The Foundation for the Memory of Slavery [La Fondation pour la mémoire de l’esclavage] and Quai Branly Museum [Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac] invite you to the fourth edition of Festival Esclavage & Cinéma on Saturday, May 31, 2025, from 10:00am to 6:45pm at the Musée du quai Branly cinema. The theme is “Ayiti, Land of Freedom”— a program organized by film historian Antoine Guégan. All films will be introduced by film specialists or the directors. [Free while spaces are available.]
The film Queimada (1969) will be screened along with four short films:
- Cri du lambi (Dir. Vincent Toi, 2017)
- L’aube noire (Dir. Robin Lloyd & Doreen Kraft, 1978)
- Papa Machete (Dir. Jonathan David Kane, 2013)
- Black Box (Dir. Michelange Quay, 2018)
Description: As part of the Days of Commemoration of Slavery and its Abolition, and the Time of Memories, the Foundation for the Memory of Slavery and the Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac are joining forces to present a series of films mobilizing the memory of slavery.
In 1825, in exchange for recognizing Haiti’s independence, France imposed a debt on the young republic to compensate the former owners of Saint-Domingue; an economic burden of such magnitude that the consequences are still visible today. Yet, after defeating Napoleon’s armies in 1804, Haiti became the world’s first independent Black republic and a symbol of resistance against the colonial system. And while the names of figures like Toussaint Louverture and Jean-Jacques Dessalines have survived for centuries, cinema has paid little attention to their stories. To mark the bicentennial of the imposition of debt on Haiti, the Slavery & Cinema Festival highlights rare works that celebrate Haitian history and revolution.
Whether fiction films, documentaries, or animated films, their directors share a common desire: to bring Haiti’s history to life, to explore the richness of its culture, and to pay tribute to the spirit of resistance of its people, who have never been silent. A surprising and avant-garde work created by thirteen Haitian painters, L’aube noire [Black Dawn] is an allegorical fable that pays homage to local culture by recounting the island’s history. As for Papa Machete and Cri du lambi [The Cry of the Conch], these films blur the lines of time, where past and present merge, to examine the legacy of resistance against oppression and slavery. Finally, although set in an imaginary world, nearly fifty-five years after its creation, Queimada remains one of the rare bold attempts to portray the Haitian revolution on the big screen.
Excerpts translated by Ivette Romero. For full article and description of films, see https://memoire-esclavage.org/festival-esclavage-cinema-ayiti-terre-de-liberte
The Foundation for the Memory of Slavery [La Fondation pour la mémoire de l’esclavage] and Quai Branly Museum [Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac] invite you to the fourth edition of Festival Esclavage & Cinéma on Saturday, May 31, 2025, from 10:00am to 6:45pm at the Musée du quai Branly cinema. The theme is “Ayiti, Land
