A doctor spent 20 years chasing moon children through slavery's genetic ghosts — and the truth is wilder than fiction.
The film recounts the incredible research conducted by François Cartault, a pediatrician and geneticist on the island of Réunion. Conducted like a police investigation over more than 20 years, his research, both medical and historical, takes us on a journey through the disease of moon children, deprived of sunlight, and on the trail of slavery in Africa. The film shows how genetics is also an astonishing trace of history.
Direction
Gentet treats genetic research like a true crime thriller.
Production
Réunion and Mayotte become characters, not just backdrops.
Director
Thierry Gentet
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The 'moon children' suffer from xeroderma pigmentosum, a rare genetic condition causing extreme UV sensitivity. Réunion's isolated gene pool made patterns visible that would vanish in larger populations.
Cartault's methodology mirrors how African diaspora communities have long used oral history and family memory to reconstruct lineages destroyed by enslavement — he simply added DNA to the toolbox.
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