In honor of International Women's Day, join us for a screening of the Cannes 2021 award-winning Haitian film FREDA, followed by a discussion between the director, Gessica Généus and Edvige Jean-François, Executive Director of the Center for Studies on Africa and its Diaspora (CSAD) at Georgia State University.
SYNOPSIS: Freda lives with her family in a poor neighbourhood of Port-au-Prince. They make ends meet thanks to their small street shop. Faced with precarious living conditions and the rise of violence in Haiti, each of them wonders whether to stay or leave. Freda wants to believe in the future of her country.
Haiti, Benin, France | 2021 | 93min | Drama. In Kreyòl & French, with English subtitles.
Gessica Généus is an actress, singer and director from Haiti. She began her career when she was 17 years old. After the earthquake in 2010, she became actively involved in the reconstruction of her country and she started working for the United Nations. She then won a scholarship to study at Acting International in Paris. She returned to Haiti and created her own production company, Ayizian Productions, to develop her own work. Between 2014 and 2016 she directed Vizaj Nou, a series of short portraits of major figures from contemporary Haitian society. In 2017, her documentary film Douvan jou ka leve (The Day Will Dawn) won seven awards. It continues to be shown around the world. Freda is her first feature film.
Edvige Jean-François is an award-winning, multilingual global journalist and the inaugural executive director of the Center for Studies on Africa and Its Diaspora (CSAD) at Georgia State University. The center focuses on elevating scholarship, narratives, and cultural engagement about Africa and the African diaspora. It furthers aims to foster understanding and equity. During her more than 20 years as a journalist and television producer, including covering the White House, Edvige has traveled extensively while documenting the stories of people in the United States and around the globe. Much of her work has focused on exploring developments in Africa and the African diaspora, covering topics as wide-ranging as business and economics, geopolitics, natural disasters and crises, arts, culture, sciences, and technology.
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This event is made possible by Villa Albertine, the Consulate General of Haiti in Atlanta, the Consulate General of France in Atlanta, the Center for Studies on Africa and its Diaspora, the Quebec Government Office in Atlanta, the Creative Media Industries Institute at Georgia State University and the Alliance Française of Atlanta.
