A Radical Empathy: Three Films from Esery Mondesir

Thanks for joining us on Sunday afternoon for our Q&A with Esery! The conversation will be available on our YouTube channel soon, but for now, you can watch it here!

Watch A Radical Empathy here until 11:59 PM tonight!

About A Radical Empathy : These three films form a collection examining the contours of the Haitian diaspora, made in collaboration with its subjects and with a firm command of filmmaker Esery Mondesir’s own speaking position as a Port-au-Prince-born, Toronto-based member of this same diaspora. The first, Una Sola Sangre (2018), Mondesir’s thesis film for York’s MFA program, is the most recognizable as a gregarious and warm portrait of a family in Cuba. The next two films follow the route of South and Central American migrants to desired North American destinations to Mexico, where the subjects of Pariah, my brother, I follow you, show me the route to the springs (2020) and What Happens to a Dream Deferred? (2020) wait for a chance to enter the US.

The myriad of ways Mondesir contends with migration are visible even in the film grain—created by transferring the footage (shot on the formerly ubiquitous Canon 5D) to 35mm and then re-digitizing for exhibition. Whether a Vodou ceremony, a New Year’s Eve cookout, or the daily routines of a father-son pair of street vendors, Mondesir’s camera is patient, intimate, and revealing of his own relationship with the families as someone who has made it even further north but still shares potent cultural touchstones and experiences. (AS)

What Happens to a Dream Deferred? (2020)

Pariah, my brother, I follow you, show me the route to the springs (2020)

Una Sola Sangre (2018)

Next Week!

 Join us for a live Q&A with Sky Hopinka, hosted by Cass Gardiner, on Wednesday, May 12th at 7 PM EST! Register for the Zoom here or join us through Facebook Live!

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About maɬni – towards the ocean, towards the shore: Experimental filmmaker Sky Hopinka’s eagerly anticipated first feature film melds an inquiry into the Chinookan death myth with the stories of two members of the Chinook nation, as they describe their relationship to life and death, and observational scenes from their lives and those of their families. Since its premiere at the 2020 Sundance, małni—towards the ocean, towards the shore has picked up critical raves for its material fluidity between experimental and more accessible documentary forms, as well as Hopinka’s further refinement of his depictions of Indigenous epistemologies. The film is buoyed by a deep commitment to conveying stories on one’s own terms, from the subtitling choices to its refusal to easily contextualize its images of the land, daily life, and connections to outsiders.

Hopinka retains much of the feel of his acclaimed short films, from the use of visual effects to the focus on family relationships and emphasizing the lack of singular interpretations. It’s as much content as it is form—as Sweetwater Sahme and Jordan Mercier verbally acknowledge multiple complicated truths in the same scene, the film shines when its images are beautifully, evocatively manipulated—the whirl of people to a drum beat, the pulse of the brilliantined leaves found in a Pacific Northwest forest after a good morning rain. (AS)

maɬni – towards the ocean, towards the shore (2020)

Lore (short, 2019)

Fainting Spells (short, 2018)

Dislocation Blues (short, 2017)

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