Freda is the Creole-language debut feature film by actress, singer and filmmaker Gessica Geneus. She also wrote the script to the film, which portrays Freda (Néhémie Bastien), a young woman who struggles to find hope in a country full of despair, violence and turbulence.
“I wanted to see women that I grew up knowing and I wanted to see the struggle that I understand,” says Gessica Genius about her film Freda via a Zoom call from Haiti. “I grew up with my mother and the male figure was a ghost for the most part of my life.”
Set in the slums of Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince, the film focuses on the limited options women have in a society dominated by men. Freda, who proudly says that she is named after the voodoo goddess, has dreams for herself and is an independent woman. She does not like her sister Esther (Djanaina Francois), and like her mother Jeanette (Fabiola Remy) wishes, seek to find a suitable match that can support her through life. Freda is an intelligent student, who is engaged in the current political discussions the students have and she cares deeply about her country.
“Like someone in film says: ‘Politics is running after us,” says Gessica Genius. “It is like being a feminist. You do not choose to be that. You are just caught in the middle of the injustice and you just have to react to that.”
In spite of the rather difficult prospects to fulfill her dreams in Haiti, she does not leave when she gets the opportunity and her artistic boyfriend Yeshua (Jean Jean) goes to Santo Domingo without her. She would rather stay put and fight for her future even though the turbulent environment makes this almost impossible for her.
“I think for now this is where she is and decides to be,” says Gessica Genius about her character’s choice to stay in Haiti. “There is a spiritual conflict between the two. Freda is the name of a voodoo goddess and Yeshua is Jesus’ name – and Christianity has done a lot of harm to us, because we are uncomfortable in our own skin as a population. So Freda wants to find her own identity first and not follow him.”
It was not a question for Gessica Genius whether to make the film in creole or French.
“For me it would not have been possible to make anyone speak French, because we do not speak French. I know it looks like I am fighting for the creole language, which is true, but the main reason is just that we speak creole in Haiti. Even if the investors fought with me about it, I did not want to change it.