Fitch Jean: It Comes in Waves

For filmmakers like Fitch Jean, it’s about more than simply making a movie; it’s about honoring culture and moving people forward. “I understand the duty that I have as a filmmaker to not only entertain through art but to educate, and I think that education is the first step towards liberation, not just educating others but also educating ourselves.”

Initially meant to study corporate law, he picked up a camera as a hobby to take photos. “Here and there, I would just go and take some photos, and it just developed more and more, and then I started doing photography almost full-time whenever I wasn't in school, to the point where it started affecting my grades. Eventually, I got to a point where I realized that I didn't want to go into law anymore and that I really wanted to have a life in the creative field.”

He transitioned from law to communications and media. Through his photography business, he travelled all over. It wasn’t until he became a set photographer that he discovered his love for storytelling through film. 

“I started approaching film a little more. At this point, it was totally for me. I'm just gonna like learn on my own. And then, you know, learned a whole lot, practiced a lot. I would write some like shorts, and get my friends to act in them. I would direct, edit, do everything myself just so I could learn. And I did that for a couple of years.”

His years of practice have led him to this moment. The Haitian-Canadian filmmaker's feature debut, ‘It Comes in Waves,’ is currently crashing its way into the hearts of audiences throughout the world with its film festival run. So far, the film has premiered at ABFF (American Black Film Festival), Sidewalk Festival, where it won Best Narrative Feature, and Cinefest International Festival, with more premieres on the way.

None of this success has come easily, though. “We got 50 nos until we got the yes from ABFF, and I honestly couldn't be more grateful for a world premiere than this festival. That's a journey. It sounds exhausting, but we love making movies. We love storytelling.”

It Comes in Waves is a beautifully tragic film exploring grief and intergenerational trauma experienced in the aftermath of the Rwandan Genocide through the eyes of Akai played by Adrian Walters (The Handmaid’s Tale, Star Trek: Discovery).

“I was in the process of writing another feature, and within that process, I was learning a lot about trauma, specifically when it came to black men. I wanted to dive deeper into trauma. I felt like that wasn't something that was often spoken about or shared on the screen. And as I was finishing writing that feature, I realized that that story specifically wouldn't make sense for me to do as a first feature because the scope was way too big, so I wanted to do something more personal, more small, more intimate, but still talking about trauma as a theme.”

Jean, growing up in Ottawa, grew close to members of the Rwandan community, many of whom had escaped the genocide in 1994. When thinking of another story to tell, he remembered having dinner with a family friend years prior. “He went through the [Rwandan] genocide, and at some point, he started talking about his experience with that. He completely broke down in tears. That was the first time I saw a grown man, a family man with kids, doing that and being so vulnerable. I wanted to understand why something that happened so long ago was still so deeply rooted in [his] emotions. So I started diving deeper into the genocide and specifically the trauma aspect of it, and how it affects more than one generation.”

This led him on a journey of speaking with other members in the community who had faced the same atrocity, but on his journey, he noticed many people didn’t fully acknowledge their trauma. “A lot of them recognize and acknowledge what happened and the atrocities of it, but they kind of brush off the idea that they have trauma and you have to heal from that trauma. I found that very interesting. 

His intentional use of water to represent the ebbs and flows of life is shown heavily in the film as we see Akai navigate the world around him and deal with the trauma and grief that continues to follow him. “Water is this interesting. It's essential to your survival, but can also be very terrifying. I saw the idea of emotions and trauma being this body of water and being those waves.”

Akai’s journey to healing is accompanied by several other dynamic characters that not only add to the pressure of his trauma but help him heal from it as well, while teaching him the power of trust and gradually letting go. It Comes in Waves is equal parts nerve-wrecking and beautiful. Leaving you at the edge of your seat, anticipating and frightened for what might come next. While it continues its festival run, we look forward to when this film can be made available to everyone in the near future.