Rapper Abd Al Malik will direct his second film, on the true story of the Reunion slave who sued his master to claim his freedom, adapted from the book “The Slave Furcy Affair” by Mohammed Aïssaoui by the scriptwriter of “Des hommes et des dieux” and “Mon roi”.
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The film is an adaptation of the Prix Renaudot 2010, “The Affair of the Slave Furcy” (Gallimard) by Mohammed Aïssaoui, who collaborates on the project, the producers said on Monday, the 20th anniversary of the Taubira law recognizing slavery and trafficking as crimes against humanity.
In 2005, Mohammed Aïssaoui discovered somewhat by chance the archives concerning the lawsuit brought by Furcy. These documents were auctioned at the Hôtel Drouot in Paris. They recounted the longest lawsuit ever brought by a slave against his master. Listen to the author of The Furcy Slave Affair “tell this resounding story:
The book had helped to make known the story of this man, whose procedure, after 27 years, ended on December 23, 1843, in Paris. French justice recognized that he was born free and not enslaved. “There has never been a film in France on these questions”, lamented to AFP the screenwriter Etienne Comar, at the origin of the project, believing that “the context says that there is really material to look into the question”. “The debate on the issue of slavery in the eyes of justice is one of the themes of the film. The case is a court case. It will be an important part.”, continues the screenwriter.
“To paint the portrait of new heroic figures, like that of Furcy, far from any communitarianism, it is to work to + make France +”, added in a statement Abd Al Malik. He had already directed in 2014 “May Allah bless France”, adapted from his own autobiography, a film totaling 200,000 admissions. The film will go into production in the first half of 2022.
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