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by adding the dimension of mixed heritage, drawing from my own experience. What I found remarkable about him, a literature and philosophy teacher, is that he created a genuine space of expression for young people from diverse backgrounds and origins. For my end-of-studies dissertation at business school, I worked on the image of Black people in French advertising, while volunteering at CM98. That work marked me deeply. I had wanted to include Moreau de Saint-Méry’ s classification— a document I’ d discovered through CM98 that was little known at the time. I was only permitted to place it in an appendix. That same document I ultimately used in my film. I had protected my dissertation with a Soleau envelope, always intending to publish it one day— which I did in 2016, then again in 2024, just before beginning LAPO CHAPÉ. The trigger came in late February 2024, at a Black in Gaming Meetup of the professional association Afrogameuses at Ubisoft’ s offices. Afterwards, we went to eat with strangers and ended up talking about very intimate things: skin color within our families, in our professional environments, in our institutions. That was my eureka moment— to recreate that kind of experience and make it the heart of my film, built around that famous document.
Filmography & Artistic Vision
Duality, doubling, and resemblance run through your entire filmography— including the co-direction with your twin sister of L’ autre ou Mona in vivo. Why does this theme pursue you with such persistence?
For that short film, I simply told Rémi Martin I had a twin sister. He found it magical and deepened the writing accordingly. We were both actresses in the film. Duality remains an important field in my life, because of both my twinhood and my dual ethnic identity. Being born a twin creates a kind of mental attachment to“ a second self” that one must learn to separate from. As for ethnic identity, there was a time when I felt I had to choose between my Afro-descendant side and my Caucasian side. That’ s no longer the case. I feel at ease in my own skin, with my multiple components, without feeling the need to choose. But my commitments still center on what France calls diversité: Creole cultures through my podcasts for AJUCA, or African and Overseas creators in the video game industry.
What connection do you make between your dissertation on the image of Black people in French advertising and your current cinematic work? Has academic research changed the way you film?
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Academic research hasn’ t directly influenced my filmmaking. I made this film in a snap, with a near-zero budget, thanks to generous souls who agreed to get involved voluntarily. I didn’ t follow any rulebook— my audiovisual training is dated and I’ m someone who works on instinct, in constant improvisation. The film reflects that. What drove me was urgency: I wanted to submit to the Festival International Pan-Africain de Cannes. I shot during the last week of April to submit on April 30th at 11:59 PM. The edit began with Alexis Krüger, then I took it over myself with the EKLEPSIS agency. What I had firmly in mind was the central issue— the one that had been nagging at me since 2004 and that the Black in Gaming Meetup had reignited. The roundtable was for me the most important creative device, the most unprecedented. The individual interviews provided context.
LAPO CHAPÉ— Meaning & Method
LAPO CHAPÉ is an expression that stayed with you since childhood. What does it mean to you today, and why make it the title of a film?
Flashmag! Edition 171 Avril 2026
As a child, I didn’ t know exactly what it meant, but I sensed it was something positive in my father’ s friends and family in Martinique. What had stayed in my memory was actually the Guadeloupean form: po chapé. Today, the expression resonates deeply with my professional journey. Because of my light skin, my easily adaptable hair, my very French first and last name, I’ ve had access to spaces where other racialized people could not enter. When I supported Sidick Bakayoko in promoting African studios internationally, I measured the weight of that reality. In 2018, pairing the words“ video game” and“ Africa” was simply not credible in Western eyes. My skin color— and perhaps the fact of being a woman in a very male-dominated industry— allowed me to carry that project without hesitation. That is LAPO CHAPÉ: the skin color that escapes an oppressive system. I wanted a Creole title, one that carries the notion of skin color without naming it explicitly— one that prompts questions in those who don’ t recognize it and resonates with those who are concerned. I must also mention Madame Thérèse Léotin, a guardian of the Creole language, who helped me spell the title correctly in Martinican Creole. You brought together strangers to discuss color prejudice, weaving together historical document and recent personal experience.