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** Conversation in French

Accepting the 2021 MIBFF Lifetime Achievement Award, Firmine Richard explains how she got her start on the big screen in her forties and how she navigated the not always smooth waters of the film and television industries. 

Moderated by Fabienne Colas, actress, director, producer, and Founding President of the MIBFF.

Biography: 

It was in 1966 that Firmine left her native Guadeloupe to join her mother in Paris. "From then on, in the City of Light, it was extraordinary" she declared.

It was in 1988, following various jobs that her life changed when she met Coline Serreau who offered her, her first role in Romuald and Juliet. This was her first experience in the cinema and the main role that got  her foot in the door forever. She left for the United States for the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute for six months. Her atypical career reveals a "popular" actress that young directors are interested in - even though there are not so many roles written for Black women actors.

Firmine has been and continues to be, very much in demand in theatre, film and television. She will be seen in the role of the housekeeper in Eight Women by François Ozon and in the comedy La Première Étoile by Lucien Jean-Baptiste. Directors such as Gabriel Aghion, Alain Tasma, Fabien Ontoniente, Claude Berri, Christian Faure, Sophie Marceau or Rémi Bezançon also call on her.

In 2015 at the Folies Bergères, among the talents in a beautiful cast of Afro-Caribbean, Firmine Richard enchants the public in the musical Gospel Sur la Colline of Benjamin Faleyras. We saw her at the cinema in Profs 2 by Pierre-François Martin Laval, Le Grand Partage by Alexandra Leclère and in 2016 in Dieu merci! by Lucien Jean-Baptiste. In 2017, she repeats the adventure in the Second Star of Lucien Jean-Baptiste.

We could see her on television in the series Plan B directed by Christophe Campos with Julie de Bona on TF1 broadcast last May And she is currently on Netflix in the series Mortel whose season 2 has just been released. You can see her as a guest in an episode of Capitaine Marleau directed by Josée Dayan on France 3. Very soon, we expect the release date of the film Maison de retraite directed by Thomas Gilou alongside (among others) Gérard Depardieu and Kev Adams. Lately, she has been in Meurtres à Marie Galante directed by Marc Barrat alongside Pascal Legitimus

Firmine Richard, is on all fronts. She was a Paris Councillor, elected in the 19th district, Delegate in charge of Culture and Intercultural Relations at the Paris City Hall.  She is still elected in the 19th district.

In 2020, she published her book "Ce qui t'est destiné le courant ne l'emporte pas." Firmine Richard is an activist. She denounces the lack of respect for Blacks in a society where prejudice too often perverts relationships. Firmine Richard was awarded the Chevalier de l'Ordre du Mérite in 2006 and made Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur in 2009. Firmine Richard is part of a category of exceptional women who, no matter what happens, remain standing.