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Felicitè Mbezele, an African actress living in Italy, discusses the importance of theatre and movies as a means of advocating for immigrants and promoting cultural integration. She also addresses the challenges faced by African artists in the performing arts industry and the need for diverse representation.
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“All Identity Nation: Culture, Language, Customs, Sensitivity ... Initiatives towards Exclusion” Intensive Programme London 2014Coordinator Prof. Pierantonelli Title: Perception of immigration in art Working group: Tania Servidei, Elisa Niscola, Sara Gozzaldi, Stefania Previtali, Paolo Meligrana.
Perception of immigration in art: theatre and movies. Interview with Felicitè Mbezele
Felicitè Mbezele Felicitè was born in Yaoundè, Cameroon, and has been living in Italy for over 20 years. She is an actress, a writer and a cultural mediator. She played a part in several plays, movies and TV series.
Dreaming of theatre I am Felicitè Mbezele, I come from Cameroon but now I feel Italian. I moved to Italy to study dramaturgy and acting at the Academy of dramatic arts. I wanted to choose another country, but I said to myself: ‘Before Hollywood there is Cinecittà, and Italy is even closer to Cameroon than America’ so I moved to Italy!
We live in a multicultural world We all walk together with the others. We all are human beings. So when we meet the example that I give when I work as cultural mediator with students in schools is my family. We are 8 children, now I have over 40 nephews ... but all of them are different. They are coloured, mixed with German and French people, and so on, but we are all human beings with our diversity.
How to contribute to a better understanding? If everybody contributes with their own cultural baggage and experience to the development of a new culture, integration acquires more significance. Integration acquires a special meaning when there is an equitable and fair exchange, when we have so much to gain and to offer.
How can we reach cultural integration? People must walk together, side by side, despite all kinds of differences; they must have mutual respect and be able to interact with one another: only then shall we overcome all sorts of afflictions and will be able to talk about integration … otherwise ... nothing.
Theatre as a means of advocacy I'm a privileged woman because I devoted my life to art; art is a protection and a support for me because it's an important piece of culture that allows you to open your mind and reveal yourself for what you really are. For me, as an immigrant, theatre, in its essence, was a saving discovery and a true help, besides being the conscience of the whole community. Acting on stage encourages me to take the floor and make someone else’s words become my own: this allows me to express myself as a person but also to express someone else’s feelings, as well as their frustrations. As we can still see, immigrants are considered by local people as those who steal work and bring filth; they don't understand the difficulties that these people experience to earn a living. So, first of all, art helped me to speak on behalf of other people and then to realize that I could not keep quiet.
Cultural Mediation The difficulties I met as a cultural mediator are especially logistic. However difficulties build up your character and drive you to improve your professionalism. In fact, depending on the group of people you meet, you need to shape yourself and your commitment in order to explain integration. People have various problems with it. Young Italian people are open-minded but they are influenced by older people and their prejudice. For instance, a 10-year-old who listens every day to his father complaining about immigration is likely to think of immigrants as a problem. Instead, when people meet putting aside prejudice, then they can enjoy themselves and make the difference. I think it is extremely important to understand who you are relating to, tell them about your own life, offer your experience, so that they can see diversity in a new way. The relation becomes a give and take.
Adjustment problems faced by an African actress in the environment of performing arts For an African immigrant who wants to approach the world of the arts, integration as an artist, in terms of profession, is an extremely difficult task, because our racial integration is still an ongoing process and we don't have enough economic power. Moreover, we are very disappointed to see people finding a job only because they are well connected, and not thanks to their merit; and also to see that people still refuse to accept that some roles could be interpreted by an African woman: integration depends also on that. In fact, African directors or actors in the Italian scenario do not exist.
