The film was mainly shot in Montréal-Est (East Montreal) and Montréal-Nord (North Montreal), two of the poorest boroughs of Montreal, along with Laval, a suburb of Montreal.
In an interview with Le Huffington Post Québec, an online newspaper, Yves-Christian Fournier stated that some employees at Telefilm Canada and the Société de développement des entreprises culturelles (SODEC), respectively the public cinematographic funding agencies of Canada and Quebec, had told him to not make a film mostly featuring black actors in the leading roles.
The film could have been a co-production between Canada and France. When the potential production partner from France dropped out, director Yves-Christian Fournier met Salim Kéchiouche.
Salim Kéchiouche, who was born in France, is the only foreign actor in this Canadian film. The rest of the cast members are Canadian citizens.
The cast is made of professional and non-professional actors.