Home » Entertainment » “I’m a p … Normandy phew!”

“I’m a p … Normandy phew!”

His comedy skillfully mocks the stereotypes of the representation of blacks. This “child of the republic“who grew up near Caen says he is proud of his identity”NormanHis voice finds a particular echo with the news as the country celebrates its currency Liberty-Equality-Fraternity,


“My name is Jean-Pascal, I am 38 years old and I am angry”. The feeling of injustice expressed in the processions of anti-racist demonstrations is also the fuel of the comedy Simply black. In the teaser, Jean-Pascal continues: “I am angry because the situation of black people in this country is catastrophic”. The film tells the story of a failed actor who wants to organize a march against racism, because “the white man must understand that there’s a good Banania, it’s over!”



video duration: 02 min 10

Simply Black: Jean-Pascal Zadi’s summer comedy



© France 3 Normandy

In this inspired comedy, Jean-Pascal Zadi makes fun of communitarianisms and received ideas about black people. The director took the risk of laughing with a subject that generates a lot of tension. In an interview with World, the assumes: “Humor in my life has allowed me to get out of a lot of situations. I couldn’t see how to speak differently about black French identity, and also question communitarianism.”

“The French black is not uniform. He does not necessarily come from the suburbs. There are blacks who live in the countryside. There are blacks who live in Corsica. There are blacks who live in Normandy.” Jean-Pascal Zadi was born in the Paris region of Ivorian parents but he grew up in Ifs, near Caen. “The fact of saying that I come from Normandy is a way of deconstructing the Black as some people may conceive it”. In the columns of the World, he added: “I believe that the film does a lot for the notion of black communitarianism. I am Black, Fary is Black, Fabrice Eboué is Black, we have nothing in common.”

Perhaps he draws his sense of distributed, his offbeat look from his youth spent in this department of Calvados which he had renamed “Mississippi 14” . He experienced racism “from kindergarten to the age of thirty”.

In kindergarten, when I arrived in Normandy, I had to hold hands two by two before entering the classroom. I remember that often nobody wanted to shake my hand because I was black.

Jean-Pascal Zadi, director

He dreamed of being a footballer like many teens of his age, but rap first revealed it. Jean-Pascal is an iconoclastic dribbler who takes the air of time in reverse. With the Caennais group La Cellule, the fellow dezinguished the victim postures which normally make tubes: “It is not the city that makes man. There is nothing hard to be darkened all day long. You are still alive Negro. Life can turn.”

Jean-Pascal Zadi is then “mounted” in Paris. He briefly enrolled in the Simon course. “As we were preparing a play, I said that I wanted to play Louis XIV. The teacher looked me in the eyes and said that it would not be credible. I never came back again”, he says in Note l’. Ace of resourcefulness, he made clips before embarking on the making of films. Simply black, which was released on July 8, is his fourth feature film.

The young filmmaker is today making his honey questions relating to identity. He does not forget his own roots. No offense to some, they are Norman. With a big smile, Jean-Pascal confesses: “when I talk about the history of France and when I tell things that people don’t know about the Bayeux Tapestry, the castle of William the Conqueror, the beaches of Ouistreham, I know that I am a p … de Normand de ouf “.

The poster of the simply black film by Jean-Pascal Zadi

© Photos : John Wax © 2020 GAUMONT – C8 FILMS


Continue reading on these topics


Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.