Participants 2013
In this project “Haiku d’État ”, I explore the possibility of an anthropological film making approach by applying the typical principles of haiku, a very short Japanese poetic form. The abbreviated acoustic and visual senses in haiku are able to accomplish both the aesthetics and visual-anthropological values of a film. The theme of the first film of this project is to find “Belgium” by capturing soundscapes, daily scenes and polyphonic mindscapes of migrants and temporary visitors in Belgium including myself.
Serge and Nana, in there mid fifites. He paints, she writes poems. She is Armenian, he is Russian. They live in Paris, since ten years. We have met them there, a friendship was born. Slowly, two viewpoints met, one of us is close to Serge, the other finds a soulmate in Nana. From our four identities a corresponding way of looking at the world is distilled: one in which words are central, the other in which the making of silent images essential.
This project takes us to the heart of Kinshasha, to meet eight street children. One year after being actors in a fiction film, we retrace these children to see how this experience has shaken their daily lives. My film raises different questions: it takes us to the universe and daily life of these children, it questions the weakness of non-governmental and international organizations and points out the difficulties to re-insert these kids that grow up in a weak socio-economic context.
I’ve left for Rwanda to make a documentary. There I met Charles, a young man who escaped from the genocide. We became friends and I decided to make a documentary on his story.The subject would be the story of Carole and Charles. To my utmost surprise, the reactions to my filmwork where strong and conflicting. By working on this project I would like to find out what is the relation between the intimate and the universal, my story and that of the genocide in Rwanda. Am I well place to tell the story of someone else? What are the limits of the political correct? What is exotism? Are we able to surpass our prejudgements? Will we always carry the burden of history?
"A house exists in-between-zone" (provisional title)
"In-between-zone" is my own term, which describes a physical and metaphorical space that exists in between two or more political statuses or relationships. It is like a limbo.
Being inspired by a squatted former embassy building, which is used as a "free zone of culture", I want to explore the in-between-zone through an experimental narrative film.I aim to explore ambiguity of laws and politics through my personal perspective. I also try to review the basic human relationships and emotions - dilemma or conflict that are derived from experiencing the ambivalence and uncertainty.
Nollywood Hustlers is a project based in an exploration of video art bordering to visual anthropology. We will record two movies in Nollywood, Lagos, Nigeria. The first film Nolly 2032 is a futuristic ethnofiction about Nollywood in 20 years from now, when the Nigerian film industry has taken over the world's cinemas. The second film Nollywood Hustlers, is "the making of the Nollywood movie", a docufiction where we act as our alter egos, two Swedish immigrant artists who have fled the European economic crisis to make it in the Nollywood!.
Alors tout va bien
Bujumbura, Novembre 2010. Frédérique Lecomte, Belgian director, stages a play on corruption with local actors. All rehearsals are in Kirundi. Three of the actors speak french and translate. I aimed my camera at the translators and with my back to the stage. The translator becomes an actor in my film. The translator is the reflection of a scene that we only can see through his eyes , his expressions, his translated words. We as spectators can imagine one thousand and one things and movements that go on on stage, the stage as image of a country, Burundi.
My radio project is an exploration, at times doucumentary, at times more of an an impression, of the Algerian recollections of my family and of other Algerian Jews, who were forced to leave, brutally, from Algeria after centuries, when the country became independent. What is being handed over of this landless history ? What impression was left from one generation to another, in our body, our souls, our identities and our daily gestures ? Starting from soundrecordings of stories and atmospheres , this project questions the memory of the protagonists with whom different images and sounds are created, moving images and stills, and are placed in a dialogue.
LAVOMATIC
Through this audiovisual project, I explore the relationships between different persons in a very mixed neighborhood of Geneva (called les Pâquis). I wonder how this urban mix concretely interacts socially. What are the actual relations which develop in this area? In what circumstances do people start to interact, from a situation of mere coexistence to some familiarity or even assistance ? Right in the heart of les Pâquis, a place of social proximity drew my attention : the laundromat. I decided to explore the daily life of this space as a gateway to life in the neighborhood. Through the lens of a camera, I seek to look at the role of perception, imagination and emotion in human interactions.