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"The power of the film is incredible to change people's minds, open their eyes, their vision of the world," explained Euzhan Palcy in an interview in American Film in 1989. Her words describe her own effect on film; she is rapidly creating a legacy to the history of film as an artist, vanguard, and pioneer filmmaker.
Palcy was born on the French West Indian island of Martinique. From all accounts, Palcy was a precocious and artistically gifted child, encouraged in large part by her father. "I grew up in a cultured, artistic environment. We weren't rich but there were painters, writers and intellectuals in my family." Palcy wrote stories, poetry, short dramas and—while still a teenager—produced and directed La messegère (1974), a 50-minute drama about a grandmother who works on a banana plantation. The work stands out as probably the first of its kind to be produced in Martinique specifically for West Indian television.
Like many film artists, Palcy admits to having been captivated by movies at a tender age. "I loved the movies from the time I was a little girl," she reveals in American Film , "by the time I was 10, I wanted to be a filmmaker." Because the filmmaking industry of Martinique was all but non-existent, she instead was raised on a steady diet of American-produced fare and influenced in large part by the style of some revered directors, including Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, and Fritz Lang. The films Palcy watched included such marginalized, conventionalized, and stereotyped imagery that she was inspired to take a camera into her own hands."The desire to be a director came out of rage, anger, she noted in Film Comment. "I was so upset when I would see all those stupid portrayals of black people in American movies."
At the age of seventeen, and to the consternation of her father, Palcy decided to become a filmmaker. "It is as if your child today would say, 'I want to be a cosmonaut," Palcy explained in an interview with Ally Acker.
She left Martinique for Paris, studying art and French literature at the prestigious Sorbonne and earning a degree in photography at the equally prestigious Louis Lumière School of Cinema. While in Paris she continued work on her screen adaptation of Joseph Zobel's book Rue cases nègres , a novel that Palcy reveals profoundly effected her. She earned a grant from French television and even won the support of French film luminary, François Truffaut, who became part mentor, part godfather.
In 1981, she directed the film L'atelier du diable (The Devil's Workshop) a piece derived largely from the story she would pursue in Rue cases nègres. It took some three years to raise the $800,000 for the production of Rue cases nègres. The film examines the 1930s sugar-cane plantations of the French West Indian island of Martinique. Striking are the scenes of crushing poverty and cruel exploitation: children go without shoes and marvel at the thought of sharing the taste of a found egg. We see the alleys, lined with the shacks that serve as dwellings for the indigent cane-cutters, and watch as a worker has his already tiny pittance docked simply because he stopped work to relieve himself.
Seen through the eyes of a personable young adolescent boy named Jose, Rue cases nègres is a tale of colonialism, exploitation, and hope. Jose's grandmother M'Man Tine, sacrifices her own wellbeing so that he may have the benefit of an education and need not follow her into a life as a sugar cane field worker. The success of Rue cases nègres earned Palcy international attention and a number of awards, including the French César.
In the space of a few years, Palcy carved a unique place for herself in film largely unbeknownst to women of color. Yet, her story had only just begun. In 1989, she burst into the public eye with the production of the film, A Dry White Season. The legacy of this film is multi-layered. First and foremost is the film's unflinching depiction of the cruelty of the system of apartheid in South Africa. A few filmmakers had sought to do this, most notably Richard Attenborough's production of Cry Freedom (1987). Palcy's film adaptation of the André Brinke novel pulled no punches. The brutality and violence of the system is laid bare. Viewers witness the legacy of institutionalized racism and indifference: a severe lashing given a young boy by police leave his buttocks bloodied, children are gunned down in the streets, and other torture is shown. Critical reviews of the film were abundant and overwhelmingly positive. "No other contemporary mainstream film takes us so deeply, so unflinchingly into the tragically divided heart of South Africa," noted Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times. The film earned heightened interest because of its high-powered cast. Donald Sutherland played the Afrikaner school teacher Ben du Toit, whose well-ordered and seemingly ideal life is slowly and inexorably shattered by the realities of the brutal and unfair system that he has somehow managed to ignore of for most of his life. In addition, Palcy managed to lure the services of the reclusive and semi-retired Marlon Brando, who took on the role of a sensitive and supportive South African barrister, receiving scale wages and an Oscar nomination for his appearance. Most significantly, the film positioned Palcy as the first black woman director of a feature film for a major Hollywood studio.
Palcy continued her success in 1992 when she directed the internationally acclaimed Siméon , a music-filled ghost story about a young Martinican girl who holds the dream of bringing her native music to the world. In 1994 she produced Aimé Céaire: un voix pour l'histoire (Aimé Céaire: A Voice for History) , a three-part study of the life of the celebrated Martinican author.
The end of the century saw Palcy's work take on a slightly different focus. In 1998, she directed the made-for-television movie Ruby Bridges , the poignant story of the little black girl who helped to bring racial integration to the all-white New Orleans school system. She has turned her attention to the production of Wings against the Wind , a tale of the life of Bessie Coleman, black America's first female aviatrix and has plans for an adaptation of the story of Haitian military leader Toussaint L'Overture.
—Pamala S. Deane
Read more: http://www.filmreference.com/Directors-Mi-Pe/Palcy-Euzhan.html#ixzz0UOSTMUFX
http://www.filmreference.com/Directors-Mi-Pe/Palcy-Euzhan.html
