MOUN AN BA LA: French Caribbean Diaspora in Toronto is an ode to bicultural identity and an exploration of the collective memory of the French Antilles community in Toronto through the slice of life of an Afro-French & Canadian woman of Martiniquan heritage. Hybrid in its form, the film, which sits at the junction of direct cinema and poetic documentary, explores the question: “To which culture do I belong?” as it takes a look at the complexity of bicultural Afro-French & Caribbean identity. In the film, we witness an intimate conversation between a francophone Toronto-based Paris-born mother-to-be of Martiniquan heritage and the filmmaker, during which the young woman makes sense of her identity after she became a Canadian citizen, whilst delving into what community means to her. Moved by a slew of emotions during the filmmaking process in a way she did not anticipate, the filmmaker responds to what this film awoke in her, through evocative imagery narrated by herself, at times in French, at times in Creole, in which she reflects on her own identity and sense of place, as a France-born Canadian of Guadeloupean heritage. This independent production was made possible thanks to the support of the Ontario Arts Council.
