HEADING SOUTH

Heading South was a multi award-winner at the Venice Film Festival.

Haiti in the 1970s may have been an island paradise for some - but it was a brutal reality for those subjected to “Baby Doc” Duvalier's notoriously violent regime. Three financially liquid, middle-aged North American women regularly reap their holiday rewards through the island's ‘sex tourism' trade, indulging in passion and romance courtesy of the young male locals. Their collective passion for a certain enigmatic adonis named Legba ends up bursting the idyllic tropical island bubble when their eyes are opened to the poverty and danger of the real Haiti.

Based on a book of short stories by Dany Laferrière, Laurent Cantet's thoughtful drama plays on the complexities that emerge when physical desire and politics intersect. The film also features an incandescent Charlotte Rampling as one of the middle-aged women, Ellen. “Cantet keeps a lid on a story that he could have easily exploited, but he makes his points about beauty, fulfilment, self-indulgence and delusion with a measured hand.” - Hollywood Reporter

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D/S Laurent Cantet P Caroline Benjo,Carole Scotta, Simon Arnal S Robin Campillo WS Celluloid Dreams L French/Creole w/English subtitles TD 35mm/2005/105mins

Laurent Cantet was born in Melle, Deux-Sevres, France, in 1961. His films include Human Resources (1999) and Time Out (2001). Heading South (2005) was co-written and edited by Robin Campillo (MIFF 2005).