Breaking the Chains

In Breaking the Chains we present films with postcolonial themes from different countries and (historical) perspectives. They portray ancestral rituals, struggles for independence, spirituality and how the effects of slavery persist into the present. Dance, song and music are traditionally deeply rooted and vital aspects of African culture, uniting the mind, body and soul. They form an essential part of cultural life and identity and migrate through time and space. They carry symbolic meaning and are catalysts for spiritual transformation and provide access to sacred spaces. Today in the diaspora, dance and ritual still play a crucial role in the process of healing, reconciliation and liberation.

The screening includes a short break and is accompanied by aperformance of José Tojo, artistic leader of dance school Kula Skoro, theatermaker and apinti drummer /percussionist and Q&A led by Cinedans-programmeur Iris Roblès.

Breaking the Chains is also a thematic line running through our program, which includes documentaries Kite Zo A: Leave the Bones, Kumina Queen and Uprooted: The Journey of Jazz Dance.

Terra Mater - Motherland (Regie: Kantarama Gahigiri | CH, RW | 2023 | 10’)

There she stands, confidently, like a goddess of technological junk, surrounded by endless mountains of rubbish, plastic, stench and rare earth minerals. An angry appeal to the world to take responsibility for the consequences of capitalism, colonialism and environmental destruction in Africa.

Never Look At the Sun (Regie: Baloji | Choreografie: Élodie Paul, Windy Pamba | FR | 2019 | 5’)

Using his trademark assemblage of esoteric costume and visual metaphors, Congolese-Belgian hitmaker and filmmaker Baloji explores the practice of skin lightening in black communities. Euphemistically described as ‘brightening’ or ‘toning’, skin bleaching takes many innocuous forms, such as creams, buffs and soaps to deal with hyperpigmentation, but is more often used by women to emulate Eurocentric beauty standards.

La Última Ascensión (Regie: Kevin Osepa | NL | 2022 | 23’)

Rowin, a 22-year-old fisherman from Banda Abou (Curaçao) has little luck catching fish at his fishing spot. He goes there everyday despite the disapproval of his mother. One day, on the coastline where he fishes daily, he encounters a mysterious young man who will change everything.

Atopias: The Homeless Wanderer (Regie: Daniela Yohannes & Julien Beramis | GP | 2023 | 27’)

In Atopias: The Homeless Wanderer, a black woman embarks on a meditative journey through the wild Caribbean landscapes, confronting dreamlike memories and traumatic experiences. This exploration of migration, transgenerational memory and trauma reshapes her voyage, taking her deep into her subconscious, where she encounters her inner child and ventures into ancestral realms.

Tajabone (Regie: Raphael Chatelain, Nicolas Huchard | Choreografie: Nicolas Huchard | FR | 2021 | 4’)

“This is what freedom feels like, baby.” The uncompromising words of musician and writer Mykki Blanco echo over a transcendental parade of a group of empowered queer dancers. A film about the French black queer community taking pride in who they are, what they have achieved, and embracing the bodies they are in. Tajabone takes its name from a unique tradition in Senegal, where in addition to singing and dancing through the streets everyone practices cross dressing through the night.

Under the Sky of Fetishes (Regie: Caroline Déodat | FR, MU | 2023 | 17’)

Under the Sky of Fetishes responds to the complexity of colonial archives. It reinvents the specters of a haunting gaze to tell the story of Mauritian sega – a cultural practice born during colonization and slavery, now mainly seen in tourism. How do we project, literally bring out of ourselves, the narrative of the oppressor?

Mixing fiction and ethnography, the film sanctifies the power of the projection as a mental as well as intimate enigma to release ghostly and alienated bodies, including our own.

A Revolution of Love (Regie: Weyni Mengesha, Lucius Dechausay | Choreografie: Esie Mensah | CA | 2020 | 5’)

A young black woman grapples with the histories of her ancestors and the present-day violence ravaging her community. She begins to imagine what her future looks like through dance.

CRNI TITO - Blaq Tito Addressing the Parliament of Ghosts (Regie/Choreografie: Christian Guerematchi | GH, NL | 2022 | 11’)

A figure of a black Tito appears in the big and empty underground structure of a former silo in Tamale, Ghana. He visits the people of the country by plane and rickshaw to spread his message and joins the Parliament of Ghosts in session.

An artistic interaction between NAM – Non Aligned Movement by Christian Guerematchi and the Parliament of Ghosts by Ibrahim Mahama. Both works speak about forgotten histories and the contemporary echoes of the cultural connections from the time of the Non-Aligned Movement between Ghana and Yugoslavia – Nkrumah and Tito.

Kankantri (Regie/Choreografie: Gabri Christa | SR, US, NL | 2024 | 25’ [Wereld première])

A woman enters a Synagogue and is transported to the parallel universe of all her ancestors who do not let her leave until she participates in their dances and rituals. The film is inspired by Gabri Christa’s first time visiting the Neve Shalom in 2000 where she was overwhelmed by the building and the emotions it brought to her. It spurred her into researching her Surinamese father’s lineage, which revealed that she had indeed also Jewish ancestors. As the famous Surinamese writer Cynthia McCleod says “when you shake your family trees, a few Jews fall out”.