L'Homme-vertige

In the Chancy neighbourhood of Pointe-à-Pitre, the economic capital of the Guadeloupe archipelago, bulldozers from demolition firm Avenir Déconstruction are pulling down residential blocks consigned to history. On nightly patrols L'homme-vertige : Tales of a City follows the city’s wanderers through the empty streets. These are dizzying circumstances. They all carry the wounds of this city within them and are now seers. Circulating throughout the internal and external spaces, both endangered, are the director’s empathetic conversations and relationships – with the lung-diseased former freedom fighter Ti Chal, with the crack addict Priscilla, with the wild, angry and then calmer Eddi, with the fish scaler Kampèch. Even elegant Erik resists the inevitable dilapidation with his view of the city, his recitation of texts by Joël Beuze and Amílcar Cabral. Malaury Eloi Paisley: “And I ask myself why I feel the need to wander the streets of Pointe-à-Pitre.” (Berlinale)