Films catalogue

In festivals

Lana

Laetitia Angba, Julie Redon Lissouba / 2024 / 17 min. / Canada / FRENCH

Synopsis

In the turmoil of adolescence, Lana's life isn't quite like everyone else's. Her father, Benjamin, is threatened with deportation from Canada, and the family deals with the daily anguish of an impending separation. To protect her family, she creates a routine that gives her and her little brother Léo a semblance of stability and normalcy.  As a battle is waged in silence, Lana must summon the courage to confront her father before he leaves.

Cast & Crew

  • Screenplay : Laetitia Angba
  • Cinematographer : Étienne Roussy
  • Editor : Lenina Delgado
  • Sound : Mohammed Mouilid
  • Music : Maxime Fortin
  • Sound editor : Alex Lane
  • Artistic Director : Diana Le Nézet
  • Production : Cosmos films

Genre

Fiction

Topics

Youth, Cultural diversity, Discrimination and human rights, Family, Migration and diasporas, Quebec

Biography

LAETITIA ANGBA

Born in Côte d'Ivoire and raised in Montreal, Laetitia Angba is a young cosmopolitan imbued with an early thirst for changing the world. She devoted many years to social and community involvement. Eager to nurture her creativity and storytelling prowess, she embarked on a transformative journey by participating in the second edition of 'Je me vois à l'écran,' orchestrated by the collective Black on Black Films. Her screenplay, 'Lana,' garnered the coveted jury prize at the Rendez-vous Québec Cinéma. Subsequently, she produced an experimental short film, 'PATHS | SENTIERS,' in collaboration with the Phi Centre as part of their InFlux program. 

JULIE R. LISSOUBA

Through her works, Julie Redon Lissouba delves into themes inseparable from her life: travel, identity, and a committed anti-colonial perspective. Following her bachelor's degree in literature and cinema in Montreal, Canada, Julie pursued her studies in cinema at La Casa Del Cine in Barcelona, Spain, where she honed the art of documentary filmmaking. Returning to Quebec, she continued her education in documentary filmmaking through a microprogram at the L’inis (L'institut national de l'image et du son), where she created the short film 'Sans attaches' (2019). 

Driven by her passion for directing, she embarked on the Cinema Program at the same institute, culminating in 2020 with her directorial achievement, the fiction short film 'Ève et Fatima.' In 2022, she further expanded her technical skills by enrolling in cinematography program at L’INIS. 

Festivals

- 2024 -

Chicago International Film Festival, Chicago, USA
Cinemania, Montréal, Québec 
Cucalorus Film Festival, Wilmington, USA

- 2025 - 

Toronto Black Film Festival, Toronto, Canada
Vues d'Afrique, Montréal, Québec
Courts d'un soir, Montréal, Québec
Made Here Film Festival, Burlington, USA

Mots des réalisatrices

In 2018, the whole world was watching the United States, shocked to see children separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. At that time, there was talk of the loss of humanity and the trauma that awaited them for many years. In this whirlwind of news, Lana emerged. And what's happening in Canada? In Quebec? These events have caused a significant upheaval in Laetitia by bringing back a lived reality. Her adolescence was marked by the risk of deportation, and this ordeal culminated in her father's departure. She remembers the courtrooms, waiting for the judges' decisions, meeting with lawyers, the shame of not being like other girls her age, as well as her father's visits to the detention center and the agents who rang their doorbell in the morning with an arrest warrant. All of this had a profound impact on their lives, and she came out forever marked by it. Inspired by these experiences lived by Laetitia, Lana explores the life of a teenager with a difficult migratory journey, who must juggle major issues early on. A reality, that of immigration and family separation, experienced by many young people who, in silence, fight a daily battle against a backdrop of personal crisis. They question their belonging and are in search of an anchor point for their identity. It has now been more than a year since we started working on Lana. We are both young women from immigrant backgrounds and share a similar journey in many respects. Telling Lana's story is for us a way to highlight and contribute to integrating into our cinematography the plurality of experiences and lives of Quebec families. The film will be rich in emotion, tinged with realism, but also with moments of tenderness and lightness. We hope that by the end of it, the viewer will be filled with empathy.

Photos

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