North American Premiere
A powerful, insightful docudrama following a teenage boy from France spending the summer at his grandmother’s house in French Guiana, where he learns about his roots and connects with a community of people still reeling from the tragic loss of his uncle, who died under senseless, violent circumstances several years earlier. Through individual stories, he pieces together a legacy of both personal relevance and broader cultural resonance. The intense community immersion also sees him mastering the drums and partaking in a traditional drumming performance, the final act of initiation into the tight-knit circle.
Drawing from his own background in this emotionally charged feature debut, Maxime Jean-Baptiste demonstrates a sharp understanding of form fluidity and hybridity, skillfully blending verité observation with narrative elements. Loosely structured yet beautifully written, Listen to the Voices captures the essence of formative experiences distilled through poignant conversations with community elders, family members, and peers.
Special Jury Prize CINE+, Locarno 2024
Sept 30 & Oct 1: Q&A with director Maxime Jean-Baptiste
Community Partner
Melrick Diomar, Nicole Diomar, Yannick Cébret
French Guiana/Belgium/France
2024
In French and Creole with English subtitles
Racist content
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits & Director
Producer
Rosa Spaliviero, Olivier Marboeuf
Screenwriter
Audrey Jean-Baptiste, Maxime Jean-Baptiste
Cinematography
Arthur Lauters
Editor
Liyo Gong
Original Music
Mayouri Tchô Nèg, Josy Masse, Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders, London Symphony Orchestra
Maxime Jean-Baptiste
Maxime Jean-Baptiste (born 1993) is a filmmaker based in Brussels and Paris. His work delves into the complexity of Western colonial history and its present-day impacts, focusing on archives and re-enactment as a perspective for conceiving a living, embodied memory. Nou voix (2018) won the Jury Prize at the Festival des Cinémas Différents et Expérimentaux. Listen to the Beat of Our Images (2021), co-directed with his sister Audrey, was selected at CPH:DOX, Hot Docs, IDFA, and many other festivals. His latest film, Listen to the Voices, is his debut feature.
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
One of only a handful of live action children's films to capture the imaginations of generations, E.T. has a luminous warmth; it's a suburban symphony of emotion, and it's fascinating to revisit it in the light of The Fabelmans.
Turner & Constable
Filmed as a supplement to a blockbuster exhibition at Tate Britain happening right now, this doc in the popular Exhibition on Screen series allows us to view these competitive, complementary English landscape artists side by side.
The President's Cake
Nine year old Lamia and her friend Saeed venture into the city to scrounge ingredients for a cake to celebrate Sadaam Hussein's birthday — a quest fraught with real peril in precarious times. Winner, Camera d'Or, Cannes.
Montreal, ma belle
In this Valentine to discovering love later in life, the ever-elegant Joan Chen plays Feng Xia, a 53-year-old Chinese immigrant and mother in Montreal whose world is turned upside down when she meets and falls in love with a young Quebecoise.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly + Talkback with Special Guests
The third and the best of the so-called 'Dollars' trilogy amplifies Leone's baroque style: crane shots, shock cuts and Morricone music all vying for attention as three rogues hunt buried gold in a series of triangular variations. + Intro and Talkback