[2] The story, a traditional stranger-comes-to-town plot line examining how the earthquake upended Haiti's strongly divided class system, is loosely inspired by the 1968 mystery Teorema by Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini.

The first ideas for the film came when Peck drove daily through that wealthy area while shooting the documentary Assistance Mortelle seeing that the rich were equally affected by the earthquake.

[11][12] Director Raoul Peck, producer Remi Grellety and the leading actors attended the second screening at the Zoo Palast[13] on 10 February after a photocall and press conference at the Grand Hyatt hotel.

In order to earn some money for the repair they move to the previous servants' quarters and rent out the only still-intact room to Alex a foreign aid worker of unspecified nationality.

The tenant, who came with good intentions to Haiti, meets soon a beautiful and naive 17-year-old Haitian girl, Andrémise, from a modest background who lives in the neighbourhood.

[4] In early March the casting started and young Haitian women and men between 18–27 years were invited to apply to participate in trials in order to obtain one of the main roles in the film.

Lovely Kermonde Fifi, a young debutant actress and poet,[32] was the successful contender to play beside French actors Alex Descas and Thibault Vinçon and the German-Nigerian Joy Olasunmibo Ogunmakin, a singer-songwriter who performs under the name Ayọ,[33] also appearing for the first time in a lead role.

[4] Haitian novelist and poet Lyonel Trouillot[36] and French screenwriter Pascal Bonitzer offered to collaborate with Peck to work on the script.