Films

Best of FIGRA French Documentary Festival

Weekend Screenings: Friday, October 25 & Saturday, October 26, 2019
FIAF Florence Gould Hall

Co-presented with the Saint Omer Foundation for Transatlantic Values.

Join us for a weekend of award-winning films from the 2019 edition of FIGRA (Festival International du Grand Reportage D’Actualité et du Documentaire de Société), France’s preeminent festival honoring televised documentaries.

For more than 26 years, FIGRA has celebrated the directors, journalists, and producers who capture real stories from around the world, shining a light on the pressing issues of our time. From a Harlem battalion that fought in World War I to the search for migrants who have disappeared in Mexico to the ethics around eating animals, the six documentaries presented at FIAF combine powerful storytelling with impeccable reporting to illuminate the past and explain our present.

All films will have English subtitles.

Each of the screenings will be followed by a Q&A with either a filmmaker or a special guest.

Friday’s screening will be followed by a cocktail reception.

Film + Q&A + Party

The Harlem Hellfighters Great War

La Grande Guerre des Harlem Hellfighters

FIGRA Special Jury Mention Historical Documentary

Friday, October 25, 2019
7:30pm

FIAF Florence Gould Hall

Post-screening Q&A with director François Reinhardt
Reception to follow


Discover the story of an exclusively African-American US national guard unit that bravely defended liberty and democracy on the European battlefields from World War I to World War II while they also waged another war for racial equality in their own country.

Film + Q&A

Libya, Unspeakable Crime

Libye, anatomie d'un crime

FIGRA Reporters Without Borders Prize

Saturday, October 26, 2019
10:45am

FIAF Florence Gould Hall

Post-screening Q&A with Céline Bardet, co-writer and activist


The film brings to light the systematic mass rapes of men during the 2011 Libyan Civil War. With the help of international lawyer Céline Bardet and filmmaker Cécile Allegra, activists in Tunisia recorded the first testimonies of these once unspeakable crimes in hope of bringing those responsible to justice and putting a stop to these dehumanizing practices.

Film + Q&A

Mexico: Looking for Lost Migrants

Mexique: à la recherche des migrants disparus

FIGRA Grand Jury Prize (films under 40 min)

Saturday, October 26, 2019
2pm

FIAF Florence Gould Hall

Post-screening Q&A with co-directors Alex Gohari and Léo Mattei


This short but poignant film offers a sobering look at Mexico’s migratory roads. After living in the United States for 5 years as an illegal alien, Ruben Figueroa, 35, returned to Mexico where he devotes his time to searching for “Desaparecidos” men, women, and children who disappeared along the dangerous journey north.

Film + Q&A

Congo Lucha

FIGRA Special Jury Prize & Audience Prize

Saturday, October 26, 2019
3:30pm

FIAF Florence Gould Hall

Post-screening Q&A with Fred Bauma, La Lucha activist featured in the film


Shot over a period of three years, the film follows members of La Lucha, a pro-Democracy group of Congolese youths, staging nonviolent protests against President Joseph Kabila who was determined to cling to power beyond the constitutional two-term limit.

Film + Q&A

Warriors for Peace

Les guerrières de la paix

FIGRA Special Mention & Aïna Roger ESJ Lille Prize

Saturday, October 26, 2019
5:45pm

FIAF Florence Gould Hall

Post-screening Q&A with director Hanna Assouline and Leah Pisar, President of the Aladin Project


As tensions between Israel and Palestine escalated during the summer of 2014, a group of Palestinian and Israeli women started an informal movement, Women Wage Peace. Warriors for Peace documents their unflinching optimism and determination toward a peaceful resolution.

Film + Q&A

The Carnivore’s Dilemma

Faut-il arrêter de manger des animaux?

FIGRA Audience Award for Original Voice

Saturday, October 26, 2019
8pm

FIAF Florence Gould Hall

Post-screening Q&A with director Benoît Bringer and author Josh Berson


Should we eat meat? The film travels across the world—to Portugal, the United States, France, Sweden, and other countries—to investigate the worst excesses of intensive animal farming and highlights the viability of small farms and innovative agricultural models that work in harmony with nature.