CINÉMA DE BANLIEUE

Cinéma de banlieueis a term used to describe films that take place in the margins of the city, especially those that focus on working-class neighborhoods. The genre has its roots in the early silent films ofLouis Feuillade, who was one of the first to go out and shoot the city, at that time in a state of rapid transformation. Feuillade made the city and the working classes a central focus his films, particularly his series,Les Vampires(1915).

Following Feuillade, the interest in filming the urban and particularly the working-class areas of the city was developed by the directors in the 1930s, particularly those associated withLe Réalisme poétiqueor poetic realism.These include such directors asRené Clairin such films asSous les toits de Paris(1930) andMarcel Carnéin hisHôtel du nord(1938). Unlike Feuillade, however, these directors often worked on soundstage recreations of these milieux and did not actually film in the city.

A further development came with the advent of theNouvelle Vagueor New Wave. Directors suchJean-Luc Godardtook hand-held cameras out to film in the city, in a move reminiscent of Feuillade. Godard, like Feuillade, was also particularly interested in thequartiers populaires, or the working-class areas. Classic examples are Godard'sÀ bout de souffle(1960), andDeux ou trois choses que je sais d'elle(1967).

As it is currently used, the term refers mostly to films set in largely immigrant neighborhoods around Paris or Marseille. Films included in this category often focus on issues of racism, exclusion, and unemployment. The term is sometimes used interchangeably with the termcinéma beur(beuris a term for the children of North African immigrants in France) because many, although not all, of the directors who have made such films have come from this background. It must be noted there are other differences with what is typically termedbeur cinema. Examples of banlieue cinema includeMalik Chibanel'sHexagone(1994),Mathieu Kassovitz'sLa Haine(1995),Karim Dridi'sBye Bye(1996), and Paul Vecchiali'sZone franche(1996).