march around the world 2026 | 23/30 | 🇭🇹 Haiti

Haitian actress-turned-director Gessica Généus's first narrative feature follows the titular character, a university student in Port-au-Prince, over a few months in 2018, amid the turmoil of the (still ongoing) crisis. Much of the film is centred on Freda's rocky relationship with her mother Janette as they disagree with the best path forward for Freda and her youngers siblings Esther and Moses. The film focuses on the long-running effects of colonization - especially the impact on women - as well as a myriad of other interrelated issues such as language, colorism, sexism, and wealth inequality. The film seemed to me to be comparing Janette's struggle to do the right thing for her children to the difficulty of building a cultural identity when those ghosts of colonization are still running rampant, which I think was captured in this quote that I'll end on:

"We can only give what we have received.
And to you, life has given only pain, misery, and a bitter-tasting love."