A woman poses. A man with a camera zeros in on her and takes a picture. But very soon, the shoot degenerates. Each click of the camera sounds like a machine gun. No-one speaks; the editing is disrupted, and with it, the images, the spaces and the timing. The woman escapes. In an abandoned building, a man, as mute as she is, shrinks from her gaze. It is he that the film now follows: he explores a museum exhibiting the history of Africa, its suffering and its external interferences.
Matata draws up an inventory of Africa and the legacy of its representations. Speech is confiscated, and the man and woman wander without ever being able to vocalise the violence that they were witness to or victim of. Right from the outset, photography, and with it, cinema, are as much a predatory technique as an instrument of beauty: ethnographic documents filmed by the coloniser, or historical images of those who played a part in decolonisation, now dead and neutralised in museums…
Faced with this history of exploitation, bodies resist. When speech is absent, music takes the floor, and choreography invades the living spaces – a group of young men improvises a dance in a jeep that’s stopped at the traffic lights, an exploration of ruins becomes an intricate ballet between people looking for each other, and even an ancient ceremonial dance is reconnected with concealed history. Or how, with a reifying gaze, the possibility of becoming the subject is apparent once again. (N.L.)
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Other gems
Technical sheet
Democratic Republic of the Congo, United-States / 2019 / Color and B&W, Stereo / 37’
Original version : No dialogue.
Screenplay : Petna Ndaliko Katondolo, Chérie Rivers Ndaliko.
Cinematography and Editing : Petna Ndaliko Kotondolo.
Music : Lee Lee Weisert, Jaja Bashengezi.
Sound : Lee Weisert.
Cast : Kadima Mukadi, Mustache Muhanya, Dorine Mokha, Bienco Hangi.
Production : Alkebu Film Productions (Chérie Rivers Ndaliko), London South Bank University (Dr. Katie Donington).
Distribution : Arsenal (Angelika Ramlow).
INTERVIEW WITH THE DIRECTOR
- Autres films / Other gems
France / 2019 / Color and B&W / Stereo / 57’
Original version : French. Cinematography: Diane Veyrat, Laurent Fénart. Editing : Janine Waeber. Music: Sara Oswald, Virgil Van Ginneken. Sound : Diane Veyrat. Production : Zadig Productions (Dominique Gibrail), Caravel Production (Caroline Velan). Distribution : Caravel Production (Caroline Velan). INTERVIEW WITH THE DIRECTOR
Switzerland / 2019 / Color / HD, Dolby Digital / 60’
Original version : French. Subtitles : English. Script : Sergio da Costa, Maya Kosa. Photography : Sergio da Costa. Editing : Sergio da Costa, Maya Kosa, Gabriel Gonzalez. Sound : Xavier Lavorel. Casting : Antonin Ivanidze, Paul Sauteur, Emilie Bréthaut. Production : Close Up Films (Joëlle Bertossa & Flavia Zanon). Distribution : Close Up Films (Flavia Zanon). INTERVIEW WITH THE DIRECTORS
France / 2020 / Color / HD, Stereo / 19’
Original version: French. Subtitles: English. Cinematography, Editing, Sound: Florence Pazzottu. Sound mix: Florent Fournier-Sicre. Production and distribution: Alt(r)a Voce. INTERVIEW WITH THE DIRECTOR
Canada / 2019 / Color / 4K / 35’
Original version : English. Subtitles : French. Photography : Iris Ng, Claire Harvey. Editing : Annie MacDonell, Maïder Fortuné. Sound: Julia Wittman, Polina Teif. Casting : Fiona Reid, Madelyne Beckles, Deragh Campbell. Production : Annie MacDonell, Maïder Fortuné. Distribution : Annie MacDonell, Maïder Fortuné. INTERVIEW WITH THE DIRECTOR
Argentina / 2020 / Color / HD, Stereo / 68’
Original version: Spanish. Subtitles : English. Cinematography, Sound and Editing: Jonathan Perel. Production and distribution : Jonathan Perel. INTERVIEW WITH THE DIRECTOR
United-States / 1981 / Color / 16 mm Blow up to 35 mm / 90’
Original version : English. Photography : Lech Kowalsi, Rufus Standefer, Ron Zimmermann, Joe Sutherland, Jared Fitzgerald, Raifi Ferrucci, Peter Chapman. Editing : Val Kuklowsky, Lech Kowalski. Sound : Ron Yoshida, Doug Jackson, David King, Marshall Grupp, Athan Gigiakos. Music : Sex Pistols, X-Ray Spex, Generation X, Iggy Pop, The Dead Boys, clash, Augustus Pablo, Terry and the Idiots, Sham 69, The Rich Kids. Production : Extinkt Films. Distribution : Revolt Cinema (Odile Allard).
France / 2019 / Color / HDV, Stereo / 13’
Original version: French. Subtitles: English. Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing: Joachim Gatti, Gaël Marsaud. Sound: Jean-Baptiste Leroux, Alexandre Frigoult. Cast: Stéphanie Béghain. Production and distribution: Dekadrage (Stephanos Mangriotis).
INTERVIEW WITH THE DIRECTORS