Leaving January 1

Directed by Alice Diop | 65 mins | 2011
Skillfully illustrating the persistence of racialized stereotyping and its impact on the individual, Diop’s documentary follows the professional struggles of a young Black actor from Aulnay-sous-bois, a disadvantaged community on the outskirts of Paris where the filmmaker herself grew up. Even studying at the prestigious Cours Simon drama school, Steve Tientcheu finds, to his mounting frustration, that his Blackness delimits his opportunities on stage.