FURCY, FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM

Illustration : © Louis Tardivier / Gao Shan Pictures For over 25 years, from 1817 to 1843, Furcy, who was officially considered a slave on Bourbon Island (the former name of Reunion Island), fought to get the highest court in the Kingdom of France to recognize his status as a free man. The most amazing part of the story is that he won. There is no other known case anywhere in the world in which an enslaved person sued his master in order to regain his freedom. Just a few years after the verdict was returned at the Royal Court of Paris recognizing Furcy’s freedom, slavery was abolished in all French colonies. How is it possible that Furcy won? What kind of man was he? What does his story have to tell us two centuries later? The documentary will explore the life of this exceptional man.