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Cette maison

This House
Forum 2022
© Embuscade Films
Tessa was born in Stamford in 1994 and died in Bridgeport in 2008; her death tore open the present, changed the course of the past, snatched away a future. Such a loss may be impossible to grasp, but Cette maison suggests it can perhaps be encircled, by following the lines traced by all three temporalities, rippling together around the gaping void. The future that did not happen takes the lead here, with Tessa seen as the young woman she never became, conducting oneiric conversations with her mother long after the event, watching over its wrenching aftermath and revisiting the stations of her family’s migration. Haiti, Canada and the US form another trio here, the seamless shifts through time in immaculate correspondence with the fluid movements through space. A tropical coastline and an island that seems to float on the horizon, rain-speckled car windows in Connecticut, referendum results in a Laval living room; everything leaves a trace on 16mm, even invention. It is enigmatic, and it is wrenching, and it will never stop, but there is comfort too. For what else can create such a perfectly limitless space for mourning but cinema? Everything is possible here.
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by Miryam Charles
with Schelby Jean-Baptiste, Florence Blain Mbaye, Eve Duranceau, Mireille Metéllus, Matthew Rankin, Yardly Kavanagh, Nadine Jean, Tracy Marcellin Canada 2022 French, Haitian Creole 75’ Colour World premiere

With

  • Schelby Jean-Baptiste
  • Florence Blain Mbaye
  • Eve Duranceau
  • Mireille Metéllus
  • Matthew Rankin
  • Yardly Kavanagh
  • Nadine Jean
  • Tracy Marcellin

Crew

Written and Directed by Miryam Charles
Cinematography Isabelle Stachtchenko
Editing Xi Feng
Music Romain Camiolo
Sound Design Olivier Calvert
Sound Gordon Neil Allen
Production Design Georges Michael Fanfan, Annick Marion
Costumes Georges Michael Fanfan
Make-Up Brenda Barthélémy
Casting Miryam Charles
Assistant Director Joyce Joumaa
Line Producer Nellie Carrier
Producer Félix Dufour-Laperrière

Produced by

Embuscade Films

Photos

Miryam Charles

© Sabiha Merabet

Born in 1984 in Montreal, Canada. She completed a degree in film studies and works as a writer, director, producer and cinematographer. Following a number of short films, Cette maison is her feature debut.

Filmography

2015 Vole, vole tristesse (Fly, Fly, Sadness); 6 min. 2016 Towards the Colonies; 5 min. 2018 A Fortress; 6 min. · Drei Atlas (Three Atlas); 6 min. 2019 Deuxième génération (Second Generation); 5 min. · The Red Album or a Poetic Intent; 5 min. 2021 Song for the New World; 9 min. 2022 At Dawn; 15 min. · Cette maison (This House); 75 min.

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2022