Short Film Sessions

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In this session CCCB brings together Haile Gerima and Charles Burnett, members of the Californian L.A. Rebellion collective, and Jean-Marie Teno, the Cameroonian documentary filmmaker who has critically analyzed political, historical, and social matters of Africa while reflecting on cinema as a tool of resistance.

Hour Glass, Haile Gerima (1971) United States, digital screening, 13 min., original version with Spanish subtitles.

The first film of Ethiopian director Haile Gerima, who emigrated to the United States, is about a young African-American who becomes conscious of his black identity in “White America” during a basketball game, leading him to think about the works of Fanon, Martin Luther King Jr., and Angela Davis. An experimental piece with a syncopated montage and a rich soundtrack with compositions by The Last Poets, this initiatory work is a statement of motives by a young director who would become one of the voices of reference in African diaspora cinema (Bush Mama, 1979; Sankofa, 1993; Teza, 2008).

The Horse, Charles Burnett (1973) United States, digital screening, 13 min., original version with Spanish subtitles.

Described by its author as “a kind of allegory of the South”, this lyrical, enigmatic rural story about a horse that is about to be slaughtered, told through the eyes of a young black boy, was filmed during a break in the shooting of Killer of Sheep (1977). Basing his film on a story by William Faulkner, Burnett displays his skills in composing shots, creation of narrative ambiguities and dramatic tension, and placing the soundscape at the center. Filmed in 16mm, it features his fellow actor at UCLA, Larry Clark, another key name in independent Afro-American cinema.

Hommage, Jean-Marie Teno (1985) Cameroon, digital screening, 13 min., original version with Spanish subtitles

In this intimate short film shot in 16mm, the director returns from France to his homeland for his father’s funeral. Once back in his village, he takes up old discussions from years before by means of a script that simulates the reunion of two old friends who meditate on their childhood, traditions, emigration to cities and life in postcolonial Cameroon. The striking, moving story recalls tales told around the fire at sunset, using images filmed by Teno on his journey home.

La tête dans les nuages (Head in the Clouds), Jean-Marie Teno (1994) Cameroon / France / Germany, digital screening, 35 min., oiginal version with Spanish subtitles.

With a brand-new law degree, Jacky searches in vain in the streets of Yaundé for a job that is worthy of him. Iréne Pessonka, public servant, must sell food to top up her meager salary, and Pascale Martine Tayou, poet and artist, finds materials in the rubbish dumps that are overrunning the capital to express a situation of personal and national crisis. Always alert and receptive to encounters with others, Jean-Marie Teno, shows these acts of individual resistance against the sombre reality of Cameroon, where kleptocracy runs wild with abuses of wealth and power in a parasitical system with colonial vestiges.

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