De Imagerie / Films / Faire-part / EN
FAIRE-PART
Together with directors Paul Shemisi and Nizar Saleh, Anne Reijniers and Rob Jacobs are currently working on a new film called FAIRE-PART.
SYNOPSIS
'Faire-part' is a medium-length documentary about young performance artists in Kinshasa. Through their artistic work, they bring social injustices to light and raise questions on the legacies of colonialism. The story takes place on the eve of postponed Congolese elections. Through dynamic images of the performances in Kinshasa's public spaces and conversations on location, we discover the intentions of the artists.
In 'Faire-part', Belgian cineasts Anne Reijniers and Rob Jacobs direct side by side with Congolese filmmakers Paul Shemisi and Nizar Saleh. Together, they create a film about politically engaged artists, but the filmmakers also point the camera at each other. Their relationship becomes part of the film, and serves as a guideline that connects the different parts of the story.
TRAJECTORY
Since 2014 filmmaker Anne Reijniers and researcher Rob Jacobs have been working together closely. Under the heading 'Échangeur' they initiated various subprojects in which questions about colonial legacies, image-making and the relationship between initiator, participant and audience are central. This project is a meeting point of ideas, different types of knowledge and skills in which encounters between makers with different backgrounds and horizons lead to new narratives.
Their previous film 'Échangeur' has been screened at arts festivals such as Transmediale in Berlin (DE), Kinact in Kinshasa (DRC), and Bâtard festival in Brussels (BE); film festivals such as the Documentary Film Festival of Saint-Louis (SEN), and Kasselerdokfest in Kassel (DE) and in museums such as Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow (RU) and S.M.A.K. in Ghent (BE).
INTENTION FILMMAKERS
Anne Reijniers - I find it crucial to think about which stories we need today. As filmmakers we contribute to the stream of images and representations that give shape to the way we read and understand our surroundings. Although it is important to point out wrongdoings and injustices, I wonder if we can go beyond merely identifying problems. Is it possible, through cinema, to reveal problematic structures, but also to imagine a world that can exist outside these structures, with images that carry the possibility of change and activate the viewer?
Nizar Saleh - ‘Faire-part’ displays the ways in which performance artists address the humanitarian crisis that corrodes our country, the DR Congo. In a period of electoral crisis and social upheaval, the artists raise questions about the shifts from pre-colonial to colonial and then to postcolonial times. They bring social injustices to light and challenge political demagoguery.
The fact that the film is a product of Belgian and Congolese artists, which is made explicit in the film, provides a postcolonial prism for the reading of these performances. The explicit presence of the filmmaking process gives an insight into the difficult place of the 7th Art in a society in upheaval.
Rob Jacobs - I work as a researcher on representations of colonialism in Brussels and Kinshasa. I’m interested in the various ways artistic and activist groups use the city to question official discourses, and draw attention to the legacies of colonialism that form the present. I work on an action-oriented research agenda, always in collaboration with people with different expertises and backgrounds. Via artistic collaborations we try to open up the debate and come to new insights.
I believe in 'Faire-part', because I think there is a need for new stories that unsettle stereotypes. I think there is a need for a language to communicate about research, that is more accessible than the academic article. I think that, considering the issues at stake, there is a need for an exchange of ideas between people who grew up on different sides of history.
Paul Shemisi - ‘Faire-part' will be the result of a rare collaboration in the world of cinema: two Congolese and two Belgian directors who join forces to make a film side by side. We’re four artists with different cultural backgrounds that experiment with new ways of storytelling. We tell the story of performance artists, for whom artistic creation is an absolute urgency and non-negotiable, but also the story of an unlikely partnership between 4 filmmakers. ‘Faire-part’ will offer a sensory journey into a capital of infinite creation.
