Film Screening of "Freda" with director Gessica Généus

Film Screening of Freda and Discussion with Director Gessica Généus

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.

Thursday, February 24, 2022 at 7 p.m.

Loew Auditorium

Tickets: $10+   

Learn more and get tickets here

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

About Gessica Généus

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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.

Hopkins Center for the Arts, Freda