Change of date: The film screening will take place on Sunday, 21. May at 11:30 AM (not at 10:30 AM)
Witchcraft is a social reality in Sub-Sahara Africa. In Brazzaville, the courts are full of cases involving voodoo rituals, sorcerers, ghosts and other invisible evil forces. The film documents the work of a traditional court, which sees itself primarily as a court of reconciliation. To convict the guilty, the judges may consult ” the invisible” - clairvoyants who reveal the identity of the sorcerer. After that, the judges decide which ritual to perform to resolve the conflict. This phase of the spirit verdict is called ordalie by the judges. In the times of the European Inquisition, an ordalie was used to hand over the judgement of a person to the divine.
Hadrien La Vapeur, After assisting the director Philippe Garrel for ten years, he turns to the realization of experimental films and photographic work. In 2009, as he pursued a quest for uncultivated buildings in Rio de Janeiro, he landed by mistake in a possession ritual. This encounter with the spirits upsets his vision of the world and urges La Vapeur to investigate the relationships that humans can maintain with the invisible entities.
Corto Vaclav, studied anthropology at Université Paris Nanterre. He discovered the work of Jean Rouch and worked for the Ethnographic Film Committee. There he met Hadrien La Vapeur, who was seeking a soundman to go to the Congo. Very quickly, their journey was transformed into an initiatory and protean exploration. Since then the two are collaborating on their films. Films: L’ÉTRANGE HISTOIRE DE PRINCE DETHMER (2018, 23 min), KONGO (2019).
Directors: Hadrien La Vapeur, Corto Vaclav
Cinematography: H. La Vapeur, C. Vaclav, Y. Schreck
Production: Brother Films, Expédition Invisible