French film premiere: Donoma at the Cockatoo Island Film Festival

Haitian born, Paris-based filmmaker Djinn Carrenard delivers a debut in the vein of Cassavetes crossed with mumblecore: Donoma shows a group of young people from diverse backgrounds deal with issues of class, religion and identity in this refreshing debut feature.

This is filmmaker Djinn Carrenard’s first feature, after an extensive career as director, writer, cinematographer, producer and editor. Made with a huge dose of passion and on a shoestring budget, Carrenard’s film is a fresh, racially diverse voice in French cinema.

There is an improvisational approach, (which extends even to the subtitles), that channels both Cassavettes and the mumblecore movement. Characters speak in slang and the overlapping storylines are raw, while the cast of unknowns is entirely uninhibited on screen. A teacher crosses the line with one of her students- a tough kid who gives her grief in class- while an agnostic teen feels a calling from God and a photographer randomly offers herself to a stranger.

This debut is reminiscent of the impact of Kassovitz’s La Haine, which surged into the veins of the young and the disaffected on the streets of Paris and infected the world.

Fri 26 Oct  5:30 PM at Hoyts Kiosk Cinema. More information here.