“No Chains, No Masters”: Screening and Talk with Filmmaker

On February 9, as part of Simon Moutaïrou’s residency with Villa Albertine in Louisiana, Tulane University and the Kathryn B. Gore Endowed Chair in French Dr. Chelsea Stieber will host a special screening of No Chains, No Masters, followed by a conversation with the filmmaker and Dr. Camille Dantzler, Assistant Professor of Decolonial Studies in the Department of African American and Diaspora Studies at Xavier University of Louisiana.

This event offers a powerful exploration of the history of the slave trade in France’s former colonies, viewed through Moutaïrou’s artistic and deeply engaged lens. It is a unique opportunity to reflect on the memory, heritage, and contemporary resonances of this painful past, while engaging directly with two leading voices in research and creative practice.

About the Film:

1759. Isle de France (present-day Mauritius). Massamba and Mati, enslaved on Eugène Larcenet’s plantation, live in fear and relentless labor. He dreams of seeing his daughter freed; she longs to escape the green hell of the sugarcane fields. One night, she runs away. Madame La Victoire, a renowned slave hunter, is hired to track her down. Massamba has no choice but to flee as well. In doing so, he becomes a maroon: a fugitive who breaks forever with the colonial order.