fiction
85 min
French
35 mm

featuring
Lansana Kourouma
Uly Darly
Koumba Ball
Néhémie Dumay
Maita Lavoie
Daphnée Desravines
Mireille Métellus
Daniela Akerblom
Dan Bigras
Luck Mervil
Maka Kotto
Dany Laferrière

writer
Dany Laferrière
director
John L'Écuyer
producers
Anne-Marie Gélinas
Andrew Noble
executive producer
Christian Larouche
associate producers
Isabelle Grégoire
Salvatore V Barrera
Sara Morley
cinematographer
Jean-Pierre St-Louis
operator
Jocelyn Simard
set designer
Pierre Allard
costumes
Denis Sperdouklis
assistant director
Normand Labelle
unit manager
Donald Tétrault
production sound
François Grenon
sound design
Sylvain Bellemare
editor
Aube Foglia
music
Ned Bouhalassa
with the special collaboration of Luck Mervil
distribution
Christal Films Distribution

released
2005

broadcasters
Super Écran
Radio-Canada

produced with the participation of

Telefilm Canada

Canadian Television Fund
created by the government of Canada
and the Canadian cable industry

Telefilm Canada: Equity Investment Program

SODEC
Société de développement des entreprises culturelles - Québec



Astral Media
The Harold Greenberg Fund
Le Fonds Harold Greenberg



and the collaboration of
Radio-Canada Télévision
and
Super Écran

Haiti, 1971. Against the backdrop of poverty, fear and a brutal dictatorship, Le goût des jeunes filles is about Fanfan through whose eyes the story is told. Having lived a somewhat sheltered life with his protective mother, Fanfan is a 15-year-old boy who just wants to experience life for himself with his streetwise friend Gégé. Following a bizarrely terrifying incident involving a Tonton-Macoute, Fanfan decides to hide out at his beautiful neighbour's house for the weekend, where he is trapped between his fear of being caught and the fulfilling of his deepest fantasy.

Author and screenwriter Dany Laferrière is a world-renowned author who has published ten novels. Le goût des jeunes filles, inspired by his own coming of age in Haiti, is his second novel to be adapted for the screen, after How to Make Love to a Negro Without Getting Tired. Dany fled from Haiti during its dictatorial regime and has called Quebec his home for the past 25 years.

John L'Écuyer, independent filmmaker and television director, approaches each project with a unique sensibility and deep regard for the writer's vision. He has directed two feature films: Curtis's Charm, based on Jim Carroll's novella, and Saint Jude, from an original script by Heather O'Neill. His innovative vision and technique help bring to life the sensual world of Dany Laferrière’s novel.