The Wake

Night has fallen on a burning world. Demonstrations, earthquakes, forest fires—fire is everywhere. Fire of struggles and pains, of rebirth and chaos. Men and women speak and de-speak from different places to honor the dead and save what remains of the living. As General Feu struts around in the middle of the scene and his interpreter repaints the outskirts of the world in the color of flames, the assembly tries to resist madness and see a new day rise.
THE WAKE is an installation composed from research on the space of the night as a possible place of re-composition of a community that dreams of flight, of travel, of alliances between diasporas and the restless souls that haunt our electronic worlds. (The Living and the Dead Ensemble)

The Living and the Dead Ensemble are a group of artists, performers, and poets from Haiti, France, and the United Kingdom. They initially came together in Haiti in 2017 to produce the Haitian Creole translation and performance of the play "Monsieur Toussaint" by Édouard Glissant. Initiated from an original idea by Louis Henderson and Olivier Marboeuf, who have been collaborating as a director/producer partnership since 2014, the Ensemble’s first film OUVERTURES was premiered at the Berlinale Forum 2020. Their work explores the influence of Haiti, the first independent Black republic of the Americas, in the history and present of the Caribbean as well as in western modernity.
The Ensemble are: Mackenson Bijou, Rossi Jacques Casimir, Dieuvela Cherestal, James Desiris, Louis Henderson, Léonard Jean Baptiste, Cynthia Maignan, Sophonie Maignan, Olivier Marboeuf, Mimétik Nèg.

Production Olivier Marboeuf. Production company Spectre Productions (Rennes, France). Directed by Louis Henderson, Olivier Marboeuf. Written by The Living and the Dead Ensemble. Cinematography Louis Henderson. Editing Louis Henderson. Music João Polido. Sound Victor Donati. Art director Olivier Marboeuf. With The Living and the Dead Ensemble.

Films

2020: Ouvertures (132 Min., Forum 2020). 2021: The Wake.