DAILY TIGER
40TH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ROTTERDAM #6 TUESDAY 1 FEBRUARy 2011
Meetings got under way in earnest at the CineMart yesterday. Some 33 projects will be pitched to co-finance and co-production professionals over the next two days.
NEDERLANDSE EDITIE Z.O.Z
photo: Ruud Jonkers
CONTINENTAL DRIFT This year sees the IFFR launch an ambitious collaboration between African and Chinese filmmakers. Delfina Krüsemann and Ben Walters report.
There were no precedents to refer to when it came to planning Raiding Africa, the ambitious IFFR 2011 project for which seven young African filmmakers travelled to China, cameras in hand. “You can’t ask somebody, ‘How did you do it with your Africans in China?’,” observes its coordinator, Gertjan Zuilhof. “Nobody has done it before. We didn’t know if they’d be thrown out after two days.”
two regions are only beginning to register, but are certain to be global in their impact. “It wasn’t really a strange idea,” says Zuilhof, who also oversaw IFFR 2010’s Where is Africa? strand, for which international filmmakers travelled to Africa. “There are millions of Chinese coming to Africa – now seven [Africans] are going the other way.” For many Africans, he notes, the associations with Chinese engagement are negative. “They don’t really like the Chinese. They take the oil and minerals and in return they give infrastructure – they build roads, for instance, but maybe not the kind people need. They might make a deal with the president then make a road from his palace to the beach.”
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As the results prove, they weren’t. Tomorrow sees a whole day of free screenings and debates at De Doelen’s Van Capellen Zaal under the Raiding Africa banner. The programme of course includes the seven shorts made in China (also showing elsewhere at IFFR), which range from action fairytale to hair-salon documentary, meditative essay to culture-clash romantic comedy, plus two thematically related documentary features: When China Met Africa is an overview of the superpower’s zealous entrepreneurship in Africa, while My Father’s House explores the challenges facing a Nigerian Christian preacher in Guangzhou. The day also offers director Q&As, debates about filmmaking practice and drinks with music from Ethiopian group Bati Band.
Raiding Africa gave participating filmmakers a chance to find out more about China beyond the superficial associations – though, Zuilhof notes, they all found excuses to include the Great Wall in their films. Working in Songzhuang, on the outskirts of Beijing, with local mentors whose involvement Zuilhof describes as crucial, they developed projects organically, generally focusing on local specifics rather than macro-scale concerns. For some, the equipment was more sophisticated than their usual kit – a boon to experimentation though sometimes a problem when dealing with limited post-production facilities back home. Much of the editing is only just completed – some filmmakers are literally arriving at Rotterdam with the final cuts inside their suitcases. There was much to be learned from both sides. “I was the only black person – locals would stare at me and even try to touch my hair,” laughs Angolan director Henrique ‘Dito’ Narciso. “It was mad-
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The inevitably seismic consequences of the ongoing economic and social encounter between the
ness! Only once I came across an African and we hugged on the street. I even called him ‘brother’!” Narciso, whose hip-hop gangster movie A Guerra do Ku-Duro played at IFFR 2010, had planned to shoot Moamba Chinesa in Beijing, but soon realized that was not the place to be. His next destination was the port city of Guangzhou. “Moamba is a typical dish in Angola and it is also the word to designate people who trade goods,” he explains. “In Guangzhou, there are many Angolans doing business and I wanted to show their extraordinary capacity to adapt and learn. In a distant country with different language, culture and religion, they somehow manage to rise above the most incredible circumstances.” discussion
Dito’s mentor, Ivo Ferreira, also produced the documentary and there was plenty of discussion. “I am free-spirited and sometimes a bit stubborn,” Dito admits, “so collaborating was not always easy, but it was very enriching. I do what it takes to get the job done and I think [the result] is a very good one. Now I want to see the reactions of the audience. I love answering questions and I am so happy my film is representing Angola at Rotterdam”. Dito’s documentary The Immigrant, about Angolans in Rotterdam, also plays under the Raiding Africa banner. Congo-Brazzaville’s Amour Sauveur is also keen to present his work. “It was a unique opportunity, a huge challenge that I truly enjoyed overcoming,” he says. “But to feel completely successful, I need to see how the audience responds.” Rather than being intimidated by China’s scale, Sauveur was inspired
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to shoot a comedy. “Of course I had doubts: I had a small budget and very little time in an unknown country. But overall there was my excitement.” Humour
The result is ZUT, the story of Lou, who has to take an HIV test in order to get the job he wants. To avoid this awkward situation, he borrows a healthy baby to pass off as his own, supposedly proving his negative status. With tender humor and an enthusiastic Chinese cast, Amour managed to transfer a story that might have been more suited to his homeland to the new setting. “In the beginning, the actors did not understand,” Sauveur reports. “HIV is not a problem in China [in the same way] as it is in Africa. But in the end, they confessed to falling in love with the story.” The aid of his mentor Zhang Xian Min (a key figure on China’s independent film scene) and producer Min Lan was invaluable. “This film would not exist without Min Lan,” Sauveur says. “She was 100% engaged from day one and even offered to work for free. We all had a great time and I think that really shows on the screen.” Lessons
Funding for expensive projects like Raiding Africa can’t be taken for granted in the current economic climate, but Zuilhof is already considering ways to further develop IFFR’s engagement with Africa, and now China. He is especially interested in the lessons low-budget local filmmakers from disparate cultures might be able to teach each other. “The logic of the project is that it should go back to Africa with Chinese filmmakers and film what the Chinese are actually doing there…”