As part of Francophonie Month, the Alliance Française du Maine will screen the documentary Le Carrefour (The Intersection) at USM- Talbot Lecture Hall (85 Bedford street) on Saturday, March 19.

After the film, we will host a Q & A and discussion with the filmmakers, Jessamine Irwin and Daniel Quintanilla, and the actors Trésor Mukendi and Cecile Thornton. The heartfelt and gritty documentary Le Carrefour (The Intersection) shines a bright light on the intersection of past and present immigrant realities brought together by French. The documentary received the first ever Maine Heritage Film Grant from TV5Monde and the Points North Institute as well as a grant from the Maine Humanities Council. Le Carrefour (The Intersection) premiered at the Camden International Film Festival in September 2021 where it won the Audience Award for Best Short. In the film, Le Carrefour (The Intersection), Cecile reconnects with the French of her childhood thanks to recently arrived Franco-African immigrants, like Trésor, seeking asylum in Cecile’s hometown of Lewiston, Maine. Cecile’s Franco roots tie her to the thousands of French-Canadians who came before her to power the local mills, and who suffered from decades of discrimination and oppression. As history repeats itself, Cecile and Trésor develop a close friendship that helps Cecile finally find her pride in being Franco-American.

Professor and French language advocate Jessamine Irwin (New York University) and documentary filmmaker Daniel Quintanilla are Co-Directors of Le Carrefour (The Intersection). The film’s title encapsulates the struggle to find pride in being Franco-American and Franco-African in the U.S. today.

This event is made possible by the generous sponsorship of the Fédération of Alliances Françaises in the US, Coffee by Design and the Department of Linguistics at USM. Thank you to our sponsors! See less