Cette maison
This House
debut feature - dir. Miryam Charles
Canada, Québec / French, Haitian Creole / 75 minutes / 2022
“A daring blend of documentary and fantasy that invests a deeply personal drama with a wide historical scope.”
– Richard Brody, The New Yorker
Synopsis
Bridgeport, 2008. A teenage girl is found hanged in her room. While everything points to suicide, the autopsy report reveals something else. Ten years later, the director and cousin of the teenager examines the past causes and future consequences of this unsolved crime. Like an imagined biography, the film explores the relationship between the security of the living space and the violence that can jeopardise it.
Written and directed by Miryam Charles
Filmmaker's bio
From Haitian descent, Miryam Charles is a director, producer and cinematographer living in Montreal. Her films have been presented in various festivals internationally. Cette maison is her debut feature film; it had its world premiere at Berlinale Forum and has been screened at festivals worldwide, winning awards at Indie Lisboa, Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival, Montréal Festival du Nouveau Cinéma, and Indie Memphis. Her ongoing work explores themes related to exile and the legacies of colonization. Her second feature-length fiction film La marabout is currently in production.
Production : Embuscade Films - Félix Dufour-Laperrière
Cinematography : Isabelle Stachtchenko, Miryam Charles
Sound : Gordon Neil Allen, Olivier Calvert
Editing : Xi Feng
Music : Romain Camiolo
Production Design : Georges Michael Fanfan, Annick Marion
Cast : Schelby Jean-Baptiste / Florence Blain Mbaye / Eve Duranceau / Matthew Rankin / Yardly Kavanagh / Mireille Métellus / Nadine Jean / Tracy Marcelin
International festivals & screenings
World premiere : Berlinale Forum, DE - February 2022
Art of the Real - Film at Lincoln Center, US
IndieLisboa, PT
Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, CA
The Block Museum of Art, US
Frames of Representation - ICA, UK
Olhar de Cinema (Curitiba IFF) - BR
Third Horizon Film Festival, US
Taipei International Film Festival, TW
Nowe Horyzonty, PL
Trinidad + Tobago FF
Quebecine - Cineteca Nacional México, MX
Montréal Festival du Nouveau Cinéma, CA
Festival des Cinémas Différents et Expérimentaux de Paris, FR
Martinique Film Festival (CineMartinique), MQ
Indie Memphis, US
CinemAfrica, Stockholm, SE
Viennale, AT
Perspectives Film Festival, SG
UnionDocs, US
AFI FEST Film Festival, US
Novos Cinema Film Festival, ES
BAM Caribbean Film Series, US
Maysles Documentary Center, US
Black Science Fiction at Film Noir Cinema, US
LACMA x Pan African Film Festival, US
2220 Arts + Archives, US
Beirut International Women's Film Festival, LB
Journées du Cinéma Québécois, IT
Créteil International Women's Film Festival, FR
Punto de Vista International Documentary FF of Navarra, ES
FICCI - Cartagena International Film Festival, CO
Frequências: Contemporary Afro-Brazilian Cinema & the Black Diaspora, US
Vues de Quebec, FR
Black Women and Cinema, Cine Humberto Mauro, BR
DC Caribbean Film Festival, UK
Shanghai International Film Festival - Belt and Road Film Week, CN
Valencia International Film Festival Cinema Jove, ES
Dokufest, XK
Frameout, Vienna, AT
Haiti International Film Festival, US
aemi institute, IE
Alliance Cine Caraibes - Human Rights Film Festival Guadaloupe, GP
The New School, US
Metrograph Cinema - Haunted House curated series, US
Vermont Int. Film Festival, US
CRFIC - Costa Rica Int. Film Festival, CR
MIDBO - Bogota International Documentary Film Festival, CO
Kinemathek Karlsruhe, DE
Sanat Dünyamiz Film Days, TR
Mimesis Documentary Festival - Artist in Focus: Miryam Charles, US
Awards
Silvestre Award for Best Feature Film - IndieLisboa
Best Narrative Feature - Trinidad + Tobago FF
Innovation Award - Montréal Festival du Nouveau Cinéma
Best Departures Feature - Indie Memphis FF
Best Poster Design - Indie Memphis FF
Jury Special Mention - Vues de Quebec FF, FR
Selected Press
Cette maison is featured in
Sight and Sound: 50 best films of 2022
NY Times: Five International Movies to Stream Now
Criterion - Anything is Possible Here: A Conversation with Miryam Charles
Distribution
Canada: La Distributrice de Films
Germany: Arsenal - Institut für Film und Videokunst
for all other territories please contact Oyster Films
Available for streaming
North America: Criterion Channel
UK: BFI iPlayer
Benelux: Eye Film Player
