Comparative views: environments, changing the air

27 October 2025
  • Culture

  • Environnement

  • Science et société

  • Menu Campus life

Since 2012, Inalco has been a partner of the Jean Rouch Festival, screening films from the Regards comparés selection in the auditorium. This year, screenings will be held from November 24 to 27, 2025 on the theme of the environment. All screenings will be followed by a debate with filmmakers and experts.
Plusieurs illustrations d'une jeune fille de dos qui regarde la lune sur un rocher, une vague, une mouette qui s'envole, la vague s'écrase contre les rochers
Festival Jean Rouch - sélection Regards comparés 2025 © Festival Jean Rouch‎
Contenu central

From November 24 to 27, 2025 (program below)
Auditorium de l'Inalco - 65, rue des Grands Moulins 75013 Paris
Free admissionon registration subject to availability.

If the environment fascinates, worries or questions you, why not put it in the plural? In other words, change of air, as we do at Inalco, to look at what lies "beyond nature and culture". Discover ecological crises and criticisms, their impasses and their overcomes, in faraway (or not so faraway) countries, and thus bring what surrounds us, here and there, closer to us.

There is no Planet B, but there are many ways of showing the disasters underway, the damage caused by progress and development, and the attempted solutions and alternatives. Our choice was not an easy one, given the rich ecosystem of documentary films on these subjects. The images shown here are both captured and free, taken on the spot and reflected upon, the fruit of chance and the work of the filmmakers.

The voices of those who made or produced them, and of specialists from Inalco and elsewhere who have come to comment on them, will put them into context and perspective. With you, we'd like to ask questions, while avoiding simplistic or over-hasty answers.

Mongolia, Polynesia, Hawai'i, Latvia, Ukraine, Russia, Senegal and Japan: we invite you on a journey that's low-emission, but strong for the planet.

Programming committee

Programming committee and discussion moderator:

  • Alice Chaudemanche, lecturer in Wolof language and literature at Inalco, researcher at the Langage, Langues et Cultures d'Afrique (LLACAN) laboratory;
  • Laurent Coumel, lecturer in contemporary history at Inalco, specialist in Russia/USSR and Latvia, researcher at the Centre de recherche Europes-Eurasie (CREE) ;
  • Noémi Godefroy, senior lecturer at Inalco, historian of modern Japan (XVIIIe-XXe century) and specialist in the indigenous Ainu minority, researcher at the Institut Français de Recherche sur l'Asie de l'Est (IFRAE) and associate researcher at the Centre de Recherche sur le Japon (CRJ), within UMR 8173 - China-Korea-Japan (CCJ/ CNRS, EHESS, Université Paris-Cité)
  • Elisabeth Juranics, master's student in sociology at EHESS and intern programming assistant;
  • Charlotte Marchina, anthropologist, lecturer in Mongolian language and civilization at Inalco, researcher at the Institut Français de Recherche sur l'Asie de l'Est (IFRAE), member of the Institut Universitaire de France (IUF);
  • Sarah Mohamed-Gaillard, lecturer in contemporary history at Inalco, specialist in the history of Oceania, researcher at CESSMA UMR 245;
  • Laurent Pellé, general delegate of the Jean Rouch International Festival, Ethnographic Film Committee.
Une dame âgée vêtue d'un pagne est assise
Liti Liti © Wawkumba distribution‎

Programming

Monday, November 24 - Planning

1:45-2:00 pm: introduction by Julien Vercueil, Inalco's delegate vice-president for valorization and environmental responsibility.

2:00-3:15 pm

  • Oil wells in Baku. General view by Alexandre Micho, France | 1898 | 1 min | silent
  • Oil wells in Baku. Vue de près by Alexandre Micho, France | 1898 | 1 min | silent
  • Extraction du minerai de fer dans l'Oural, collection Gaumont, France | 1912 | 2,20 min | silent
  • Les Mines de l'ancienne Russie, collection Pathé, France | shooting 1917 | 14 min | silent
  • Silk industry in Japan, collection Pathé, France | 1914 | 10 min | silent
  • Brick factory in Dakar, collection Pathé, France | 1930 | 5 min | silent
  • Œuvre de la France dans domaine colonial / La France d'outremer, Pathé collection, France | 1937 | 6 min | sound

Discussion in the presence of Béatrice de Pastre, deputy director of the CNC Heritage Department and director of CNC Collections and Sandrine Joublin, head of audiovisual collections, Gaumont Pathé Archives.

3:15-4:45 pm

  • Moruroa Papa by Paul Manate Raoux, France | 2002 | 63 min | vof

Discussion in the presence of director Paul Manate Raoux and Renaud Meltz, university professor in contemporary history at the University of Haute-Alsace, research director at CNRS and holder of the SOSI Observatoire des héritages du Centre des Expérimentations du Pacifique, moderated by Sarah Mohamed-Gaillard, lecturer in contemporary history at Inalco.

4:45-5:15 pm - Coffee and tea break

5:15-7:15 pm

  • Liti Liti by Mamadou Khouma Gueye, France | 2025 | 76 min | vostf

Discussion with director Mamadou Khouma Gueye, in duplex, moderated by Alice Chaudemanche, lecturer in Wolof language and literature at Inalco.

7:30pm-9:30pm

  • Tikmēr Lucavsalā | Meanwhile, in Lucavsala by Elza Gauja, Latvia | 2022 | 70 min | vosta

Discussion with director Elza Gauja, in duplex, moderated by Laurent Coumel, lecturer in contemporary history at Inalco.

Deux femmes sont assises sur deux bancs a l'extrémité du cadre de la photo, devant une clôture. A gauche une jeune femme en maillot de bain et à droite une vieille dame avec une canne
Après nous ne restera que la terre brûlée © Wallonie Image Production (WIP)‎

Tuesday, November 25 - Degrade

2-3:45 pm

  • La Terre abandonnée de Gilles Laurent, Belgium | 2016 | 73 min | vostf

Discussion with Rina Kojima, Doctor of Sociology and Research Engineer at the Techniques, Territories, and Societies Laboratory (LATTS) - Gustave Eiffel University (UGE), moderated by Noémi Godefroy, Senior Lecturer at Inalco, historian of modern Japan (18th-20th centuries).

4pm-5:45pm

  • After us only the scorched earth will remain by Delphine Fedoroff, Belgium | 2014 | 80 min | vostf

Discussion with director Delphine Fedoroff, in duplex (to be confirmed), and moderated by Laurent Coumel, lecturer in contemporary history at Inalco.

5:45-6 pm - Coffee and tea break

6-7:30 pm

  • Golden fish, African fishby Moussa Diop and Thomas Grand, Senegal | 2017 | 52 min | vostf

Discussion with director Thomas Grand, via video link, and in the presence of Mikaël Serre, director, moderated by Alice Chaudemanche, lecturer in Wolof language and literature at Inalco.

7:30pm-9:30pm

  • Iron Winter by Kasimir Burgess, Australia, Mongolia | 2025 | 89 min | vosta

Discussion in the presence of Gaëlle Lacaze, professor at Sorbonne University (SU), member of the Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences (SU-UPC-UPEC-CNRS-IRD-INRAE) and Charlotte Marchina, lecturer in anthropology at Inalco.

Un paysage au bord d'un lac où un ours se promène et en fond des montagnes enneigées.
Mongolie, la vallée des ours © Hamid Sardar ‎

Wednesday, November 26 - Living together

2:30-4 pm

  • Jikoo, la chose espérée by Christophe Leroy and Adrien Camus, France | 2014 | 52 min | vostf

Discussion with director Christophe Leroy, in duplex, moderated by Alice Chaudemanche, lecturer in Wolof language and literature at Inalco.

4:15-6:30pm

  • Mongolia, the valley of the bears by Hamid Sardar, France | 2023 | 90 min | vostf

Discussion with director Hamid Sardar, in duplex (to be confirmed), and in the presence of Rémy Marion, author of L'ours l'autre et l'homme, published by Actes sud, and co-director of Fort comme un ours for ARTE, moderated by Charlotte Marchina, senior lecturer in anthropology at Inalco.

6:30pm-7pm - Coffee and tea break

7pm-9pm

  • Góom bu ñuul | Tumeur noire by Babacar Sougou, Senegal | 2023 | 20 min | vostf

Discussion with director Babacar Sougou, in duplex, and in the presence of Claire Dutrait, author, investigator and researcher in ecopoetics, moderated by Alice Chaudemanche, lecturer in Wolof language and literature at Inalco.

 

  • Leiputrija | Pays de cocagne by Laila Pakalniņa, Latvia | 2004 | 30 min | vo

Discussion in the presence of Claire Dutrait, author, investigator and researcher in ecopoetics, moderated by Laurent Coumel, lecturer in contemporary history at Inalco.

Un jeune homme en chemise se tient en premier plan devant une foret et un tas de gravas entrain de bruler
Грассрутс | Grassroots © Konstantin Davydkin‎‎

Thursday, November 27 - Mobilize / Protest

2-3:30 pm

  • Mère Garab by El hadji Demba Dia and Mamadou Khouma Gueye, Senegal | 2023 | 12 min | vostf
  • Xaar Yallà by Mamadou Khouma Gueye, Senegal | 2021 | 23 min | vostf
  • Le Temps de dire non by El hadji Demba Dia, Senegal | 2021 | 13 min | vostf

Discussion with director El hadji Demba Dia, in duplex, and with the presence of Oumar Ba, filmmaker, moderated by Alice Chaudemanche, lecturer in Wolof language and literature at Inalco.

3:30pm-5:45pm

  • Dekiru: C'est possible by Mathilde Julien and Jonathan Carène, France | 2020 | 99 min | vostf

Discussion in the presence of director Mathilde Julien and director Jonathan Carène, moderated by Noémi Godefroy, senior lecturer at Inalco, historian of modern Japan (XVIIIe-XXe century).

5:45-6 pm - Coffee and tea break

6-7:30 pm

  • Грассрутс | Grassroots by Konstantin Davydkin, Russia | 2018 | 58 min | vosta

Discussion in the presence of producer Maria Muskevich and geographer Camille Robert-Boeuf CNRS researcher at the Migrinter laboratory (Poitiers), moderated by Laurent Coumel, lecturer in contemporary history at Inalco.

7:30pm-9:30pm

  • Standing above the clouds by Jalena Keane-Lee, United States, Hawai'i | 2024 | 83 min | vostf

Discussion in the presence of Pascal Marichalar, CNRS research fellow, Institut de recherche interdisciplinaire sur les enjeux sociaux (IRIS), moderated by Sarah Mohamed-Gaillard, lecturer in contemporary history at Inalco.