The annual film event, which could not be organized last year, will be held from January 23 to 30 and will offer some 30 films to film lovers. The guest of honour is actor Bruno Henry.
It is certain that the two founders of the Guadeloupe Regional and International Film Festival, also known as FÉMI, had never thought that this annual rendezvous with the 7th art would be a great success and reach a quarter of a century. Indeed, it was in 1992 that Felly Sédécias and Patricia Lavidange, both from the Théâtre Noir de Paris, decided to launch this first film festival in the archipelago and, over the years, this event became unmissable on the local, regional and international cultural calendar. Last year, the festival could not be held because of the global Covid-19 epidemic and all the negative consequences caused by it, especially lockdown.
But, in 2021, the Images et Cultures du Monde association, which organizes the FÉMI, wanted to mark this 25th anniversary. “In this very particular context we could have given up. But it was important for us to maintain this anniversary event. More than ever, it is important to continue to live our dreams, to continue to make our projects a reality, while adapting the way we operate. Thanks to our partners who, beyond the difficulties they may also face this year due to the Covid-19 crisis, understood the meaning of our commitment and our desire to offer this highly anticipated cultural event, the FÉMI film festival. As you know, the cultural sector is going through this current period with great difficulty. Faced with this situation, allowing cinemas and artists to continue to exist means reaffirming the importance of culture that is part of the basic needs of the population. Supporting the FÉMI means supporting culture. As the first film festival created on the territory, the FÉMI is anchored in the cultural landscape of the Caribbean region and gained an international renown. A tool for cultural development, the festival is a space for meetings, exchanges and learning about cinema (…)Thank you, faithful audience who waited and asked for the FÉMI”, said ICM President Lucie Major in her presentation of the edition.
This year, the film event is placed under the sign of remembrance, so all the “work of clearing, construction and transmission carried out by passionate teams”, she added.
The opening ceremony of the FÉMI will take place this Saturday, January 23 at 7:00 pm at the Le Lamentin cinema-theatre under the auspices of the Regional Council of Guadeloupe and the municipality of Le Lamentin. The public will be able to attend on social networks. A tribute to journalist, writer and director Osange Silou-Kieffer (1947-2020) will be paid.
A tribute will also be paid to Sarah Maldoror (1929-2020) on January 28 at Cinéstar in Les Abymes.
The guest of honour of the event is actor Bruno Henry, born 51 years ago in Bordeaux of West Indian parents, who had the great French actor Michel Galabru (1922-2016) as his theatre teacher and mentor. He acted in several plays, films and TV films and is also the French voice of black American actors such as Tyreese Gibson, Dereck Luke, Djimon Ounsou, Glenn Plummer, Terrence Howard, Jimmy Jean Louis. At the 26th edition of the Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO), he won two major prizes – the ECOWAS Integration Prize and the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Prize – with the film “Resolution” by Boris Oué and Marcel Sagne.
On the occasion of these 25 years of existence, some thirty films will be offered to film lovers. As every year, the FÉMI will be decentralized but only two towns (Le Moule and Les Abymes) will screen films of the festival.
Programme of the Guadeloupe Regional and International Film Festival – FÉMI 2021
