West Indies: The Fugitive Slaves of Liberty

West Indies
Directed byMed Hondo
Screenplay byDaniel Boukman
Med Hondo
Based onLes Negriers by Daniel Boukman
Starring
CinematographyFrançois Catonné
Edited byYoucef Tobni
Music byGeorges Rabol
Franck Valmont
Release dates
  • 1979 (1979) (Mauritania)
  • 18 March 1985 (1985-03-18) (U.S.)
Running time
110 minutes
CountriesFrance
Algeria
Mauritania
LanguageFrench
BudgetUS$1.35 million

West Indies: The Fugitive Slaves of Liberty (French: West Indies ou les Nègres marrons de la liberté) is a 1979 Algerian-Mauritanian French-language musical drama film directed by Med Hondo. The plot of the film was adapted from a play titled Les Negriers (The Slavers), written by Daniel Boukman. The film is highly regarded as a landmark film in the history of African cinema as it was made with a lavish budget of US$1.35 million, making it one of the biggest budgeted African films ever to be made. Against the backdrop of the colonial West Indies, which was under French imperialism, the drama was set on a slave ship. The film had its theatrical release in 1979.