DIASPORA SHORTS I : HOW TO BREAK FREE

DIASPORA SHORTS I: HOW TO BREAK FREE

ZOLLA (Dir.: Victoria Neto | FR 2026; Original with English subtitles | DCP | 30 min.)
SEA STAR (Dir.: Tyler M. Evans | USA 2025; Original with English subtitles; DCP; 12 min.)
WE HAD FUN (Dir.: Linda Lô | France 2025; Original with English subtitles | DCP | 18 min.)
JAZZ INFERNAL (Dir.: Will Niava | CA 2025; Original with English subtitles | DCP | 16 min.)
LES JARDINS DU PARADIS (Dir.: Sonia Terrab | Morocco/France 2025; Original with English subtitles | DCP | 16 min.)
YAKUBU (Dir: Kokob Gebrehaweria Tesfay; India/Ethiopia 2025; Original with English subtitles | DCP | 19 min.)

Caught between her disillusioning student life and the expectations weighing on her as the eldest daughter, twenty-year-old ZOLLA, a Black woman of Congolese descent, desperately longs for independence.In SEA STAR, an older Black man takes his first swimming lesson while simultaneously grappling with personal challenges hidden beneath the surface. In WE HAD FUN, Linda, Biram, and Roger live far away from their mother in Gabon. When the oldest brother goes away for the weekend, his siblings experience snow for the first time. In *JAZZ INFERNAL*, Koffi, a young Ivorian trumpeter, arrives in Montreal—with nothing but his father’s legacy to guide him. Lost between the noise of the city and the silence of his past, he must confront his roots in order to finally find his own voice. In LES JARDINS DU PARADIS, Naima is raising her son Ahmed on her own. When the government decides to relocate her, Ahmed has to change schools. But his father’s signature is required for the necessary paperwork—and his father has been missing for years. In YAKUBU, a young Nigerian immigrant lives in an apartment building in Kolkata next door to Adrija, a single mother and sex worker. When Adrija asks him to watch over her eight-year-old daughter Aditi for one night, the two set off on a ramble through the city streets and embark on a magical journey.

In the presence of Victoria Neto

In collaboration with: Lux Mwinda!