“With my camera, I don't shoot; I heal.”

(Euzhan Palcy)

In November 2022, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences awarded filmmaker Euzhan Palcy its exceptional and highest Honorary Oscar ahead of the 40th anniversary of her seminal Rue Cases-Nègres (English: Sugar Cane Alley) (1983), recognizing her long career in and profound impact on the art of cinema. According to the Academy’s Board of Governors, “Euzhan Palcy is a pioneering filmmaker whose groundbreaking significance in international cinema is cemented in film history.” This special award — which makes her join a restricted list of exceptional artists like Charlie Chaplin, Walt Disney, Jean- Luc Godard, Spike Lee, Agnès Varda, Sidney Poitier, and Samuel L. Jackson — was motivated by her unique cinematography, the various themes and genres she artfully dealt with, and the numerous prizes she received from film festivals, universities, and states all over the world. In its final report, the Board of Governors justified its votes and summarized Euzhan Palcy’s career with these words: 

^{Palcy is a writer, director and producer born in Martinique in the French West Indies. Her first feature film, Sugar Cane Alley, won the Silver Lion at the 1983 Venice Film Festival, a first for a Black director. It went on to win a César Award for Best First Work, the first César won by a woman director and by a Black filmmaker. She continued her journey with A Dry White Season (1989), a drama made at the height of apartheid, becoming the first Black woman to direct a film for a major Hollywood studio and guiding Marlon Brando to his last Oscar nomination. Her films also include the musical fairytale Siméon. Palcy’s work has been an inspiration to filmmakers, contemporary artists and novelists. (1)}

Despite this international recognition, Euzhan Palcy’s body of works has often resisted academic investigation, a fact that recent researchers attempted to explain through various reasons. While the above-highlighted films drew the attention of many scholars, an important amount of her works remains unknown and understudied. Throughout her career, Euzhan Palcy’s life and works have often — if not always — been described with a “rhetoric of exception”, including in the above description, therefore putting emphasis on her personal achievements rather than her art. The complexity and variety of her work, however, goes far beyond her memorable accomplishments. 

During this first-ever, one-day Ciné-Symposium devoted to Euzhan Palcy's cinematic works, a dozen specialists in cinema, the Caribbean, and Black cultures and history will convene to offer innovative approaches to Euzhan Palcy’s works. The symposium will also include a temporary photo exhibition of screenshots and exclusive behind-the-scenes visuals. 

The symposium will conclude with both the first-ever screening of the restored version of Sugar Cane Alley (Rue Cases-Nègres) on the US East Coast and an exceptional masterclass by Euzhan Palcy followed by a Q&A.

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