Les Descendants de la nuit

In the Antilles, slavery held sway for two centuries and was only finally abolished on 26th April 1848. One hundred and fifty years after abolition, what memories of this tragedy still remain in the minds of its heirs? The long period of enforced cohabitation between black slaves and white masters has left behind it a plethora of specific signs – a language (Creole), various styles of music (Groka, Biguine, Lewoz…), magical religious practices, different types of social behaviour and an original view of life. The film explores how slavery in the Antilles has produced a close mix of European and African cultures. This crossing, much like an enforced marriage, has met with obvious successes, as well as many gross, unspoken failures. The film’s approach uses the subjective narrative of its author, a black woman born in the Antilles, to confront an inner personal vision with the reality she encounters. It is an intimate rendering, an enquiry into that part of the collective memory which time and a thousand other things have ultimately obscured.