Ava & Gabriel: A Love Story is a Dutch-French production in Curacao looking at racial identity via a love story between a Dutch painter, Gariel and a local young woman: Ava. Gabriel proposes to paint a mural of the Virgin Mary in a church.
Ava poses for painter as the Virgin, that choice becomes a controversial one, splitting the town's society: rich, poor, etc. Ava, on the other hand is mixed, African European, etc. The portrait of Virgin as a light-skinned Black woman (mulata), many in the poor sector worship, Ava.
The love story becomes a triangle, between Ava, Gabriel and local White man, belonging to a prominent family. Ava is torn as the object of affection, and the local worship as the face of the recently painted Virgin in the church.
This film aside from the dramatic portrayal of torn lovers, is deeply about the "creolization" of the Caribbean due to European colonization and African slavery in the "New World".
Ava poses for painter as the Virgin, that choice becomes a controversial one, splitting the town's society: rich, poor, etc. Ava, on the other hand is mixed, African European, etc. The portrait of Virgin as a light-skinned Black woman (mulata), many in the poor sector worship, Ava.
The love story becomes a triangle, between Ava, Gabriel and local White man, belonging to a prominent family. Ava is torn as the object of affection, and the local worship as the face of the recently painted Virgin in the church.
This film aside from the dramatic portrayal of torn lovers, is deeply about the "creolization" of the Caribbean due to European colonization and African slavery in the "New World".
