Ni chaînes ni maîtres

Simon Moutaïrou – France, 2024 – 97 minutes – languages spoken: French, Wolof, with Dutch subtitles

Île de France, 1759. Mati is a slave who dreams of a free life far away from the sugar cane plantation. Tradition has it that somewhere on Île de France (present-day Mauritius) there is a place where former slaves live in freedom. Mati’s father Massamba does not believe this and thinks she had better resign herself to her fate, as that is the way to survive. When Mati does escape and the plantation owner hires the notorious slave hunter Madame de la Victoire to capture her, Massamba sees no option but to throw off his chains and find his daughter, before it is too late.

Ni chaînes ni maîtres is the first recent major French feature film to shed light on the country’s slavery past. For the screenplay, director Simon Moutaïrou worked closely with historians to make the film as realistic as possible and thus contribute to awareness on France’s history of slavery. “Raw, impressive debut: France’s first major public film on the history of slavery is indirectly also about the Netherlands” (Filmkrant)