On Wednesday July 14, 2021, Haitian director Gessica Geneus and her team walked the red carpet and climbed the steps of Cannes under the curious lenses of the cameras. The film "FREDA", the first fictional feature (90mn) by Gessica Geneus (previously documentary director) is presented in the official selection of the Cannes Film Festival, in the "Un certain regard" category.

The film, shot in Port-au-Prince in 2019 and 2020, is a fictional autobiography on the plight of women in working-class neighborhoods. Produced by Ayizan Prod of Haiti, Sanosi Prod (France) and Merveille Prod (Benin), the film tells the story of three women, who decided to leave a disadvantaged town in the grip of growing insecurity, after a traumatic event.

"Freda is first and foremost the name of a young woman in search of emancipation. From the small grocery store her mother runs, Freda is confronted with this ambient anger as a man is gunned down on her doorstep. The onset of physical death cannot obscure more intimate demons, and the film will never cease to be crossed by the attempts of its main protagonist to reveal deeply buried traumas.

Last minute : Friday July 16, 2021, during the 74th edition of the Cannes International Film Festival, Gessica Generus' first feature film "Freda" received the Special Discovery Mention of the François Chalais Prize.

See also :

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-33887-icihaiti-cinema-the-haitian-feature-film-freda-in-competition-at-the-cannes-film-festival.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-31400-icihaiti-cinema-financial-assistance-for-3-haitian-productions.html

IH/ iciHaiti