Afrique, La pensée en mouvement Part I

Forum 2018

In October 2016, Senegalese economist, musician and poet Felwine Sarr founded the “Ateliers de la Pensée”, the so-called workshops for thought, together his friend political scientist Achille Mbembe. Over four days in Dakar, they gathered together leading Senegalese intellectuals including Lydie Moudileno, Romuald Fonkoua and Nadia Yala Kisukidi for a long overdue theoretical exchange on the current issues that affect Africa – and thus also the future of planet Earth.
If “Western philosophy” is a pleonasm, how can common epistemes of contemporary thought be decolonised? If black people’s self-hatred in the aftermath of slavery has such a destructive effect, how can this force be weakened? What is the attraction of dystopias, and how does this attraction function in terms of the African continent’s potential? These are just some of the questions so clearly and brilliantly formulated in the workshop that it’s not possible to give simple answers to them. Bekolo documents and assembles scenes from this intellectual summit meeting to create a cinematic manifesto that aims to provoke a response far beyond the cinema auditorium.

by Jean-Pierre Bekolo Senegal 2017 French 104’ Colour Documentary form

Crew

Director	Jean-Pierre Bekolo
Cinematography	Gora Seck
Editing	Laurette Betolo Bengono
Music	Wasis Diop
Sound Design	Galin Fotchou
Producer	Felwine Sarr

Produced by

Jimsaan

Photos

Jean-Pierre Bekolo

Born in Yaoundé, Cameroon in 1966. He already garnered attention with his debut film Quartier Mozart (1992). Alongside his work as a film director, Bekolo writes and publishes, in addition to teaching at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and at Duke University.

Filmography (selection)

1992 Quartier Mozart; 80 min. 1996 Le Complot d’Aristotle; 72 min. 2005 Les Saignantes; 92 min. 2013 Le Président; 72 min. 2015 Les Choses et les mots de Mudimbe; 243 min. 2016 Naked Reality; 62 min. 2017 Miraculous Weapons · Afrique, La pensée en mouvement Part 1

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2018