How to Conquer America in One Night

How to Conquer America in One Night
FrenchComment conquérir l'Amérique en une nuit
Directed byDany Laferrière
Written byDany Laferrière
Produced byDaniel Morin
StarringMaka Kotto
Michel Mpambara
CinematographyRobert Vanherweghem
Edited byHélène Girard
Music bySerge Nicol
Production
company
Films Équinoxe
Release date
  • August 27, 2004 (2004-08-27) (MWFF)
Running time
96 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageFrench

How to Conquer America in One Night (French: Comment conquérir l'Amérique en une nuit) is a Canadian comedy film, directed by Dany Laferrière and released in 2004.[1] The film centres on the relationship between Fanfan (Maka Kotto), a Haitian Canadian man who has resided in Montreal for 20 years but still does not feel entirely at home in Canada, and his nephew Gégé (Michel Mpambara), who has recently come to Montreal to visit his uncle before moving to the United States to pursue his vision of the American Dream, which mainly involves eating hamburgers and seducing large-breasted blonde women.[2]

The cast also includes Sonia Vachon, Sophie Faucher, Maxime Morin, Widemir Normil, Michel Barrette, Pascale Montpetit, Pierre Curzi, Claude Charron and Fabienne Colas.

Fanfan is a character who frequently recurs in Laferrière's work,[3] including the concurrent film On the Verge of a Fever (Le Goût des jeunes filles), which was directed by John L'Ecuyer from Laferrière's screenplay and also premiered in fall 2004.[4]

The film, Laferrière's first time directing one of his own screenplays,[5] premiered at the Montreal World Film Festival on August 27, 2004, before opening commercially on September 10.[2]

Hélène Girard received a Jutra Award nomination for Best Editing at the 7th Jutra Awards in 2005.

References

  1. ^ Charles-Henri Ramond, "Comment conquérir l’Amérique en une nuit – Film de Dany Laferrière". Films du Québec, December 28, 2008.
  2. ^ a b Brendan Kelly, "Montreal seen from Haiti". Montreal Gazette, September 10, 2004.
  3. ^ "Dany Laferrière: a life in books". The Guardian, February 1, 2013.
  4. ^ "Growing up fast". Montreal Gazette, January 21, 2005.
  5. ^ Brendan Kelly, "Laughing through the snow". Montreal Gazette, September 8, 2004.