For its 9th edition, the Champs-Elysées Film Festival opens its doors online. From June 9 to 16, available to all and free, it offers us a selection of French and American short and feature films. The opening of the festival was marked by the French film Jumbo. This was followed by the feature film 17 Blocks. Small point on this American documentary. 17 Blocks is a documentary filmed entirely by the African-American Sanford family. Following their daily lives over two generations, the camera recorded more than 1,000 hours of footage of this family living in Washington. Originally filmed by little Emmanuel, 9 years old, the whole family will soon get caught up in the game.
A documentary full of sincerity
When in 1999, the youngest of the Sanford family, Emmanuel, decided to film his entire family, no one suspected the turn of events to come. Filming his mother Cheryl, his older brother Smurf and his older sister Denice at home, Emmanuel takes us on his daily life as a young black American boy. And in Washington, everyday life for a person of color is not always very rosy. Drugs, violence, weapons… the Sanford family is in troubled waters. 
Very quickly, Emmanuel is no longer the only one to play the filmmakers. All the other members of the family are infatuated with the camera, showing the underside of a life sometimes very cramped. Raising her three children alone, Cheryl does her best despite the ghosts of the past. We then discover violence between young people, the dangers of carrying firearms, the ravages of drugs and the vicious circle of precariousness. But despite this, we also plunge into a close-knit family, loving and ready to do anything to protect our family.
Clichés die hard
It's no longer a surprise to anyone, people of color are stuck in sometimes very inglorious clichés. Anxious to get above these clichés, Emmanuel studied and won a scholarship and planned to become a firefighter, making the family proud. He is ambitious and his whole family encourages him. Unfortunately, the pervasive violence in Washington's neighborhoods thwarts his plans for success. 
Touching, sincere, poignant. These are surely the three words that best describe this American documentary. A real slap in the face, putting us face to face with the truth. Most of the time, when we are told about documentaries, we fear a flat feature film and perhaps poorly filmed. Here, history drags us, rocks us, and sometimes even slaps us. The camera held by the members of this close-knit family makes the feature film more touching, more real. 17 Blocks deserves greater visibility, even some fame. 17 Blocks is a sincere and poignant documentary, to see urgently.
17 Blocks Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp96SKXAhkQ
