There is an enormous red brick arch commemorating these deportations, The Door of No Return, says Moutairou.
Felix Lefebvre and Vassili Schneider play her characters sons.
Dumont says this angle was a driving force in the project.
No Chains, No MastersChi Fou Mi
The protagonists of Massamba and Mati also chime with the pairs ambition to create authentic black heroes and heroines.
My model growing up was Denzel Washington.
As an adolescent in France in the 1990s, our heroes were American.
Simon MoutaïrouMika Cotellon
We were lacking in black heroes, although its changed a bit since then.
He and Dumont heap praise on Mbaye and Thiandoum for their performances.
The producer also salutes Mbaye for taking on the psychologically tough role of Massamba.
We were doing an initial reading of the script with Ibrahima in Paris.
When the N-word was pronounced he left the room, recounts Moutairou.
We needed to find our own voice… which we found through the films Africanity.
The African language Wolof is spoken in the film, along with other African languages, he says.
Nicolas and I talked about this a lot.
It is the role of cinema to make these dark points in history real.
That used to be an inherent part of cinema, this political aspect.
When Simon plunged into the archives of the period, looking for accounts from Maroons.
There could be no complacency in the way violence is shown, but it still had to be shown.
I couldnt be prouder that the film is coming out in this political context.
Weve had the European elections, the French parliamentary elections, the Olympic Games.
I hope it will spark debate.
