The Stanley presents a free double feature screening in collaboration with FilmScene. Head over to the ped mall to watch back-to-back screenings of A Dessert for Constance and Towards Tenderness, both films touch on the subject of masculinity and the lives of African immigrants in France.

This free programming is related the exhibition, Flex: Masculinities in the Arts of Global Africa, on view at the Stanley from February 28, 2026 - July 26, 2026.

A DESSERT FOR CONSTANCE
(1981, France, 63 min) Dir. Sarah Maldoror
When a man falls ill, a pair of African immigrants fill in for their housemate, sweeping the streets of Paris. Finding a discarded cookbook, the two begin working their way through the recipes and discover that the true salvation for their friend to return home with dignity may be culinary and decide to enter a televised cooking competition show. Sarah Maldoror’s (Sambizanaga) comedy combats stereotypes of both racism and the inherently associated cultural machismo that accompanies it with this look at the daily lives of African migrants in 1980s France.

TOWARDS TENDERNESS
(2016, France, 38 min) Dir. Alice Diop
Director Alice Diop (Saint Omer) profiles four young men in Paris—disarming their guarded masculinities and showing the diversity in the male immigrant population of 2016. This updated look at what it means to be a man in France shows both how the world has evolved and how some things never change.