West Indies

Are all musicals little more than silly stories with a happy ending? Nothing could be more different from the truth. The very nature of the genre allows filmmakers to explore complex and challenging themes: they are often more easily palatable when dressed in a camp costume, and deeper reflection can unfold after the film has ended. Med Hondo goes further than anyone has gone before – weaponizes the musical form in order to strike Europe right where it hurts the most. West Indies is unabashedly theatrical: against the background of a multi-story set assembled in an old warehouse, the film conveys the key events in the history of colonialism. Manipulative, unbearably narcissistic Frenchmen with imperial ambitions wield power over a ship full of slaves as it navigates from place to place. Spanning several centuries of oppression and suffering, the narrative is at once abstract and brutally realistic. One of the most iconic achievements of North African cinema, the film was digitally restored in 2023.

Patrycja Mucha

Med Hondo (1935–2019) was a Mauritanian-born French director, screenwriter and actor, one of the founding fathers of African cinema. He started out as an actor in the theater and television, and directed his debut film, Soleil O, in 1970. His other films include the documentary film Les Bicots-nègres, vos voisins (1974) and West Indies (1979), a landmark film in the history of African cinema.