ALLE GEISTER KREISEN (The Spirits are Circling), selected by Olaf Möller

When masses of Africa’s many different ethnic groups were abducted and transported to the New World as slaves, their gods felt they had no choice but to immigrate with them. For many of them, it became a life of traveling back and forth between their native country and their new world. Just as they were not omni-potent, so too were they not omni-present. And, as with those who worshipped them–who were both wards and subjects–a new life also began for the gods in the New World. Africa’s peoples had been dispersed so often that any sense of community was completely destroyed. Yet this situation also brought various groups of people together, thereby establishing new social contexts, and later, sometimes even nations. New religions also resulted, which partially incorporated the peoples’ old gods. And let us not forget all the new gods who were created, or who simply appeared, born from existential changes. These new, old religions–which are generally based on obsessive rituals, such as those found in Voodoo in the West Indies or Macumba and Candomblé in Brazil–are the focus of this film series organized by Olaf Möller.

The Cologne-based film critic Olaf Möller addresses new cinematic aspects concerning the subject of migration in this film series created especially for the Kölnischer Kunstverein. The subjects concern displacement and slavery, visions and myths, and the clash of various, yet mutually influencing and newly forming cultures. The films being shown in this series are set in West Africa, Haiti, Brazil, and North America. “Alle Geister kreisen” consists of feature-length films and documentaries from the 1970s to the present, including classics of the Brazilian “cinema novo” genre, as well as a few films being shown in Germany for the first time.

Olaf Möller’s series “Alle Geister kreisen“ is linked to another series called “Das Kino zwischen den Kulturen“ (Cinema Between Cultures), with those films having been selected by the author and film critic Georg Seeßlen and shown in June and July 2003. Prior to that, in 2002, the American artist Renée Green, in her “Forces of Circumstance” series, chose to show films that reflected the possibilities for individual action in a constantly changing world.

Program:

Kino in der Brücke
Kölnischer Kunstverein
Hahnenstraße 6
D - 50667 Köln

Telefon + 49 - 221 - 86 97 64 7
Telefax + 49 - 221 - 86 97 64 8
info@projektmigration.de

Admission Euro 5,- (Members KKV free)

WEST INDIES OU LES NEGRES MARRONS DE LA LIBERTE
Mauritania/France, 1979; Director: Med Hondo; Screenwriter: Daniel Boukman, based on his play "Les Negriers"; Director of Photography: Francois Catonne; Music: Georges Rabol, Frank Valmont; Film Editor: Youcef Tobni; Actors: Cyril Aventurin, Roland Bertin, Elsie Haas, Gerard Bloncourt; 112 minutes.
A musical that very ironically narrates the 400-year-old history of the West Indian Islands: from the colonization of the Caribbean by various countries including Spain, England, France, and Holland, to the wars of independence, to today’s migration of workers to Europe.
Wed., Oct. 1, 2003, 7 pm

ROYAL BONBON
France, 2002; Director, Screenwriter: Charles Najman; Director of Photography: Josee Deshaies; Music: Jean-Francois Pauvros, Patti Smith; Film Editor: Lisa Baulieu; Actors: Dominique Batraville, Verlus Delorme, Erol Josue, Anne-Louise Mesadieu; 90 minutes.
This film–the first to have ever been completely shot in Haiti, and with an entire cast of amateur actors–shows the life of a man who believes he is the reincarnation of King Henri Christophe (1767-1820), who liberated Haiti. The film received, among other awards, the Prix Jean Vigo.
Thurs., Oct. 2, 2003, 7 pm

LES ILLUMINATIONS DE MADAME NERVAL / THE VOODOO PRIESTESS
France, 2000; Director: Charles Najman; Screenwriter: Charles Najman, Emmanuelle Honorin; Director of Photography: Pierre Novion; Film Editor: Nadia Ben Rashid; 90 minutes.
A chronicle about daily events in Madame Nerval’s voodoo temple, where gods and humans come together. Yet the film also depicts a portrait of a high priestess, who speaks very personally about her life, her dreams, and her contacts with the spirits. The relationship between Madame Nerval and Criminel, the god of her temple, stands at the center of the film.
Fri., Oct. 3, 2003, 7 pm

A DEUSA NEGRA / BLACK GODDESSES
Nigeria/Brazil, 1978; Director, Screenwriter: Ola Balogun; Director of Photography: Edson Batista; Music: Remi Kabaka; Actors: Roberto Pirilo, Jorge Coutinho, Zozimo Bolbul, Sonia Santos; 150 minutes.
While the father lies in his death bed, the son promises to trace the roots of their family, whose members were transported as slaves to Brazil. The son travels to Bahia and meets a black Brazilian woman who not only introduces him to African cults, but also confronts him with his past.
Sat., Oct. 4, 2003, 7 pm

BARRAVENTO
Brazil, 1962; Director: Glauber Rocha; Screenwriter: Glauber Rocha, Jose Telles de Magalhaes; Director of Photography: Tony Rabatony; Music: Washington Bruno; Film Editor: Nelson Pereira dos Santos; Actors: Antonio Luis Sampaio, Luiza Maranhao, Lucy Carvalho, Aldo Teixeira; 74 minutes.
This film debút by Brazilian director Glauber Rocha depicts the social conditions in a small fishing village. “A sensitive work critical of society, one of high quality in form and content, simultaneously realistic and poetic.” (International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers)
Sun., Oct. 5, 2003, 7 pm

O AMULETO DE OGUM / THE AMULETTE
Brazil, 1974; Director, Screenwriter: Nelson Pereira dos Santos; Director of Photography: Helio Silva, Jose Cavalcanti, Nelson Pereira dos Santos; Music: Jards Macale; Film Editor: Severino Dada, Paulo Pessoa; Actors: Jofre Soares, Anecy Rocha, Ney Sant'Anna, Washington Fernandes, Ilya Flaherty, Olney Sao Paulo; 117 minutes.
A story centering around Umbanda rites and an invincible young man who turns into a dreaded gangster. The man dies, and then rises from the dead. “Dos Santos, one of the founders of the Brazilian cinema novo, translates folkloristic motifs and popular legends into a down-to-earth vision of reality. One of the major film sensations of the 1970s in Brazil.” (International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers)
Mon., Oct. 6, 2003, 7 pm

SANKOFA
USA/BRD/Ghana/Burkina Faso, 1993; Director, Screenwriter, Film Editor: Haile Gerima; Director of Photography: Agustin Cubano; Music: David J. White; Actors: Oyafunmike Ogunlano, Alexandra Duah, Kofi Ghanaba, Mutabaraku, Nick Medley; 125 minutes.
While at a photo shooting at a former slave fortress in Ghana, the African model Mona becomes enchanted by the drummer Sankofa, who sings the eternal requiem there. Mona gets caught in the vortex of her ancestors’ history, and is reborn as Shola on a sugar plantation in Jamaica.
Tues., Oct. 7, 2003, 7 pm

WELCOME II THE TERRORDOME
GB 1994; Director, Screenwriter: Ngozi Onwurah; Director of Photography: Alwin H Kuchler; Film Editor: Liz Webber; 92 minutes.
North Carolina, 1652: A group of people are supposed to be branded as slaves. Instead, the group jumps into the ocean. On their journey home to Nigeria, they have to go through a version of hell: the terrordome, a black ghetto in a Fascist England, where gangs battle one another, only to then be massacred by the police. A British thriller in B-movie style.
Wed., Oct. 8, 2003, 7 pm

SOUVENANCE
France, 1991; Director: Thomas Harlan; Screenwriter: Thomas Harlan, Anna Devoto; Director of Photography: Roberto Forges Davanzati; Film Editor: Vuksan Lukovac; Actors: Germaine Ulysse, Douta Seck, Cheriza Fenelus, Bonheur Calixte; 127 minutes.
The continual recurrence of a dream, embodied here as “Dessaline,” Haiti’s first emperor–a former slave: “idolized by all, wild, capricious, rigid, led by the gods of Africa” (Charles Najman: Haiti, Dieu seul me voit). Dessaline, attracted to the voodoo drumming of Cheriza, a son of Halaou who has returned home takes possession of the dying body of old Halaou. Cheriza, guided by a vision, goes in search of another souvenance, a place of promise. Following the second death of his father, Cheriza has a vision of the return of Dessaline, which prompts a second liberation of the islands–the liberation from poverty.
Thurs., Oct. 9, 2003, 7 pm

Projekt Migration, a project initiated by the

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