Created in collaboration with KADOC for Werelderfgoeddag, this 10-minute experimental short film explores Belgium’s colonial past through a poetic and critical lens. Drawing from archival material, including fragments of the 1950s colonial “comedy” “Matamata & Pilipili,” the film questions how colonial narratives were and in some cases still are normalized and embedded into Belgian society through entertainment, humor, and media.
Shot digitally with an intentionally raw and human approach, the film moves away from the polished and mechanical aesthetics of contemporary cinema. The camera work embraces imperfection, gesture, and presence, allowing the viewer to feel the physicality and subjectivity of the person behind the camera. Painting, music, costume design, set design, and performance merge together into a layered visual language where meaning is carried through atmosphere, symbolism, objects, and interaction between images.
Rather than only focusing on the perspective of the oppressed, the work turns it’s gaze toward Belgium it self, confronting the lingering colonial mindset still present within contemporary politics, culture, and collective memory. The film invites viewers to question how media shapes perception, normalizes prejudice, and constructs false narratives, asking not only what Belgium did in Congo, but how these structures continue to live on and evolve within Belgian society today.
Featuring Lucie Kaisala