Haiti and France / 2016 / 26mins / Drama / Haitian Creole

A restless girl meets a spirit who gives her pure water. Her family devours the delicious water until they begin to suspect more than the origin of its taste. This traditional folktale is retold featuring a cast of non-actors from three generations of a single family.

Shirley Bruno

Shirley Bruno’s films take their point of departure from neglected histories, rumors, dreams, collective memories both real and imagined. Drawing from her Haitian heritage, preserving and radicalizing ancestral traditions and mythologies, she creates and reimagines modern myths that expose the impermanence between documentary and fiction, collective memory and official histories, the material and spiritual worlds. A Creative Capital Awardee (2021), other funding and prizes for her work include the Jerome Foundation, Abrons Arts Center, Triangle-Astérides, NYSCA, NYFA, StudioPrix Prize. Her work has been included in exhibitions at Hammer Museum, MoMA P.S.1, Montréal arts Interculturels, Maison Européenne de la Photographie as well as presented on television, cinemas and at international festivals such as Berlinale and Locarno International Film Festival. An alumna of Le Fresnoy National Studio and the London Film School, she lives & works alternately between France, Haiti, and New York City where she is currently developing a multi-channel video installation Saltwater Heart alongside her debut feature Just Come//Been To. Learn More