Film on city’s past reflects nation’s present
American French Genealogical Society to show screening of ‘Reveil,’ film that tells story of French-Canadian migration
WOONSOCKET – Amid simmering national debate over immigration and cultural assimilation, the American French Genealogical Society will showcase a uniquely Franco-American perspective this weekend with the screening of a film on the subjects, “Reveil,” or “Waking up French” in English translation.
Often used as an educational resource, the film has been seen by scores of audi- ences in New England, but it actually premiered here in 2001 at the St. Ann Arts & Cultural Center. So Sunday’s event, 1 p.m. at the headquarters of AFGS, 78 Earl St., is something of a homecoming, says AFGS board member Sylvia Bartholomy.
The 135-minute documentary by filmmaker Ben Levine explores the epic migration of French-Canadians to New England and their struggle to become Americans without sacrificing their religious, linguistic and cultural traditions. Bartholomy says it’s a story that many Franco-Americans will find fascinating for the light it sheds on their heritage, but it’s also a timely look at the nature of immigration that will inform people of all ethnic backgrounds.
“I think people need to understand more about what it’s like to be an immigrant and how immigrants take advantage of opportunities for education and a better life for themselves and their children,” she says.
“You look at all the controversy about immigrants and it makes you think all immigrants are here only to take and not give back, but that’s not how it is.”
If the return of “Reveil” to the city after 16 years is a homecoming, it’s certainly a bittersweet one for Bartholomy.
Bartholomy says filmmaker Levine’s focus includes not only French-speaking immigrants from Canada and their descendants, but modern-day French-speaking newcomers from Senegal. It just so happens that, at the time Levine was assembling material for the film in the late 1990s, Barholomy was able to supply interviews with representatives of both groups.
One of them was herself. Another was Anna Sidibe, a Senegalese immigrant with whom Bartholomy forged a family-like bond after she arrived in the United States for the first time in 1996. The Bartholomys – Sylvia and her husband Roger – shared their home with Sidibe, and when Sidibe’s six children, ranging in ages from seven to 17, followed her to the U.S. during the next several years, the Grandview Avenue couple took them in as well.
More recently Sidibe, now in her late 50s, was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, which is considered a progressive terminal illness. Bartholomy says Sidibe, still a Woonsocket resident, is currently visiting her mother in Senegal.
Sidibe had earned an associate’s degree and was studying to become a nurse when she was stricken with the disabling illness, but she remains active in helping newcomers from Senegal get settled in and around the city.
“I’m particularly excited about having Senegalese immigrants come and see this film so than can see how Anna’s family was able to succeed,” says Bartholomy. “They’re on the same road and they’ll be able to see what’s coming for them.”
Bartholomy says Levine will be on hand for discussion with the audience after they see the film.
Founding director of Peoples Video Theater and Survival Arts Media in New York, Levine has been based out of Maine for more than two decades. Bartholomy says Levine’s ancestors were Russian Jews whose villages were wiped out in the historical genocides known as pogroms of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Bartholomy says Levine was particularly intrigued by the French-Canadian immigrants of New England in the 19th century because they largely resettled to the U.S. without looking back. Looking back was something he’d have loved to do, but his ability to do so was restricted, owing to the campaigns of ethnic cleansing that obliterated the historical trail of his lineage.
“He is a very interesting man,” said Bartholomy. “He is exploring the fate of the French-Canadian culture – why they left and what they left behind and why so many French-Canadians don’t know the history of their parents and great-grandparents.”
Bartholomy said there is no admission for the film, but AFGS is asking for voluntary donations to cover its costs. There’s plenty of free parking outside the society’s headquarters. Follow Russ Olivo on Twitter @russolivo