**This event will take place in English**
In-person event: NYU community ONLY, current ID and daily screener required to enter
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Winner of the Audience Award for Best Short at the Camden International Film Festival, the 2021 documentary film, The Intersection (Le Carrefour), co-directed by Daniel Quintanilla and Jessamine Irwin, focuses on past and present Maine immigrant communities who share a common bond: The French language.
Cecile reconnects with the French of her childhood thanks to recently arrived Franco-African immigrants, like Tresor, seeking asylum in Cecile’s hometown of Lewiston, Maine. Cecile’s Franco roots tie her to the thousands of French-Canadians who came before her to power the local mills, and who suffered from decades of discrimination and oppression. As history repeats itself, Cecile and Trésor develop a close friendship that helps Cecile finally find her pride in being Franco-American.
Inaugural recipient of the Maine Heritage Film Grant by TV5 Monde and Points North Institute. Recipient of a "Major Grant" from the Maine Humanities Council.
Filmmakers Jessamine Irwin and Daniel Quintanilla will be joined by NYU Professor of French Literature, Thought, and Culture and coordinator of Voices of Francophone Cinema, Anna-Caroline Prost along with members of the cast for a conversation following the screening of the film.
Daniel Quintanilla
Daniel Quintanilla is a documentary filmmaker and virtual reality storyteller who grew up in a multicultural home in México. He has worked on NSF and NEH-supported projects documenting endangered languages in México and the U.S. Daniel's animated short documentary, Not A Citizen, about the unprecedented detention of a Somali-American by ICE while meeting with his lawyer in a courthouse was featured in the U.S. national film tour Stories Beyond Borders. He edited the highly acclaimed VICE feature film, The Most Unknown (Netflix), a documentary that sends nine scientists to extraordinary parts of the world to uncover unexpected answers to some of humanity’s biggest questions. Daniel’s most recent virtual reality documentary, Returning to Dadaab, follows co-director Shuab Mahat as he returns to Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya to see his mother and siblings for the first time, 15 years after resettlement to the U.S.
Jessamine Irwin
A native of Maine, Jessamine Irwin’s dedication to the French language and Francophone heritage stems from her mother. After finishing her undergraduate studies with a major in French and a minor in Spanish from the University of Maine, she went on to complete a dual certificate Master’s program in TFFL/TESOL. Jessamine has been teaching at NYU since 2017. Her passion for storytelling, paired with her desire to pay tribute to the French speakers from her home led her to filmmaking. First through documenting oral history in Maine with her students, and then through personal research. She is currently finishing a pedagogical series inspired by her research entitled, Living in French.
