Listen To The Voices

Directed by Maxime Jean-Baptiste
France
2024
77 mins

Synopsis

Reminiscent of Moonlight (2016) in its tender portrayal of masculinity, this impressive debut feature won the Special Jury Prize CINÉ+ at Locarno 2024.

With a haunting score by Floating Points and Pharoah Sanders, Listen to the Voices captures the aftermath of a grave crime. In 2012, the director's cousin was murdered in Cayenne, the capital of French Guiana. Created in collaboration with family members, this deeply moving film reckons with the fallout. At its heart is Melrick, a 13-year-old who navigates coming of age in a community marked by violence. Conversations about revenge and forgiveness unfold, while slow-motion scenes of dance and street carnival imbue the film with dreamlike intensity.

Limited seats are available for patrons requiring access for wheelchairs, low vision and hearing loop. Please contact our ticketing team directly on 1300 733 733 or tickets@sff.org.au to complete your booking.

The original title of the film – Kouté vwa is French créole for Listen to the Voices – succinctly sums up its poetic program: a polyphony of entangled testimony. Drawing on the deeply personal source of the story, the film summons these various voices and opens up a resonance chamber between them.
Pierre Jendrysiak and Leonard Krähmer, Variety

Tickets

Sat 7 June 2025, 6:45pm
Palace Central Cinemas - Cinema 1
WheelchairSubtitledAssisted Listening
Mon 9 June 2025, 5:30pm
Palace Central Cinemas - Cinema 1
WheelchairSubtitledAssisted Listening
  • Program Strand
  • Original Title
    KOUTÉ VWA
  • Year
    2024
  • Classification
    Unclassified 15+
  • Country
    France, Belgium, Guyana
  • Language
    In French and Creole with English subtitles
  • Director
    Maxime Jean-Baptiste
  • Producer
    Rosa Spaliviero, Olivier Marboeuf
  • Cast
    Melrick Diomar, Nicole Diomar, Yannick Cébret
  • Screenwriter
    Audrey Jean-Baptiste, Maxime Jean-Baptiste
  • Cinematographer
    Arthur Lauters
  • Editor
    Liyo Gong
  • Genre
  • Premiere
    Australian Premiere
  • Company Credits
    World Sales: MoreThanFilms
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Sydney Film Festival acknowledges Australia’s First Nations People as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the land, and pay respect to the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, upon whose Country SFF is based.

We honour the storytelling and culture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across Australia.

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