In the middle of a photo session in the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Belgium, a photographer is disturbed by the images captured, macabre memories, a mausoleum of his cultural heritage. Possessed by the objects in the museum, he is overwhelmed by a sense of alienation from these artefacts. This powerful and mysterious film navigates between fiction and reality, colonialism and museology, raising questions about appropriation and cultural identity. A unique and dreamlike work that takes viewers on a voyage from tradition, to modernity, to futurism. (lefifa.com)
This film will be screened simultaneously at Unseen as part of our #Junction_Nairobi, followed by a shared discussion.
Matthias De Groof, born 1981 in Belgium, is a filmmaker and scholar. Currently a faculty member of the University of Amsterdam. His award-winning films LOBI KUNA and PALIMPSEST OF THE AFRICA MUSEUM (2019) have been selected at IFFR, Le FIFA and the Berlinale, among others. He edited a book on “Lumumba in the Arts” (2020) which reached the top-100 “books to escape the news”. He has held fellow appointments at the New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and the Waseda University in Tokyo.
Director: Matthias De Groof
Script: Mehkar Azari Kiyoso, Matthias De Groof
Key Cast: Mekhar Azari Kiyoso
