NèG MAWON "Ni chenn an pié, Ni chenn an tèt"

Life in the Caribbean must be one big party, right? Not quite. The people of Guadeloupe deal with ?party poopers? such as unemployment and racial tension on a daily basis. Silex and Jozua get through their days with petty theft and smoking weed. A wrongful murder charge forces them to explore the limits of their friendship.



Director: Jean Claude Flamand Barny
Country: Guadeloupe/France
Year: 2004
Duration: 95 min
Genre: fiction
Language: Creole/French

Heidi Lobato is the new festival director of Africa in the Picture. She has been co-directing the festival since 2001, working closely together with its founder Mariët Bakker.
?Mariët and I met 20 years ago on a plane to Fespaco, the biggest Pan-African film festival in Burkina Faso. Encounters like these are hardly ever a coincidence. It was the first time either of us went there; later, she went on to organise the first edition of Africa in the Picture (1987). This past January, Mariët decided to look for a new challenge. I took over the festival?s organisation, setting a new course for it in years to come.?

What is new about this year?s Africa in the Picture?
An important new item this year is the Open Air Cinema. In different neighbourhoods in Amsterdam, we will show films at no cost in the open air. Around sundown, several big screens will be set up on different locations throughout the city. Open air cinema always has a special atmosphere to it, the city?s sounds and murmur in the background; it has a special sort of suspense.
What?s more, this year?s festival will travel criss-cross through town, visiting many theatres on its way. All this is possible thanks to a good collaboration with local organisations. We want to bring the festival to the people this year.

What are the festival?s trends and themes?
We are building on past years? trends towards African Diaspora films, revealing a continuing process of ?connecting continents?. Among others, we feature productions from the French Caribbean ? e.g. Nèg Maron from Guadeloupe ? and several films from a new generation of Surinam cineastes.
Of course we will continue to show films from the African continent in Highlights from the Mo-therland. These films are quite innovative compared to those we have been used to. For example Ouaga Saga (Burkina Faso) contains lots of funny references to Hollywood and John Wayne Westerns; very tongue-in-cheek.

We tend to forget that Africa, as a continent, is constantly changing. African film makers are exploring new imagery and symbols to express themselves. Their narratives do touch sensitive chords, subjects that are not always open for public debate. Africa in the Picture picks up on these vibes and changes in the world of film.
Thanks to the city of Amsterdam, who included our festival in their ?arts plan? (kunstenplan), Africa in the Picture will be a yearly event from now on. This allows us to put into practice all the plans and ideas we have been entertaining.
This year, we have chosen the overall theme of Celebrating Difference. With that choice we wish to emphasise that difference is something to be celebrated. The beauty of difference in aesthetic and imagery that these films offer is a real asset to our society as a whole. People, countries, cultures; they are historically intertwined to such an extent that even the smallest everyday things can make great film subjects. Can you imagine that in the 1950?s, Dutch cuisine was in shock when paprika was introduced to it? Nowadays we don?t think twice about buying black eyed peas or any other exotic food at the supermarket. Changes like these are worth addressing! Not just in the kitchen or in music, but also as festival entertainment. Each selected film is like a mini-journey, and so I say: c?mon and join the ride...?

Heidi Lobato

Ce fut une super expérience, un pays ouvert, tolérent et très curieux des autres... L'Europe ne se résume pas vraiment à la France.....