The older generation sometimes disparagingly calls them “coconut heads” (or “brainless youth”), but the students at the University of Ibadan, the oldest in Nigeria, are anything but that. They follow up their visits to a campus film club with in-depth discussions about subjects such as feminism, migration, human rights, colonialism, and politics. The debate gets heated sometimes, but always stays focused on the subject.
Nigeria and its neighbouring countries face many issues. Unemployment and corruption are rife, freedom of expression is under threat, and student life is tough for many reasons. Alain Kassanda intercuts his observational shots of these passionate group discussions with atmospheric impressions of campus life full of commotion.
In the years that Kassanda films, from 2019 to 2021, students and their peers take to the barricades to resist police violence—there were even deaths at these protests in October 2020. This film, which shared the top prize at Cinéma du Réel, is a dynamic portrait of a generation of Nigerians using their intelligence and critical thinking to demand change.
Q&A
After the screening, the filmmakers will join us on stage for a short Q&A with the audience.
Altijd als eerste op de hoogte van onze programmering, De Balie podcasts, Tv fragmenten en de nodige verdieping.
IDFA X De Balie
Beneath the cool-blue glaciers, gushing waterfalls, and crisp green deciduous trees, we hear the soft tick-tick of 84-year-old Jørgen’s hiking poles as he cautiously navigates the boulders he encounters on his route. His daughter, director Margreth Olin, films him over the course of a year as he guides them through Oldedalen, a spectacular valley in
During the rehearsals of a theatre adaptation of Émile Zola’s book L’Assommoir, the real and fictional lives of actress and artistic director Anne and her stage character Gervaise appear to intertwine. Experimental and intimately filmed scenes provide insights into the constantly shifting parallel worlds between which Anne and Gervaise are navigating. The fascinating play between
Argentinian wedding videographer Leandro Koch has absolutely no interest in his Jewish background until he falls in love with clarinetist Paloma Schachmann. She specializes in klezmer music, the traditional Yiddish wedding music of Eastern Europe. They decide to make a documentary together, visiting the last European practitioners of this genre. Their wanderings through Ukraine, Romania,
