Kouté vwa

Melrick, a 13-year-old boy, spends his summer vacation with his grandmother Nicole in Cayenne, French Guiana. His presence and desire to learn to play the drums brings back the specter of Lucas, Melrick’s uncle. Also a drummer, Lucas died in tragic circumstances 11 years earlier. Faced with both the grief that haunts his family and Lucas’s best friend’s desire for revenge, Melrick seeks his own path to forgiveness. With a subtle blending of documentary and fiction, this beautiful and delicate film also reflects on inherited violence and grief, not just on the familial level but on a historical and colonial one. In French and Guianese Creole with English subtitles. (77 mins., DCP)

Kouté vwa (Listen to the Voices) premiered at the 2024 Locarno Film Festival, where it won a Special Jury Prize. It has since played countless festivals and won numerous awards around the globe, including at Film at Lincoln Center and MoMA’s New Directors/New Films series.

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IMAGE CAPTION
Kouté vwa, courtesy of More Than Films.