Director and writer Madeleine Hunt Ehrlich will be the Barbican to discuss her debut feature, an immersive exploration of the work of the remarkable Martinican writer and activist Suzanne Césaire. Hosted by Matthew Barrington.
Shot on 16mm and bathed in the lush greenery of tropical Martinique, The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire is a beguiling snapshot of the life Suzanne Cesaire, a feminist, anti-colonialist, pioneer of Afro-Caribbean surrealism, and co-founder of influential cultural journal Tropiques.
With her accomplishments long overshadowed by her prominent husband, Aime Césaire, and much of Suzanne’s work burned by her herself, Hunt-Ehrlich seeks to make a film about “an artist who didn’t want to be remembered.”
Described by Sight and Sound as an “anti-biopic”, the film is presented through the lens of an actress (Zita Hanrot) who is preparing to play Suzanne in the biopic film of her life. We see fragments of Suzanne’s life as a school teacher, an organiser, and the mother of six children.