Listen to the Voices
(Kouté vwa)

Maxime Jean-Baptiste’s debut feature film gracefully sketches the portrait of Melrick, a secondary school student in Stains (in Seine-Saint-Denis) who is spending his summer holidays in Cayenne at the home of his grandmother, whom he adores. This moment is part of a larger picture, of a Guianese community scarred and haunted by the disappearance of young uncle Melrick, who like many others died in sad circumstances during a violent incident. Seemingly straightforward but with multiple paths and resonances, Kouté vwa (“listen to the voice” in Creole) affects us precisely by the way it opens up vibrant and gentle dialogues to soothe grief and anger, reaches into a private world by calling on the collective, and expresses at the same time violence and love shared. FM