Amid the dunes of the Sahara, a Jaima, the traditional Saharawi tent. A woman, through the
tea ritual, takes us into the past and present of her people, persecuted and driven out of their
land. She offers us three teas: the first, bitter as life; the second, sweet as love; the third,
mild as death. The light of the desert is reflected on the Saharawi people, their life made up
of essentials and their struggle to endure.
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.
Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow is a deeply personal film about what it means to look at and document, and the unforeseen consequences of a well-meant, but unprepared intervention.
Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow starts where most films about homeless kids end – the day after they are taken in. We assume it's a happy ending but what really happens next? This film tackles the emotional and ethical challenges that arise when a determined, idealistic and thoroughly unprepared American cinematographer decides to support three Mongolian orphans. Told over the span of six years, Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow is a deeply personal film and an honest portrait of how storytellers and their characters impact each other. The filmmaker and central character, Martina, grapples with what it means to intervene in a meaningful way. Ultimately, she has to ask herself who is helping whom.
The film addresses the messiness of love and belonging and the universal experience of parent-child relationships – while at the same time, Martina questions the power imbalance and accountability that arise when we look at and document.
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.