The Winthrop-King Institute

Thomas Gilou

Thomas Gilou, one of France's best known movie director will discuss the challenges involved in filming France's multi-ethnic population.

Gilou's La Vérité si je mens! (Would I Lie to You?) and its sequel, La Vérité si je mens 2! (Would I Lie to You 2?), are among the biggest French box office successes of recent years. Both will be screened during Gilou's visit. They are set among the Sephardic Jewish minority which settled in Paris and other French cities following the decolonization of North Africa.

Gilou's work also includes cult movies such as Black Mic Mac and Raï, focusing on African and other minorities living in disadvantaged and often violent neighborhoods. He is currently working on a new film featuring similar groups scripted by Azouz Begag, a Visiting Professor this semester at the Winthrop-King Institute.