Istituto Svizzero is pleased to organize two screening evenings in Rome and Milan of the documentary JE SUIS NOIRES by Rachel M’Bon and Juliana Fanjul. A work that gives voice to women fighting for the recognition of structural racism and claiming their dual identity as Swiss and black.

JE SUIS NOIRES

June 2020. Thousands of white and Black Swiss citizens take to the streets in Geneva, Zurich, and Lausanne to denounce racial discrimination. It was the first time that the stories of visible minorities came to light. Black women played a leading role, denouncing systemic racism and challenging the stereotype of humanitarian Switzerland as an island of peace and prosperity. In a country that has made irreproachability its dogma, it is difficult to confront its darker side, to reveal its ties to colonialism. It is hard to make people understand that the legacy of this colonial past still fuels the racist nuances deeply rooted in the collective unconscious. With director Juliana Fanjul, narrator and protagonist Rachel M’Bon questions her country, women on the street, a historian, a political ally, a collective, and “opens” a door to six protagonists. Each of them has a journey that echoes her path to emancipation.

Biographies

Rachel M’Bon, born in Switzerland to a Congolese father and a Swiss mother, is a journalist and film-maker. After a federal diploma in communications and studies in journalism, she worked for over 15 years, for several Swiss media groups in the society and culture section. In 2018, she launched the Instagram account NOIRES to highlight black and brown women in Switzerland, which would later become the account of her association NWAR (Now we are Rising). Her first film, “Je suis noires”, co-directed with Juliana Fanjul, premiered at the Geneva International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights (FIFDH) in March 2022, exploring themes of identity and the issue of racism. Its success earned it the Swiss Film Prize in March 2023. Rachel is a strong advocate of diversity and inclusion, founding NWAR and the Afropea Cultural Center in 2023. In September 2023, she was named one of the 100 personalities of the year by the Swiss newspaper Le Temps, and continues to work on filming and writing new stories about black representation.

Juliana Fanjul is a Mexican-born director based in Geneva. She graduated from the International Film School of Cuba and the HES-SO Master’s program in Switzerland. Her films explore power dynamics in the female world and have been screened and awarded globally. She is the head of the documentary department at the Film School of Cuba and teaches at EPFL and HEAD (Geneva).