MEET THE FILMMAKER: Saturday March 28, 6.30pm. Join director Jean-Claude Flamand-Barny for a live Zoom Q&A at the conclusion of the film.

MELBOURNE PREMIERE

Jean-Claude Flamand-Barny directs a searing biopic of French psychiatrist and philosopher Frantz Fanon. Spotlighting a series of events in the 1950s when his methods profoundly clashed with those around him, FANON shines a spotlight on the efforts of this renowned and influential thinker, working at the epicentre of colonisation.

Frantz Fanon has just been appointed Chief Medical Officer at the psychiatric hospital in Blida, Algeria. Very soon, his innovative methods and humanistic approach to treating Algerian patients draw the ire of his colleagues and the hospital director. However, Frantz Fanon is not a man who allows himself to be intimidated. His determination and ideas attract the interest of the FLN and its leader, Abane Ramdane, who invites him to join the cause.

As tensions between the French army and the FLN escalate, Fanon is increasingly seen as a traitor. Alongside his wife, Josie, he is swept into a vortex of violence that ultimately leads them to take up the struggle for Algeria’s independence.

French and Arabic language, English subtitles.