Cinema Guild Acquires ‘The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire’ in North America

Cinema Guild, the New York-based distributor of world cinema, has acquired the North American distribution rights for The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire, the first feature by artist and writer-director Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich.

The film is described as “a post-biopic about Caribbean surrealist Suzanne Césaire, deconstructing the process of bringing an actually-lived life to film. The film examines her relationship with her husband, French politician Aimé Césaire, and famed surrealist André Breton.” Filmed in South Florida, the movie takes place primarily in the space of the film set itself where a small group of actors and crew confront the history of the writer, stage scenes from her life, and try to make sense of it.

“Inspired by the structures of Césaire’s own writing, which often took a colonial convention and unraveled it, the film deconstructs the narrative period biopic genre, moving between a conventional cinema and deconstructed experimental scenes,” Cinema Guild said.

The company plans to release the film theatrically next year with what it described as “a 35mm print tour.”

Starring César Award-winning Zita Hanrot, Motell Gyn Foster, and Josué Gutierrez, The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire features a soundtrack by singer Sabine McCalla. It premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam earlier this year, followed by screenings at the likes of FIDMarseille, the Toronto International Film Festival, the New York Film Festival, the BFI London Film Festival, and the Viennale.

In a recent interview with THR, Hunt-Ehrlich said that “surrealism is the crack in expectation,” explaining that she likes to surprise audiences with her films and their form. “How do you create that jolt or that spark where the outcome is not that you are lulled into an expected outcome, but something else takes place?”

“Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich is an exciting new voice in cinema,” said Cinema Guild president Peter Kelly. “This first feature is smart, beautiful, and bound to start many discussions, we can’t wait to share this one with audiences.”

Added Hunt-Ehrlich: “I’m happy to be partnering with Cinema Guild. It’s an honor to have them bring The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire to a wider audience and to be in the company of the other artists and filmmakers they work with.”

Cinema Guild’s upcoming releases include Hong Sangsoo’s A Traveler’s Needs, By the Stream, Matías Piñeiro’s You Burn Me, and a retrospective of João César Monteiro’s films in 4k restoration. Recent releases include Kazik Radwanski’s Matt and Mara, as well as a 4K restoration of Shinji Somai’s Moving.

Hunt-Ehrlich focuses on films that she describes as being “concerned with the inner worlds of Black women.” Her works have been screened at the Berlinale, La Biennale di Venezia, the Guggenheim Museum, the Tate Modern, and the Whitney Museum of Art.