Guadeloupe, Rwanda, Comoros Islands, as well as France, Belgium and the United Kingdom are their countries of origin.
The multi-award-winning short film Bazigaga by Rwandan Jo Ingabire Moys, which stars the country’s well-known actress Eliane Umuhire, is a fiction that tries to avoid the simplistic and manichean view of the Rwandan conflict, with the Tutsis on one side and the Hutus on the other, the victims and the executioners. On the other hand, La voix des autres by Fatima Kaci deals with the issue of migrants with great originality from the point of view of a translator, who has the duty not to take sides and to translate strictly what asylum seekers say. From the Comoros Islands, Zanatany, L’empreinte des Linceuls Esseulés will be screened,a short film set in Mahajanga, a Malagasy city where there was a lot of Comorian immigration in the 1970s with a population that has always been in exile.
Among the experimental short films directed by women are Utopias: The homeless wanderer, by Guadeloupean Daniela Yohannes and director Julien Beramis, which draws on magical symbolism and alternative black realities as it traverses the harsh natural landscapes of the Caribbean. Meanwhile, Simisolaoluwa Akande‘s The Archive: Queer Nigerians engages Nigerians who have not yet normalized the existence of their LGBTIQ+ community in dialogue with the experiences of those exiled to the UK in order to freely live their homosexuality. And in the field of animation, Elen Sylla Grollimund‘s Villa Madjo attempts to answer the question the director is endlessly asked as the daughter of a white father born in Africa and a black mother born in Europe: “Where do you come from?”
As for the directors, Arwa Aburawa and Turab Shah direct the contemplative Algerian short documentary And Still Remains, which reflects and denounces, through the observation of the landscapes and their population, the environmental legacy of colonialism that nuclear testing also entails. And Moroccan Mamoun Rtal Bennani and Jules Rouffio are behind the camera in another very different documentary, Bye Bye Benz Benz, a comedy about the relationship between a cab driver and his Mercedes Benz.
Finally, among the competing works of fiction by directors, Katope, from Tanzania, a poetic short film directed by Walt Mzengi Corey that revolves around a folk tale that many children grew up with, teaching them about life, love and sacrifice. Likewise, I Promise You Paradise by Egyptian Morad Mostafa, winner of the Best Short Film Award at Cannes, brings a very refined style, minimalist framing and refined dialogues to show the tragic condition of a young migrant who sends his family to cross the sea to Europe to guarantee them a better life.
