Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich’s highly anticipated directorial debut, The Song of Suzanne Césaire, is set to premiere at the Basel Film Festival (BAM) on June 6, 2025. The film, which explores the life of Caribbean surrealist Suzanne Césaire, has garnered significant attention since its unveiling at the 2024 New York Film Festival.
The movie deconstructs the process of translating real life onto the silver screen, providing a unique post-biographical exploration of Césaire’s life, her relationships with key figures like her husband, French politician Aimé Césaire, and renowned surrealist André Breton. Shot at a tree-lined archival grove in South Florida, the film’s production takes place largely in the space of the set itself, where a small group of filmmakers and actors confront the history of Césaire’s youth, performing scenes from her life.
The Song of Suzanne Césaire is a narrative shaped by Césaire’s own literary style, which frequently challenges colonial-era traditions through a surrealistic lens. The film blends elements of both traditional and experimental cinema, exploring themes of history, identity, and deconstruction. Hunt-Ehrlich, who wrote and directed the film, draws inspiration from Césaire’s works, which often incorporate a reimagining of the colonial experience.
The cast includes César Award-winning actress Zita Hanrot and Motell Gyn Foster. The score for the film, composed by Sabine McCalla, complements the film’s dark, thematic elements while embracing Caribbean rhythms and melodies, underscoring the complex emotions of the narrative.
David Katz, in his review for the New York Film Festival, remarked that while the film is rooted in Césaire’s literary and historical material, it focuses more on the ethereal, dreamlike qualities of its storytelling. Katz noted that Hunt-Ehrlich’s debut evokes “the forest wind” as a metaphor for the elusive, almost intangible nature of the subject matter. The film explores the Black Surrealist movement, where Aimé and Suzanne Césaire played pivotal roles in making French colonial literature engage with African heritage and a surreal worldview.
Ahead of the film’s release, the trailer and poster for The Song of Suzanne Césaire have been unveiled, offering a first glimpse of Hunt-Ehrlich’s striking and thought-provoking vision.
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