France-Amérique. Un échange de bons procédés

(France-America. A quid pro quo)

Based on a radio programme broadcast by FranceCulture, twelve examples of cultural exchanges between France and the United States, and the metamorphoses they engendered in each country, from jazz to automobiles, from wine to comic strips.

Directed by Régis Debray

What does Europe really owe to America, and America to Europe? What have we added here to inventions coming from there, how have they transformed what was invented here?

The ways and means of cultural hybridisation are veiled in mystery. In the summer of 2017 on FranceCulture, I started to question the leading specialists from the most crucial sectors, to shed light on the mystery. This tale of true adventure seeks to review a ubiquitous debate, with neither prejudice nor bias: “how is a civilisation, our own in particular, unbuilt and rebuilt?” (Régis Debray, publisher’s presentation)