original title:
Cara Mérième - Lettera di Tahar Ben Jelloun sul razzismo
directed by:
cast:
Tahar Ben Jelloun, Mérième Ben Jelloun
screenplay:
cinematography:
editing:
music:
production:
country:
Italy
year:
2019
film run:
89'
format:
colour
status:
Ready (18/02/2019)
In 1998 the writer Tahar Ben Jelloun writes "The Racism explained to my daughter", a book translated all over the world in which he tries to explain to his daughter Mérième - at the time a ten year old girl - what is racism, as recognize it and how to fight it.
In this film, twenty years after the release of the book, Tahar Ben Jelloun writes a letter to Mérième, a letter that becomes a deep and dramatic reflection on racism today, a complex phenomenon to be explained, understood and fought.
The film begins in Paris on April 4, 2018, fifty years after the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King.
The tribute to his memory, the meetings of Tahar Ben Jelloun and the daily life of his daughter Mérième in the city of Paris today, lead to a deep and bitter reflection but also to a commitment to question and act to combat racism in France, in Europe, in the World, to break down the walls of prejudice, gain respect for ourselves by recognizing the other with dignity.