Sugar Cane Alley
Encyclopedia
Sugar Cane Alley is a 1983
1983 in film
-Events:*February 11 - The Rolling Stones concert film Let's Spend the Night Together opens in New York*May 25 - Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, the final film in the original Star Wars trilogy, is released. Like the previous films, it goes on to become the top grossing picture of...

 film directed by Euzhan Palcy
Euzhan Palcy
Euzhan Palcy is a film director writer and producer from Martinique, French West Indies. She is notable for being the first black female director produced by a major Hollywood studio , for A Dry White Season; as well as being the only female filmmaker who directed Marlon Brando .- Early life and...

. It is set in Martinique
Martinique
Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...

 in the 1930s, where blacks working sugarcane fields were still treated harshly by the white ruling class. It is based on a semi-autobiographical novel by Joseph Zobel
Joseph Zobel
Joseph Zobel is the author of several novels and short-stories in which social issues are at the forefront...

 of the same name, or, alternatively titled Black Shack Alley.

Synopsis

José, the protagonist, is a young boy who wins a partial scholarship to attend high school in Fort-de-France
Fort-de-France
Fort-de-France is the capital of France's Caribbean overseas department of Martinique. It is also one of the major cities in the Caribbean. Exports include sugar, rum, tinned fruit, and cacao.-Geography:...

, the capital. His grandmother accompanies him there, working as a laundrywoman for the rich white ruling class to pay for costs. José deals with pressure around him, especially with his professor. When he writes an essay on the lives of poor blacks, he is accused of plagiarism. José runs away from school, back to his small shack in the city. His professor goes to his house and tells José that he was wrongly accused, offering an apology. Later, he returns to Black Shack Alley after his grandmother has a heart attack. This happened while she was returning home from a trip to a local clothesmaker to make José a fresh suit. Even as his grandmother dies, José is launched into a future he can not control.

Awards

The film swept the César Award
César Award
The César Award is the national film award of France, first given out in 1975. The nominations are selected by the members of the Académie des arts et techniques du cinéma....

s (the equivalent of the Academy Award in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

), and won two awards, including the Silver Lion, at Mostra the Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...

.
The actress, Darling Légitimus
Darling Légitimus
Darling Légitimus, born Mathilda Paruta on 21 November 1907 at Le Carbet, who died on 7 December 1999 at the age of 92, at Kremlin-Bicetre, was a French actress originated from Carraibes black artistes...

, 76 years old at this period, won the Prize of Best Actress (Gold Lion).
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