Xavier (Atibon Nazaire) is a fiercely hard-working, Haitian-born construction worker tasked with destroying his own neighborhood in a rapidly gentrifying Miami. While yearning to secure a new home for his wife, seamstress Esperance (Sheila Anozier), he finds himself clashing with his son, a college dropout. American-born and largely assimilated, Junior (Chris Renois) is a late-night comedian whose set focuses on the deepening intergenerational chasm that exists within the family. 

Delving into complex issues of gentrification, assimilation, and familial conflict, Mountains is both pointed in its specific portrayal of a singular world and its particular sociopolitical landscape, yet so delicately depicted as to feel universal. Each of these characters are so richly drawn and embodied, as is the Haitian-American community in which they live: a testament to these actors and Sorelle’s contemplative but vivid filmmaking approach. - Stephanie Tell, NOFF Programmer

Kendall Medford, Ph.D. candidate in Linguistics at Tulane, will lead the after-screening Q&A with the director and writer Monica Sorelle, and producer and co-writer Robert Colom. 

Kendall Medford is a linguist and PhD Candidate at Tulane University, where she also teaches Haitian Creole courses. Her doctoral research focuses on Haitian migration in the Caribbean, examining the role that the Creole language plays in the lives of Haitian migrants and their descendants in these diasporic communities.

This film is part of the 34th New Orleans Film Festival. 

The festival will take place in person from November 2-7, 2023, and the majority of the lineup will be virtually accessible from November 2-12, 2023 via the NOFF Virtual Cinema. The New Orleans Film Festival annually brings together more than 150 films and hosts more than 100 filmmakers to celebrate works of emerging and established filmmakers from New Orleans, Louisiana, the South, and beyond. 

To access the complete film guide, click the link: https://neworleansfilmsociety.org/film-guide/