A Tribute to Gabriel Glissant

Et les chiens se taisaient (And the Dogs Were Silent)
Sarah Moldoror, France, 1974, 12 min. French with English subtitles

La Machette et le Marteau (The Machete and the Hammer)
Gabriel Glissant, Guadeloupe, 1975, 70 min. French and Guadeloupean Creole with English subtitles

Followed by a talk with Fanny Glissant and Annabelle Aventurin

A recording of excerpts from a play by Aimé Césaire, in which the Rebel expresses himself in a long, painful poem before the Mother, shouting his revolt against the enslavement of his people. The two actors, Gabriel Glissant and Sarah Maldoror, perform in the storage rooms of the Musée de l’Homme dedicated to sub-Saharan Africa, incorporating three spectators into their performance as silent witnesses. A few images of wooden statues and masks from the reserves, as well as glimpses of Martinican landscapes, punctuate the film.
La Machette et le Marteau is a groundbreaking 1975 documentary filmed during the sugar cane workers' strikes in Guadeloupe. Widely recognized as the first authentically Afro-Caribbean film, it delivers a raw and unvarnished portrait of the island thirty years after departmentalization.
Through direct accounts from the cane cutters themselves, the film explores their harsh working conditions and the driving forces behind their resistance. It offers a critical examination of Guadeloupe's complex social hierarchy, shedding light on the agricultural and industrial proletariat as they unite to challenge foreign economic monopolies and reclaim their autonomy.

Fanny Glissant is a French documentary film producer, writer and daughter of Gabriel Glissant, director of La Machette e le Marteau.

Annabelle Aventurin is a film archivist and curator, specialising in restoration with a focus on African and Afrodiasporic films.