Le Haricot Noir (short film)

Title: Le Haricot Noir (The Black Bean)

Director: Victoria Krass

Screenplay : Victoria Krass et Vanessa Silvera

Run time: 8 min

Shooting dates: end of May/ beginning of June

The short film is based on a true and personal story.

We wish to bring to light the feeling of discrimination that a child can suffer from. To illustrate the imagination of a child, a short part of the film will be done in animation (the first sketches are in the mood board).

The story

Nila is a 7 year old dark skinned girl who’s curious about everything that surrounds her and who has a passion for astronomy. Aware that everyone around her is white she begins to question herself about her own skin color.

She does not feel comfortable in her own body and tries everything to become white. When her (white) mother finds out the reason of Nila’s suffering she explains her that her skin color is not important. Nonetheless Nila continues to feel isolated and excluded.

Why do we want to tell this story?

With this short film the writers want to underline the fact that racism can be very subtle. It is not only present in insults and slurs, but it can also be found in the images, the culture and the details of our day to day life, without us being aware of it. This can be dangerous, because the problem is intangible but omnipresent in the media that surrounds us from a very young age. We want to highlight the misinterpretation that a child can make between norm and difference.
Our goal is to make people aware of the fact that racism is still omnipresent in our society. The animation and the innocent perspective of a child are the main assets of our short film.

The title

We chose the title « Le Haricot Noir » (The Black Bean) because Nila’s questioning begins when her mother tells her that children are born thanks to a little bean that is introduced via the belly button into the stomach of the mother.

Moodboard

Illustrations faites par Juli Estrada
Instagram: @creabilia_

Who are we ?

The crew mainly consists of film students that are in their second year at « Eicar ».

Director : Victoria Krass 

Young italian and german director who was born and raised in Milan, Italy and who came to Paris to pursue her dream of film directing. She already directed a few short films. You can watch two of them below :

https://vimeo.com/317780850
https://www.festivalnikon.fr/video/2018/1163

Co-screenwriter : Vanessa Silvera

Vanessa was born and raised on the Caribbean coast of Venezuela where she was brought up by her mother and her grandmother. And like Nila she was asking herself a lot of questions.

Vanessa left her country to come to France more than 7 years ago and it’s because of this geographical and cultural shift that she is able to recount the memories of her past. She is not proud of them but she considers it important to share them with others.

Director of Photography : Camille Bénariac1. AD : Alexandre CossinProduction Managers : Chloë Brossard + Emma Billebaud

Illustrator: Juli Estrada / @creabilia_

Poster illustration: Sarah Muñoz