Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
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Nashaira Desbarida | ... | Ava Recordina |
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Cliff San-A-Jong | ... | Gabriël Goedbloed |
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Theu Boermans | ... | Father Fidelius |
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Carol Brown Winkel | ... | Carlos Zarius |
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Dolf de Vries | ... | Bishop Hildebrand |
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Geert de Jong | ... | Louise van Hansschot |
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Edmond Classen | ... | Gov. Van Hansschot |
Frederik de Groot | ... | Pieter van Knippenveld | |
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Janine Veeren | ... | Elise van Knippenveld |
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Serge Ubrette | ... | Maurice |
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Rina Penso | ... | Shon Arlina Recordina |
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Norman de Palm | ... | Shon Francois |
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Burny Every | ... | Shon Carolina |
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Ana Muskus | ... | Farida |
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Helen Kamperveen | ... | Delia |
Set in Curacao in the 1940s, Ava & Gabriel: A Love Story tells of the painter Gabriel Goedbloed, who arrives from Holland to paint a mural of the Virgin Mary in a local church. Gabriel is black, originally from Surinam. The colonial Antillian society proves less than tolerant towards him, especially after he chooses as his model a young Black teacher, Ava. Written by Anonymous
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".