Our Father, the Devil, written and directed by Ellie Foumbi ’17, will hit theaters in the US on August 25, 2023 at the Quad in New York City.
In Foumbi’s stunning feature debut, Babetida Sadjo stars as Marie, the head chef at a retirement home in small-town France. Her easy day-to-day life spent caring for residents, hanging out with her co-worker and best friend Nadia (Jennifer Tchiakpe), and teasing a potential new romance is disrupted by the arrival of Father Patrick (Souléymane Sy Savané), an African priest whom she recognizes from a terrifying episode in her homeland. As he further endears himself to the residents and staff, Marie is forced to decide how best to deal with this reminder of her troubled past.
Our Father, the Devil was a 2023 Film Independent Spirit Award nominee (Best Feature), won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival, and was honored with New York Women in Film & Television Award for Excellence in Narrative Directing.
Foumbi will appear for a Q&A at the Quad on Friday, August 25 and Saturday, August 26, 2023. Following its US theatrical release in New York, Our Father, the Devil will open in Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, and more cities across the US. Find ticket information and additional screening information here, and watch the trailer for the movie here.
Ellie Foumbi is an award-winning Cameroonian-American filmmaker whose debut film, Our Father, the Devil, went on to win 25 prizes at international film festivals. She's a BAFTA Breakthrough USA Fellow and was named one of 25 New Faces of Independent Film by Filmmaker Magazine. Ellie’s stories often explore pressing social-political issues within the African diaspora through a genre lens, aiming to shine a light on marginalized populations. She holds an MFA from Columbia University’s School of the Arts in Directing.