At the 31st African, Asia and Latin America Film Festival (FESCAAAL), the SIGNIS Jury awarded the film Freda, by Haitian director Gessica Geneus.
Freda lives with her family in a popular neighborhood in Haiti. They survive with their little street food shop. The precariousness and violence of their daily life push them to do everything they can to escape their situation.
With great expertise and sincerity, the Haitian director succeeds in telling a story where ethic, political and social commitment merge in a film made with a careful eye on Italian neorealism.
The protagonists are all women who have to fight daily against endemic poverty in a rapacious, macho and violent society. It will be the women with their vitality and, in particular, the beautiful and talented Freda to whom the actress Nehemie Bastieu gives depth, to bring a glimmer of humanity and hope with the courageous choice to remain in her unfortunate country.
The SIGNIS Jury members were Ana Maria Pedroso, Gaetano Liguori, Ricardo Sorbello, and Vanessa Lanari.