Before independence, in 1950s France, my mother —blonde and blue-eyed— fell in love with a handsome Senegalese man. He disappeared before I was born. The only thing I have left of him is the colour of my skin, which has provoked both hostile and friendly encounters. It was in this social environment that my outlook was shaped and my imagination nurtured. “What Remains of Our Mothers’ Loves” is an exploration of this Africanity —the part of my identity that cannot be labelled. This borderless territory evokes images of Brittany, the sea and boats returning to port. It is a place where the jazz of Jacques Schwarz-Bart, the sounds of the city, the wind, and the waves all blend together.

Director: Cathy Dubois

“What Remains of Our Mothers’ Loves” is Cathy Dubois’s debut documentary film, but she previously directed “Sans frontière ou le regard de l’autre”, a 26-minute film about the eponymous newspaper for and by immigrants, in 1981. Having trained in sociolinguistics and cinema, Dubois has long been involved in organisations working on labour issues. In the 1990s, she directed films on labour issues and then co-founded a collective called “Les rendez-vous des Ergonautes”, which organised a monthly series of screenings and debates on the theme of ”Filming Labour” at the “Forum des images” in Paris from 1997 to 2001. As part of the FEMIS documentary workshop, she developed the “Frontières” project, exploring the intimate and geopolitical by examining how others are perceived in a kibbutz on Israel’s northern border. Cathy Dubois is involved in the broadcasting and publishing workshops of the documentary filmmakers’ association ADDOC.