52-minute documentary on deconstructing masculinity, co-written with D’ de Kabal and broadcast on La Première on March 6, 2018.
La Première (often stylized as La 1ère or La 1re ) is the network of public radio and television stations dedicated to France's overseas departments and territories (Outre-mer). Managed by France Télévisions, it serves as the digital and local successor to the missions formerly held by the channel France Ô.
You may have noticed that men’s voices are omnipresent in our world, often at the expense of women’s voices. And yet, certain masculine voices remain rarely heard. Filmed in late 2017 in Martinique, Le Bruit de nos silences (The Sound of Our Silences) immerses us in the heart of these silences, through the quest of D’ de Kabal, co-founder of the group Kabal, which marked the rap scene during the 1990s, author, director, and “researcher in writing and orality.”
After creating several shows on deconstructing masculinity, including “L’homme-femme / les mécanismes invisibles” (Man-Woman / Invisible Mechanisms), D’ launched in February 2016 the Laboratories for Deconstruction and Redefinition of Masculinity through Art and Sensitivity, men-only discussion groups. The artist first initiated “this individual project that can only transform into a societal project” in Bobigny (Seine-Saint-Denis), where he lives, then in Villetaneuse (Seine-Saint-Denis), Kourou in French Guiana, and Fort-de-France in Martinique, where he’s from.
In Martinique, as elsewhere, men share unprecedented perspectives. By discussing intimacy, desire, and the notion of consent, with art as a common thread, they attempt to free themselves from society’s injunctions to be a “real man” in order to build an “authentic man,” in tune with their deep sensitivity.
In the current context of #BalanceTonPorc and #MeToo, this film demonstrates that the question of consent and desire goes far beyond gender divides, transcends cultural differences, and that deconstructing masculinity is one of the keys to equality.