The lives of Virginio and his wife Sisa, an older Quechua couple, have not become any easier since no rain has fallen for a very long time in the place where they have been living for years: the Highlands of Bolivia. The local river is also starting to dry up, while water is essential for their existence as llama herders. In fact, they have no choice but to move to the nearby capital, La Paz, something their visiting grandson Clever is also trying to convince them of. They don’t want to leave, however; their life here may be Spartan, but it is also the life they love.

Anyone who hears about climate change will not immediately think of its consequences for life in the Andean highlands. In this sublime, self-written debut, Bolivian director Alejandro Loayza Grisi shows that the consequences are far-reaching here too. He presents his film in a meditative pace, with breathtakingly beautiful images.

Haiti has not been faring well for a long time. There is great poverty in the Caribbean country and corruption and violence are commonplace. Wouldn’t it be better to leave? In her self-written feature debut, this is the question that Haitian director and actress Gessica Généus raises from a female perspective. Généus is aware of the social and political abuses, but her story focuses on the dynamic and creative sides of Haitian culture.

Anthropology student Freda lives with her family in a poor neighbourhood of Port-au-Prince, where they run a small shop. Her younger sister Esther hopes to move up the social ladder by lightening her skin, while her brother Moïse thinks he will have more luck in Chile. Though Freda still believes in Haiti, she too has to decide whether she will stay or leave: her boyfriend Yeshua has asked her to go with him to the Dominican Republic.

The whole village is devastated when their fellow villager, young, beloved racing driver Jesús López, dies in an accident. His cousin Abel, a drifting teenager, increasingly feels tempted to take Jésus’ place, not only wearing Jesús’ clothes and getting closer to his cousin’s friends, but also moving in with Jesús’ parents. At first, people accept this behaviour, but as Abel emulates his cousin more and more, the villagers start to feel uncomfortable. A car race in memory of Jesús is organized in the village. Abel takes part, driving Jesús’ car.

Director Maximiliano Schonfeld situated his film in a rural community in Argentina, convincingly conveying what life is like for young people living there. Blending magical-realistic elements into his psychological approach, he tells a story of transformation and resurrection. Winner Best Latin American Film at the Mar del Plata Film Festival.

The lure of crime is never far away in the border region between Argentina and Bolivia, where Cabra lives with his mother. While his Chilean father (Alfredo Castro) is serving a long prison sentence, his mother is making plans to move to the more prosperous south of Argentina with her boyfriend. Cabra won’t hear of it. He lives for the malambo, the energetic, fiery dance of gauchos.

While Cabra is making final preparations for an important dance competition, his impulsive father, on short leave from prison, suddenly shows up, demanding all the attention of the family. Against the background of the chaos and excitement of carnival, Cabra is dragged deeper into the criminal world than he wants to, jeopardizing his own dreams for the future in the process. Malambo champion Martin Lopez Lacci plays an impressive lead role as a timid teenager showing his true self in the powerful dance.

Accompanied by the song of dying fish, a woman arises from a poisoned river. Many years ago, Magdalena drowned herself by driving her bike into the water; now she returns among the living, with a mission. In the family she left behind, resentment threatens to spread to the next generation. And this pales compared to the relationship crisis between humanity and the rest of creation, something the fish, and the river, know all about.

This ecofeminist fable lifts all boundaries between the past, present and future; between life and death; between human and non-human; between woman and man, mother and child. It is therefore perfectly natural that the fish in the river and the cows of Magdalena’s husband’s dairy farm are able to reflect on their existence. Drenched in magical realism, this feature debut tells a story of loss, reconciliation and hope in powerful images.

In the 1960s, Indonesian communists tried to carry out a coup, but the army violently suppressed their attempt. In the  subtitlesequent purges, countless people were killed as well. Nana, a young woman, barely manages to escape, but her husband and son are never heard from again. Many years later, she has remarried the wealthy landowner Darga and is living a seemingly carefree life. In her nightmares she is however haunted by the past. Something changes when she befriends Ina – an unlikely friendship, as Ina is her husband’s mistress.

In Nana, director Kamila Andini, whose moving The Seen and Unseen was screened at WCA in 2019, tells a story about the power of friendship between women. She does this in an intoxicating visual style, letting the images linger with viewers for a long time. Based on the novel Jais Darga Namaku by Ahda Imran.

Even if you lack money, make sure you have class – this seems to aptly sum up the life motto of Steevens, a young Haitian who is opting for a new look with the addition of some cheap hair extensions in the opening scene. More generally, it also applies to this refreshing low-budget production highlighting the far from whimsical problems of immigrants in Chile, with loose camerawork, an improvised script and random musical inserts.

Steevens may not have much money, he does have a job and a home. It soon becomes clear how precariously balanced his life is when he reaches out to help a childhood friend. Dealing with the newcomer exposes the racist culture at Steevens’ workplace. When Steevens takes a swing at his boss, the media have a field day, dragging him and in his wake the entire Haitian community through the mud. Now Steevens discovers what it means to be on your own as a black man in Santiago.

Things were moving in the right direction for democracy in Brazil, even more so once Luiz InácioLula da Silva, a popular leftist politician, won the presidential elections in 2002, leading the countryuntil 2011. In 2016, corruption charges against Lula began to pile up; although hard evidence was lacking they eventually led to a guilty verdict and a prison sentence. In the meantime, the far-right populist Jair Bolsonaro became Brazil’s new president.

But there was something fishy about Lula’s case, as soon became clear when journalists from The Intercept and El País Brasil discovered through leaked messages that right-wing forces had been misusing a major money-laundering investigation to discredit political opponents. In particular, Judge Sérgio Moro, who later became Minister of Justice under Bolsonaro, had played a sketchy role.

Director Maria Augusta Ramos shows meticulously how a democracy is eroded when judicial safeguards are lacking. Still, Lula, now acquitted, is running for president in the 2022 elections.

Nathan is a Cameroonian who arrived in Brussels after fleeing Ukraine, where he had been living for 11 years. The film illustrates a less mediatized side effect of the war raging in Ukraine, on those who “don’t fit in the box”.

After the film, there will be an Q&A with director Eric Vander Borght and protagonist Joseph Nathan Takeusso Keubou on Europe’s mixed standards when it comes to refugees.

This programme is part of the Black Achievement Month that is held annually in October. The festival aims to put people with African roots in the spotlight with films, theatre, performances and social debates on current themes.

Blijf altijd op de hoogte van onze cinema programmering, verdiepende content en speciale programma’s van De Balie Kijkt (een film + verdiepend gesprek met de regisseur of een expert).

Sound: Philippe Benoit
Script, Camera, Editing, Sound: Eric Vander Borght
Produced by www.Eric.Pictures

Speakers:

Joseph Nathan Takeusso KeubouProtagonist

Eric Vander BorghtDirector

Halima Salat BarreJournalist Lighthouse Reports

Deze film dompelt de kijker onder in het dagelijkse leven van een afgelegen klooster op het Griekse schiereiland van de berg Athos. De beelden van het kloosterleven zijn vol authentieke personages en alledaagse heiligen, en komen tot ons bevrijd van de wikkels van alledaagse prioriteiten. Wat naar voren komt, is een fascinerende blik op het ongeëvenaarde leven van een bloeiende kloostergemeenschap in het midden van de eenentwintigste eeuw.

De producent leidt de film in met een presentatie van ongeveer tien minuten.

Mount Athos
De Athos-berg is een berg en schiereiland in het noordoosten van Griekenland en een belangrijk centrum van het oosters-orthodoxe monnikendom. Het wordt bestuurd als een zelfstandige staat binnen de Helleense Republiek, namelijk de kloostergemeenschap van de berg Athos onder de directe jurisdictie van de Oecumenische Patriarch van Constantinopel.

EN
This film immerses the viewer in the daily life of one secluded monastery on the Greek peninsula of Mount Athos. The images of monastic life are full of authentic characters and everyday saints, and come to us freed from the wrappings of mundane priorities. What emerges is a fascinating glimpse of the unparalleled life of a thriving monastic community in the midst of the twenty-first century.

The producer will introduce the film with a presentation of about ten minutes.

Mount Athos
Mount Athos is a mountain and peninsula in northeastern Greece and an important centre of Eastern Orthodox monasticism. It is governed as an autonomous polity within the Hellenic Republic, namely the monastic community of Mount Athos under the direct jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.