Charlotte Saudrais

HipHop as a language and an outlet for young people: The film follows the youngest class members of a dance academy on their way to becoming professional dancers. Many of the students come from the socially deprived areas of Paris. Accompanied by a pulsating, dancing camera that pulls the audience right into the action, the film negotiates themes such as origins, pains, dreams and hopes.

1759, Mauritius Island, Indian Ocean. The island is controlled by French settlers and the deported slave population live in fear while toiling in the sugar cane plantations. Unlike her disillusioned father Massamba, 16-year-old Mati refuses to keep her head down and accept her fate. One night she flees from the plantation, hoping to escape violence and seek freedom in a remote part of the island, where a community of fugitives is said to live. As the plantation owner hires the merciless slave hunter Madame La Victoire and her sons to pursue Mati, Massamba realises the brutal consequences awaiting his daughter if she’s captured. He has no choice but to break his chains and set off on a desperate search for her. As a relentless hunt ensues in the island’s unforgiving jungle, the father and daughter forever break away from the colonial order.