This video competed in
The She Directed Filmmaker Contest
Six years in the making, I'm proud to introduce to you ELZA, my first feature narrative that I wrote, directed and produced against all odds and with all my heart. No one believe I could make it but I had the rage to succeed and showed that I could. And I did. I'm a black American female director and the first woman in Guadeloupe to have shot a feature narrative film on the island. Synopsis: A young Parisian woman of Caribbean descent returns to her native island of Guadeloupe looking for the father she has never known. A universal and intimate story about identity and love. I In this excerpt, Elza, our lead character confronts her father for the first time asking him to simply look at her, see her and acknowledge that he is her father. Elza wants to be visible, acknowledged. She is looking for a hug, a touch. The story is partially autobiographical. This narrative is relevant when you know that an estimated 50% of African-American and Caribbean children are estranged from their fathers - What is the emotional impact of this abandonment on the children? The film was the New York Times Critics' Pick. The NYT called it "... sensual, sun-kissed and emotionally secretive. Bathed in the flamingo colors and Caribbean rhythms of its location, this deeply personal debut from the writer and director Mariette Monpierre develops with a lingering attention to sensation and sound..."
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