West Indies: The Fugitive Slaves of Liberty

1979 French-Algerian-Mauritanian drama film by Med Hondo

Robert Liensol [fr]
Roland Bertin
Hélène Vincent
Philippe Clévenot [fr]

CinematographyFrançois CatonnéEdited byYoucef TobniMusic byGeorges Rabol
Franck Valmont

Release dates

1979 (1979) (Mauritania)
18 March 1985 (1985-03-18) (U.S.)

Running time

110 minutesCountriesFrance
Algeria
Mauritania
LanguageFrenchBudgetUS$ 1.35 million

West Indies: The Fugitive Slaves of Liberty (French: West Indies ou les Nègres marrons de la liberté) is a 1979 Algerian-Mauritanian French-language musical drama film directed by Med Hondo.^[1] The plot of the film was adapted from a novel titled Les Negriers (The Slavers), written by Daniel Boukman. The film is highly regarded as a landmark film in the history of African cinema as it was made with a lavish budget of US$1.35 million, making it as one of the biggest budgeted African films ever to be made.^[2] Against the backdrop of the colonial West Indies, which was under French imperialism,^[3]^[4] the drama was set on a slave ship.^[5] The film had its theatrical release in 1979.

Cast

Robert Liensol [fr] as The Parliamentarian
Roland Bertin as Death
Hélène Vincent as The Social Worker
Philippe Clévenot [fr] as The Abbot
Cyril Aventurin as The Father
Fernand Berset as The Hotel Manager
Gérard Bloncourt as Monsieur De la Pierre
Toto Bissainthe as Sister Marie Joseph de Cluny

References

^ "West Indies". www.locarnofestival.ch. Retrieved 2019-11-25.
^ "What Nigeria's Nollywood Can Learn from Med Hondo's "West Indies"". MUBI. Retrieved 2019-11-25.
^ "Med Hondo is the African Auteur You Need to See". TIFF. Retrieved 2019-11-25.
^ Maslin, Janet (1985-03-08). "'West Indies,' Musical History". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-11-25.
^ "Med Hondo's West Indies Rebellion (1979)". Black History Wals. Retrieved 24 January 2024.