Diasporic Belgian cinema: transnational and transcultural approaches to Molenbeek and Matonge in 'Black'

Since the terrorist attacks that took place in Paris (13 November 2015) and Brussels (23 March 2016), the Brussels suburb of Molenbeek and the diasporic communities of Belgium—and in particular, Brussels—have been frequently analysed in European and Western media outlets. Two days before the tragic events in Paris, the (francophone) Belgian film Black (Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, 2015) was released to Belgian audiences. The film achieved critical valorisation after winning the Discovery prize at the Toronto international film festival, prior to its screening at film festivals in Belgium, namely the Ghent film festival (in Flanders) and the Festival International de Film Francophone (FIFF) in Namur (Wallonia) (Feuillère 2015). The contextual backdrop of terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism has led to a synchronic interpretation of Black as a potentially radical and subversive film. This chapter argues that Black represents the futile hope of a multicultural understanding of Belgian nationalism, as it reinforces the separation between excluded groups

Performing the Nation in the Mode Rétro

The mode rétro has played a crucial role in the postwar historiography of the Occupation years in France. This article looks at three films of the 1970s, Lacombe Lucien, L’Affiche rouge, and Monsieur Klein, in order to consider the importance of performance and theatricality, and their interaction with the performatives of Frenchness and nationality. It identifies the fault-line of French and not-French as an important dimension of these texts, and suggests that their power to fascinate French audiences may stem from their mobilization of contemporary interests and anxieties