International Competition Award: FUCK THE POLIS by Rita Azevedo Gomes

Georges de Beauregard International Award: FRÍO METAL by Clemente Castor

Special mention of the International Competition Jury: COBRE by Nicolás Pereda

French Competition Award: BONNE JOURNÉE by Pauline Bastard

Georges de Beauregard National Award: HORS-CHAMP, LES OMBRES by Anna Dubosc, Gustavo de Mattos Jahn

Cnap (National Centre for Visual Arts) Award: DES MILLÉNAIRES D’ABSENCE by Philippe Rouy

Special mention of the Cnap (National Centre for Visual Arts) Jury: L’AMOUR SUR LE CHEMIN DES RONCETTES by Sophie Roger

First Film Award: FANTAISIE by Isabel Pagliai

Special mention of the First Film Competition Jury: LOS CRUCES by Julián Galay

Special mention of the First Film Competition Jury: SI NOUS HABITONS UN ÉCLAIR by Louise Chevillotte

Claudia Cardinale Foundation Award: FERNLICHT by Johanna Schorn Kalinsky

Cine+ Distribution support Award in partnership with GNCR: MORTE E VIDA MADALENA by Guto Parente

Flash Competition Award: گل‌های شب ِدریا by Maryam Tafakory

Special mention of the Flash Competition Jury: A PRELUDE by Wendelien van Oldenborgh

Special mention of the Flash Competition Jury: CONTROL ANATOMY by Mahmoud Alhaj

Special mention of the Flash Competition Jury: LENGUA MUERTA by José Jiménez

Alice Guy Award: ABORTION PARTY by Julia Mellen

Renaud Victor Award: BULAKNA by Leonor Noivo

Special mention of the Renaud Victor Jury: SI NOUS HABITONS UN ÉCLAIR by Louise Chevillotte

High School Award: NEXT LIFE by Tenzin Phuntsog

Special mention of the High School Jury: MIRACULOUS ACCIDENT by Assaf Gruber

The Second Chance School Award: NEXT LIFE by Tenzin Phuntsog

Special mention of the Second Chance School Jury: JACOB’S HOUSE by Lucas Kane

Audience Award: LA JUVENTUD ES UNA ISLA by Louise Ernandez

International Competition Award: FUCK THE POLIS by Rita Azevedo Gomes

Georges de Beauregard International Award: FRÍO METAL by Clemente Castor

Special mention of the International Competition Jury: COBRE by Nicolás Pereda

French Competition Award: BONNE JOURNÉE by Pauline Bastard

Georges de Beauregard National Award: HORS-CHAMP, LES OMBRES by Anna Dubosc, Gustavo de Mattos Jahn

Cnap (National Centre for Visual Arts) Award: DES MILLÉNAIRES D’ABSENCE by Philippe Rouy

Special mention of the Cnap (National Centre for Visual Arts) Jury: L’AMOUR SUR LE CHEMIN DES RONCETTES by Sophie Roger

First Film Award: FANTAISIE by Isabel Pagliai

Special mention of the First Film Competition Jury: LOS CRUCES by Julián Galay

Special mention of the First Film Competition Jury: SI NOUS HABITONS UN ÉCLAIR by Louise Chevillotte

Claudia Cardinale Foundation Award: FERNLICHT by Johanna Schorn Kalinsky

Cine+ Distribution support Award in partnership with GNCR: MORTE E VIDA MADALENA by Guto Parente

Flash Competition Award: گل‌های شب ِدریا by Maryam Tafakory

Special mention of the Flash Competition Jury: A PRELUDE by Wendelien van Oldenborgh

Special mention of the Flash Competition Jury: CONTROL ANATOMY by Mahmoud Alhaj

Special mention of the Flash Competition Jury: LENGUA MUERTA by José Jiménez

Alice Guy Award: ABORTION PARTY by Julia Mellen

Renaud Victor Award: BULAKNA by Leonor Noivo

Special mention of the Renaud Victor Jury: SI NOUS HABITONS UN ÉCLAIR by Louise Chevillotte

High School Award: NEXT LIFE by Tenzin Phuntsog

Special mention of the High School Jury: MIRACULOUS ACCIDENT by Assaf Gruber

The Second Chance School Award: NEXT LIFE by Tenzin Phuntsog

Special mention of the Second Chance School Jury: JACOB’S HOUSE by Lucas Kane

Audience Award: LA JUVENTUD ES UNA ISLA by Louise Ernandez

Nsala, Nsala

Mickael-Sltan Mbanza

Democratic Republic of Congo, 2025, Black and white, 10’

World Premiere

Nsala opens on a crescendo of spades digging the earth. The clearly defined image of muscled shoulders shot in black and white close-up rapidly melts into another image whose material degradation indicates that it’s from an archive: a zoom out gradually reveals the face of a black woman, who stares at the camera before modestly lowering her eyes. To explore the history of mining in the Katanga region, Mickael-sltan Mbanza creates a silent dialogue between eras, from the past of the present image to the present of the past image. He takes documents from the period when the Democratic Republic of Congo was still a Belgian colony and reactivates them, using a duo of actors to re-enact the movements of a couple subjected to work in the mine. He counters the disdain of recording and the dehumanising viewpoint of the colonial regime with the respect and delicacy of his gaze, focusing attention on visual and aural details. Stripping the film of the weight of words and freeing it of any discourse, Mickael-sltan Mbanza leaves the task of revealing the persistence of exploitation—of land and of people—to parallel editing. However, although he gives these characters the roles that were imposed on them by the colonial system, he does so in a gesture of reappropriation using film, which also short-circuits the system of representation. Objectified and reduced to their physical strength in the past, men and women can once again become subjects and regain their dignity. Nsala shows us that taking back control of one’s image also means taking back one’s rights over history.

Louise Martin Papasian

Interview

Mickael-Sltan Mbanza

Nsala was created as part of the Manhindule residency in the Yole!Africa centre. The film combines archive footage and sequences of a couple working in a mine filmed today. What where the context and genesis for this project?

Nsala was born as part of the Manhindule residency organized by the Yole!Africa center in Goma. The theme of this residency was “trans-form”, and its goal was to question colonial history in Congo, with the aesthetic and texture of archive. I chose to work around historic documents from the Katanga region mines, and contemporary observations. The presence of artisan or industrial mines is so massive in our daily lives that they end up becoming invisible. So the film is an attempt at making this continuity visible, at showing that unresolved historical layers run through what we call “the present”.

The footage filmed today performs the colonial past in the form of a “reenactment” while introducing the idea of a historic continuity. Could you comment on this dimension of the film?

The sequences filmed today are in fact thought as a form of reenactment, of course, but in a subtle way: it is not necessarily about reproducing accurately, but rather about reactivating a memory through the body, the gesture, but also the location—resonating with images of the past. This friction between the two temporalities allows, I hope, to make sensible the idea that colonial violence never truly stopped, that it just changed forms. The past survives in the rhythms of work, in the postures and exhaustion of the bodies.

Beyond the back and forth between past and present, you offer a modification of the rhythms of the bodies through slight accelerations. Why did you make this choice?

The slight accelerations, almost invisible, are a way to disrupt the linearity of cinematic time. By subtly modifying the speed of the bodies, I try to create a strangeness, a slight discord between what we feel and what we see. It is also a way to emphasize that working in the mine produces a distortion of lived time: days look alike, gestures get repeated, the body dissociates. This discrepancy increases the spectral aspect of the film.

The archive is sourced from the Royal Museum for Central Africa. What is this background and how was the choice of this specific footage made?

The archive used is sourced from the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren, in Belgium, made available for the residency. The choice was made through visual affinity and thematic resonance with “trans-form”: I selected the images where bodies are observed, classified, put to work. Images which despite seeming neutral, give off a will for control. I wanted to divert this archive, not to illustrate it, but to expose its mechanisms and consequences.

Why choose to make a silent film, without words or comments?

The choice to not include any words or comments was became obvious really early on. To me, it was about creating a space where the audience could project their own feelings. Word would risk locking the meaning, reducing the footage to a speech.

The film’s score is precise and minimalist, the silence gives turn to isolated sounds present in the forefront. In which direction did you draw it up?

The score was conceived as a very thin, almost fragile sound fabric. I worked from concrete sounds captured on today’s locations: sounds of rocks, of pickaxes, of breathing, of friction. These sounds are mixed in order to be at times barely audible, and suddenly very present. It is about making the effort, the tension, but also the hanging moments—heard. The absence of music increases this attention to sound details. I wanted every sound to become an event in and of itself.

Interview by Louise Martin Papasian

Technical sheet

  • Subtitles:
    -
  • Script:
    Mickael-Sltan Mbanza
  • Photography:
    Mickael-Sltan Mbanza, Danny Amisi
  • Editing:
    Danny Amisi
  • Sound:
    Frédérick Frunelle
  • Production:
    Ndaliko Petna (Alkebu Films et Production)
  • Contact:
    Maia Ihemeje