Our Father, the Devil (2023)
Director: Ellie Foumbi Run Time: 107 min. Release Year: 2021
Starring: Babetida Sadjo, Franck Saurel, Jennifer Tchiakpe, Martine Amisse, Souleymane Sy Savane
Country: United States, France
Language: French with English subtitles
About the film:
World Premiere, 2021 Venice Film Festival
Audience Award winner, 2022 Tribeca Film Festival
Best Feature nominee, 2023 Independent Spirit Awards
Marie works as the head cook in a retirement home in a small mountain town in the south of France. Though she seems relatively well adjusted; Marie harbors a shameful secret—she’s a former child soldier. Silently struggling with the remnants of her traumatic past, Marie hides her PTSD from those around her. Her quiet life is turned upside down the day an African priest named Father Patrick begins to volunteer at the home. She immediately recognizes him from her past. As Father Patrick charms all her co-workers, Marie must decide if she will exact her revenge or cling to the new life she’s built.
About the filmmaker:
Ellie Foumbi is an actor, writer, and director from Cameroon. Her work has screened at Venice, Santa Barbara International Film Festival and Tribeca, where her debut feature Our Father, the Devil (2023) won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature. She’s an alum of Berlinale Talents and New York Film Festival’s Artist Academy. Her projects have been supported by The Gotham, SFFILM Rainin Grant, Film Independent, the Tribeca Film Institute and the Venice Biennale College. She holds an MFA from Columbia University’s School of the Arts in Directing.
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