The City as a Character H igh costs and union rules make a small foreign production in New York City a big deal. O n a sunny, windy day before taking a break for lunch, director Rachid Bouchareb spoke to NYC24 about race, cinema and the city. He is also a TV and film producer. Because in the story New York is a kind of character. But when he arrives, he discovers ostracism, coldness and the racial issue.
Racism is in fact a kind of social misconception all over the world.
Either in Harlem or in the Parisian suburbs, what matters is money. If a black guy has money in New York he can live wherever he wants and this is the same in the wealthy neighborhoods in Paris, where rich Arabs live in peace with the most conservative French. The racial issue is a constant subject in your movies. Unfortunately, I'm a pessimist in this matter. The confrontation among different races seems to be increasing on both sides of the Atlantic.