“My Cinema Is Not Diplomatic, It Is Confrontational”: Decolonial Framing of the Home in Two Documentaries by Rosine Mbakam
This article centers on two documentaries about migrant women in their home: At Jolie Coiffure (Chez Jolie Coiffure, 2018) and Delphine’s Prayers (Les Prières de Delphine, 2021), both directed by by Rosine Mbakam. I put in conversation the home as a private space and the home as a national construct...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University College Cork
2024-02-01
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| Series: | Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media |
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| Online Access: | https://www.alphavillejournal.com/Issue26/HTML/ArticleLeHegarat.html |
| _version_ | 1797268710651592704 |
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| author | Julie Le Hegarat |
| author_facet | Julie Le Hegarat |
| author_sort | Julie Le Hegarat |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article centers on two documentaries about migrant women in their home: At Jolie Coiffure (Chez Jolie Coiffure, 2018) and Delphine’s Prayers (Les Prières de Delphine, 2021), both directed by by Rosine Mbakam. I put in conversation the home as a private space and the home as a national construction which creates categories of exclusion and restrictions. I argue that Rosine Mbakam performs an act of “decolonial framing” by taking an antiethnographic approach and creating documentary events—including the filmmaking process, the film viewing, and real-life interactions centering on the film. This transnational cinema of confrontation creates community for Black, diasporic, and African audiences while reversing the gaze against white audiences. Mbakam films the home to showcase instances of resistance to institutional racism and colonial duress. Showing the home on screen also opens the way to create better homes for all through multiple avenues of participation. First, I analyse Mbakam’s filmmaking process and her own involvement on screen as a co-creative act, I then look at her composition which reflects the complex dwellings of the protagonists and how they are shaped by architecture. Finally, I look at the reception of her films to show how her mobile cinema activities provide the infrastructure for making new home spaces. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-25T01:36:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9ea06fdf093d4976b33475b02eb07cc0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2009-4078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-25T01:36:49Z |
| publishDate | 2024-02-01 |
| publisher | University College Cork |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media |
| spelling | doaj.art-9ea06fdf093d4976b33475b02eb07cc02024-03-08T09:31:30ZengUniversity College CorkAlphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media2009-40782024-02-012662410.33178/alpha.26.01“My Cinema Is Not Diplomatic, It Is Confrontational”: Decolonial Framing of the Home in Two Documentaries by Rosine MbakamJulie Le Hegarat0https://orcid.org/0009-0006-5818-5302Simon Fraser University This article centers on two documentaries about migrant women in their home: At Jolie Coiffure (Chez Jolie Coiffure, 2018) and Delphine’s Prayers (Les Prières de Delphine, 2021), both directed by by Rosine Mbakam. I put in conversation the home as a private space and the home as a national construction which creates categories of exclusion and restrictions. I argue that Rosine Mbakam performs an act of “decolonial framing” by taking an antiethnographic approach and creating documentary events—including the filmmaking process, the film viewing, and real-life interactions centering on the film. This transnational cinema of confrontation creates community for Black, diasporic, and African audiences while reversing the gaze against white audiences. Mbakam films the home to showcase instances of resistance to institutional racism and colonial duress. Showing the home on screen also opens the way to create better homes for all through multiple avenues of participation. First, I analyse Mbakam’s filmmaking process and her own involvement on screen as a co-creative act, I then look at her composition which reflects the complex dwellings of the protagonists and how they are shaped by architecture. Finally, I look at the reception of her films to show how her mobile cinema activities provide the infrastructure for making new home spaces.https://www.alphavillejournal.com/Issue26/HTML/ArticleLeHegarat.htmldecolonial cinemaafrican cinemafrancophone cinemadocumentarywomen filmmakers |
| spellingShingle | Julie Le Hegarat “My Cinema Is Not Diplomatic, It Is Confrontational”: Decolonial Framing of the Home in Two Documentaries by Rosine Mbakam Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media decolonial cinema african cinema francophone cinema documentary women filmmakers |
| title | “My Cinema Is Not Diplomatic, It Is Confrontational”: Decolonial Framing of the Home in Two Documentaries by Rosine Mbakam |
| title_full | “My Cinema Is Not Diplomatic, It Is Confrontational”: Decolonial Framing of the Home in Two Documentaries by Rosine Mbakam |
| title_fullStr | “My Cinema Is Not Diplomatic, It Is Confrontational”: Decolonial Framing of the Home in Two Documentaries by Rosine Mbakam |
| title_full_unstemmed | “My Cinema Is Not Diplomatic, It Is Confrontational”: Decolonial Framing of the Home in Two Documentaries by Rosine Mbakam |
| title_short | “My Cinema Is Not Diplomatic, It Is Confrontational”: Decolonial Framing of the Home in Two Documentaries by Rosine Mbakam |
| title_sort | my cinema is not diplomatic it is confrontational decolonial framing of the home in two documentaries by rosine mbakam |
| topic | decolonial cinema african cinema francophone cinema documentary women filmmakers |
| url | https://www.alphavillejournal.com/Issue26/HTML/ArticleLeHegarat.html |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT julielehegarat mycinemaisnotdiplomaticitisconfrontationaldecolonialframingofthehomeintwodocumentariesbyrosinembakam |