointed, unpredictable and buoyant. Not part of this festival (though still playing around town), is one of the most popular foreign films in America this year -- TELL NO ONE (above right)-- which demonstrates well what connects a native population to its immigrant/banlieues and how the two support each other in ways that are vital and necessary, if sometimes surprising.