The breasts are in place, the feathers are smoothed, off to the date! Her daughter does not comprehend the ritual of desire yet … Erotically crude, with pointed beaks in the conflicts.
How do you restitute self-images? A lucid, thought-provoking essay about the Congo, the far-reaching dimensions of colonial power and the (re-)privatisation of identity.
The film Lumène is based on in-depth research into photographic archives taken in the heart of the Belgian Congo between 1938 and 1939 by the German ethnographer and anthropologist Hans Himmelheber. These archives are kept at the Rietberg Museum in Zurich.
In this first part, Lumène: Privatisation, director David Shongo, in collaboration with the traditional chiefs of Lusanga, Mukedi and Feshi, analyses how photography was used as a tool of colonial domination and how it contributed to a process of privatisation of the imaginary, images, cultural heritage and spaces. These analyses raise current issues such as restitution, reparation and the domination of knowledge.
In the countryside of Estonia, humans and all other living beings compose an orchestra in which everyone has their place in co-creation of the humble rhythm of earth.
In nature, everything is in balance. Everyone has their task in the neverending circle of life – plants and mushrooms, insects and animals... This diverse orchestra always finds its rhythm and tone. Recognising the distinctiveness of being human, this film looks at our possibilities to co-exist within that co-creation of nature peacefully. After nearly seven years of exploring the periphery countryside of Estonia, this oneiric journey filmed on 16mm brings to the foreground the daily rhythms of ordinary people and animals in different ages and phases of their lives. It composes an analogue gospel of a microcosm, which has consciously or unconsciously rejected the central, arrogant doctrine of human exceptionality.
DOK Industry is realised with the support of Creative Europe MEDIA Programme of the European Union, the Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung (MDM) and the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media upon a Decision of the German Bundestag.