
Freda
with director Gessica GénéusFreda
with director Gessica GénéusThis event occurred as part of the 21/22 Hop Film Event season. This is an archived view.
A determined young woman charts her uncertain future in this vivid evocation of life in modern Haiti.
When your homeland slides into chaos do you stay or do you flee? That is the dilemma facing the title character in Gessica Généus' Creole-language debut. Freda (Nehemie Bastien) lives with her family in a popular neighborhood in Port-au-Prince. Individually and collectively, they reflect the challenges of modern Haiti: her brother is a deadbeat, her sister hunts for a sugar daddy and their pragmatic mother dispenses support and tough love. In the face of escalating violence, Freda's boyfriend wants to emigrate to a safer place.
Bastien's spirited performance makes Freda shine with her determination to challenge the daily realities of a country at the mercy of corrupt politicians, patriarchal oppression, gangs and a colonialist legacy that seeks to erase language, culture and identity. D: Gessica Généus, Haiti, subtitled, 2021
A conversation with director Gessica Généus and Prof. Chelsey Kivland follows the film.
Presented in conjunction with the African and African American Studies Program and with Dartmouth's MLK Celebration
Sponsored by the Dartmouth Class of 1982 Academic Enrichment Fund, the Ethics Institute, the Leslie Center for the Humanities and the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding
Gessica Généus started her acting career at 17 in Barikad, a feature by Richard Sénécal. In 2011, Gessica was granted a scholarship from the Acting International de Paris. Back in Haiti, she founded her own production company, Ayizian Productions. In 2014, in partnership with Télévision Caraïbes, she directed Vizaj Nou, a portrait series of contemporary Haitian figures (Anthony Pascal dit Konpè Filo, Viviane Gauthier, Odette Roy Fombrun, Frankétienne). She directed her first documentary for France Televisions Douvan jou ka leve (The Sun Will Rise) in 2017 winning several awards. Freda is her first narrative film.
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