TERRA MATER – MOTHER LAND
Kantarama Gahigiri / Rwanda, Switzerland / 2023 / 10 min / Colour
Italian premiere
In the frenzy of time that passes, the silence of the images of the African mountains covered with rubbish is powerful, as is that of the men, motionless there in the middle. Men who have decided to contaminate themselves now stand as totems built with fragments of technology. Next to them roost marabou, birds known to frequent disturbed habitats, which appear ready to feast. And She stands, like a goddess of technological junk, surrounded by plastic and foul-smelling fragments. The people cry out, asking for respect for Mother Earth, but the heaviest accusations lie in the sung and whispered words that echo between the walls of the harsh images. Angry, but composed, they are a hymn to freedom, against the exploitation of Africa. Stop technologies, stop transhumanism, hyper-globalization, neo-colonialism. Stop the belief that these topics do not affect us: "The Earth before all else".
Kantarama Gahigiri
Born in 1976, she is a director, screenwriter and producer with dual Rwandan and Swiss citizenship. She studied in Geneva and New York. As a freelance producer she has worked on films and commercials in East Africa and the USA. Her film, Tapis Rouge (2014), was awarded Best Feature Film at the Festival International du Film de Genève. Ethereality (2019) received awards at FESPACO, Burkina Faso. Her latest short film Terra Mater – Mother Land (2022) was presented at the Berlinale 2023.
Credits
Screenplay Kantarama GahigiriCinematography Daniel BleuerSound Eugène SafaliEditing Jules Claude GislerMain cast Cheryl IshajaProduction company Films du Léopard, Ltd. (Rwanda), RGBW GmbH (Switzerland)
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