Matthieu Verdeil

At the crossroads of Black literary consciousness and political struggle, the ideas of Claude McKay, Jamaican poet and novelist, laid the foundations for major literary movements, including Négritude. Proudly wandering, both bohemian and politically committed, a chameleon with a magnetic personality, he traveled across the globe: New York’s literary scene, Parisian aristocracy, Communist intelligentsia in Russia, and Black diasporas in the port of Marseille. Using archival materials and texts read in voice-over by Gaël Faye and Manon Azem, the film traces McKay’s journey as he crosses paths with major figures of his time, from George Bernard Shaw to W.E.B. Du Bois, Trotski, and many others.

A thrilling journey in the 1920s, from Marseille to Harlem, via Jamaica, Russia, and Morocco, in the footsteps of the Jamaican American writer Claude McKay. Rebellious figure of the Harlem Renaissance, precursor of literature and of the black cause, the unclassifiable author wandered for more than 10 years in Europe, frequenting the artistic and political avant-gardes.