Talk Analysis - Julia Montfort, opening her door to the unknown
On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of TEDxParis, Julia Montfort offers us a dive into the unknown on the stage of the Grand Rex.
In 2017, journalist Julia Montfort and her husband welcomed Abdelhaq, a young Chadian migrant, into their home. From this meeting arose an observation. There is a welcoming and supportive France, and a desire: to film it.
The story of a personal experience
Julia Montfort's talk is first and foremost the simple account of her experience. Through her storytelling, she takes the audience along with her, making them experience what she went through when she welcomed Abdelakh, a Chadian refugee, into her home.
To immerse us in the story, Julia Montfort shares with us details of everyday life, seemingly insignificant, but which help to fix concrete images on this particular story. Moreover, she shares with the audience the thoughts that crossed her mind, and that could have been an obstacle to her act of solidarity.
She begins her talk with "beware of strangers", and says that "(she) feels vulnerable" and irrationally wonders "what if he was a terrorist? ». By refusing to idealise her story, Julia Montfort allows the audience to imagine themselves in her shoes, experiencing the opening of her door to a stranger.
The power of flashback
It isonly in the second part of the talk that we leave the linear account of his meeting and then his cohabitation with Abdelakh to learn more about his story. We then learn, in a few sentences, about the hell he went through: the persecutions in Chad, his imprisonment and that of his whole family, the torture, his flight to Libya and then to Italy and France.
This account is all the more terrible and revolting as Julia Montfort has just informed us that by harbouring Abdelakh, she and her husband were exposed to five years' imprisonment and a fine of 30,000 euros. The juxtaposition of these two pieces of information is particularly striking: by remaining factual, without explicitly expressing any value judgement, Julia Montfort lays the first stone to appeal to the solidarity of those who hear her.
A conduit for solidarity
Julia Montfort goes beyond the personal story by placing her experience in a more general context. Thus, by announcing "I realised that our story is far from being isolated", she highlights the hidden solidarity in our society. When, after telling her story, Julia Montfort announces the creation of the documentary web-series "Carnets de Solidarité", she moves from story to action and becomes a real passer-by, beyond her personal experience.
Brightness, a historical partner of TEDxParis since its creation.
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