How two people in the French port city of Nantes – one descended from slave owners, the other from enslaved people – are working together to “repair” the country’s troubled history. The slave money that built the Élysée Palace, the French president’s official residence. And turmoil in the French film industry after the head of a major funder blacklisted hundreds of industry professionals who signed a petition against its right-wing billionaire owner, Vincent Bolloré.
Twenty-five years ago, France became the first country to recognise slavery as a crime against humanity, but has never issued an official apology for its role in the trade. Last month, Pierre Guillon de Princé, a descendant of a family of slave traders in the port city of Nantes, made history by apologising publicly for his family’s actions. He and Dieudonné Boutrin, the descendant of enslaved people on the French overseas territory of Martinique, have come together to build fraternity amid growing racism in France. They talk about inaugurating a new memorial – the Mast of Fraternity and Memory – and their long, sometimes difficult battle to encourage reparatory justice. They’re not responsible for the past, they say, but they are responsible for the present and the future. (Listen @0′)
The Cannes Film Festival shines a light on the world of cinema – the films, the glamour and the business of making movies. In the midst of this year’s edition, the French film industry was shaken as the head of Canal+, one of the biggest funders of French and European film, announced he would cut ties with the hundreds of actors, directors and creatives who signed a letter criticising the influence of right-wing billionaire Vincent Bolloré, who owns a third of the company. Economist Kira Kitsopanidou looks at the major role that Canal+ plays in financing French cinema, and what happens when money meets ideology. And RFI’s Ollia Horton reports from the festival. (Listen @20′)
What would become the Élysée Palace, the official residence of the French president, was built three centuries ago with money amassed by a French slave trader. Anti-racism activist Louis-Georges Tin calls on President Emmanuel Macron to acknowledge the building’s history, while Laurine Gomis of association Memoires et Partages explains where to find other traces of France’s slaving past in Paris. (Listen @13′)
Episode mixed by Cecile Pompeani.
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