Simply Johanne (2024)

Johanne (working title) is a feature-length biography of Quebecois Black model/actor Johanne Harrelle (1930-1994). The film tells the unusual and surprising story of a little girl once abandoned at the gates of an orphanage, who grew up to be one of the first black model in North America, a muse to filmmaker Claude Jutra, an actress and the partner of renowned French sociologist Edgar Morin. Although she has isn't a household name, Johanne Harrelle is a landmark figure because of the many doors she was the first to open in the 1950s and 60s. The documentary depicts the complex journey of this multi-faceted woman who constantly resisted society's attempts to categorize her.