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Minimals in a Titanic World

Forum 2025
© Imitana Productions
Let off with a warning for aggression, dancer and aspiring musician Anita returns from prison to perform at her bar, where she learns about the sudden death of her boyfriend, Serge. While close friends process the shock, Anita finds solace in the company of Serge’s roommate, Shema. As she wrestles with the difficult final memories of her boyfriend, Anita must negotiate her bond with Shema while trying to break out on her own as an independent songwriter. Set in current-day Kigali, Philbert Aimé Mbabazi Sharangabo’s radiant, richly detailed feature debut trains its attention on a generation of upwardly mobile youth grappling with anxieties around love, death and self-actualization. With grace and generosity, he allows his characters to float about in a state of flux, not knowing what they want or can dare to. Despite our intimacy with her dreams and frustrations, Anita retains her essential spiritual mystery, her response to grief and bereavement never explained away. With keen attention to colours, textures, music and moods, Minimals in a Titanic World crafts an emotionally resonant portrait of friendship frayed by the weight of loss.
by Philbert Aimé Mbabazi Sharangabo (Director)
with Aline Amike, Niyigena “Rwasibo Joe” Jean Pierre, Ganza Moise, Nasser Makala, Alice Amike Rwanda / Germany / Cameroon 2025 Kinyarwanda 81' Colour World premiere | Debut film

With

  • Aline Amike
  • Niyigena “Rwasibo Joe” Jean Pierre
  • Ganza Moise
  • Nasser Makala
  • Alice Amike

Crew

Director Philbert Aimé Mbabazi Sharangabo
Cinematography Samuel Ishimwe Karemangingo, Nasser Naizi
Editing Kivu Ruhorahoza
Music Amin Goudarzi
Sound Design Amadou Massaer Ndiaye
Production Design Carine Umunyana
Producers Philbert Aimé Mbabazi Sharangabo, Samuel Ishimwe Karemangingo, Remy Ryumugabe, Didacienne Nibagwire, Alexander Wadouh, Roxana Richters, Augustine Moukodi

Produced by

Imitana Productions

Iyugi Productions

Chromosom Film

Zili Studios

Photos

Philbert Aimé Mbabazi Sharangabo

© Rukabura Photography

Philbert Aimé Mbabazi Sharangabo is a graduate of the cinema department of HEAD-Genève. His short I Got My Things and Left won the Grand Prize at the 2019 International Short Film Festival Oberhausen. He has made a dozen short films that have screened at over 50 film festivals worldwide including IFF Rotterdam, Visions du Réel, Oberhausen, and Tampere Film Festival. He is a Berlinale Talents, Locarno Filmmakers Academy, and Torino Film Lab alumni. The International Short Film Festival Oberhausen dedicated a retrospective to his work in 2020. Minimals in a Titanic World is his first feature.

Filmography (selection)

2014 City Dropout; short film 2016 The Liberators; short film · Versus; short film 2018 Keza Lyn; short film · I Got My Things and Left; short film 2025 Minimals in a Titanic World

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2025