Choreographies of the Everyday
There are different ways to describe the workings of a Megalopolis and the chosen metaphors highlight different aspects of city life, from the urban battleground to the more (an)organic association of the concrete jungle, or the altogether fruity Big Apple. Whatever attitude is taken towards the metropolis, one feature will always be the specific choreography that emerges from it. A choreography involving all kinds of fluxes and movements of people, objects, data, and ideas, produced by a constant process of negotiation on all levels of daily life.
The very conditions of Kinshasa as a rather young structure founded under colonial rule and based on colonial ideas are still defining moments of its choreographic threads, never completely overwritten, supplemented by newer developments. The interweaving of the city’s daily dances can be described as a creative process that produces the intricate tissue of life at Kinshasa.
This screening presents some of these choreographies of the everyday in a choice of music videos and documentary films. The process of negotiating movement in and through the city as well as the access to and disposal of material are recurring themes in them. And so is the negotiation of participation in and access to different strata of this choreographic tissue that is the life in Kinshasa. One strong focus of the programme is the aspect of gender, with Céline Banza singing about the female body, the dancers in Ofele transgressing normative cis-gender definitions of the body, and Bénédicte in Zero braving all obstacles to become a singer in her own right.
Behind the screening lies another form of choreographic negotiation: the collaboration between Peter Miyalu, a young filmmaker from Kinshasa, and fluctuating images from Berlin. Without Peter’s insight into the inner workings of the creative Kinshasa choreographies, this programme would simply not have been possible.
Curated by Cornelia Lund (fluctuating images, Berlin/University of the Arts Bremen) and Holger Lund (fluctuating images, Berlin/DHBW Ravensburg) in collaboration with Peter Miyalu (Académie des Beaux Arts, Kinshasa).
Films:
La danse du matin, Director: Peter Miyalu, 2019, 2 min
Bidon Vil, Director: Nizar Saleh, 2018, 4 min
Ofele, Director: Nizar Saleh, Music: Pierre Kwenders & Uproot Andy, 2021, 3 min
Te rembi, Director: Nizar Saleh, Music: Céline Banza, 2019, 3:40 min
GangstaF*cknB*tch (Bana Mabe), Director: ANDER Concept, Music: Lunatic Beudo, 2015, 4 min
Zero, Director: Moimi Wezam, 2018, 66 min
Synopsis Zero:
Papa Wemba, the African pop icon who was both the idol and employer of Bénédicte Shutsha, has died.
In a room lit by candlelight, Bénédicte religiously listens to the hit ZERO composed and performed by the late Papa Wemba. Her eyes are moistened with tears. Her thoughts go back to her 15 years as a dancer in the group of the late great Papa Wemba: the group VIVA LA MUSICA. A few minutes later, her thoughts turn to her fears for the future and specifically to her calamitous financial situation.
The next day, Bénédicte goes to a television set where she speaks about her experience with the man the journalist called “LE MAITRE D’ECOLES” and whom she affectionately called “PAPA.” She takes advantage of this appearance to announce her project to cover the hit ZERO.
For the completion of her perilous project whose objective is both to pay tribute to her former employer and to launch her singing career, Bénédicte is accompanied by Moli (a renowned vocal coach) and Tosha (conductor of VIVA LA MUSICA).