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Tinselwood

Forum 2017
© Les Films du Bilboquet
The ambassador used to come here often, say the young men rooting around with sticks in the undergrowth where the German cemetery used to be. But the treasures hurriedly hidden there by the colonial rulers before they fled are long since gone. And that’s how the road to Yaoundé eventually became overgrown, the area and its inhabitants were left to fend for themselves.
This story functions like a historical sketch, which forms the basis for Marie Voignier to use the tools of cinema to get a grasp on southwest Cameroon. The camera gently follows the inhabitants around in their daily lives, and gives them the time and space to reflect upon their situations – without smoothing over the contradictions in which they sometimes lose themselves: in Tinselwood, a brutal colonial past forms the underpinning for a present in stasis. In the evenings, the television set flickers above them, broadcasting current news. The film is also a riposte to the small bright light emanating from the screen: with her consciously marked position as an outside observer, the director understands that larger-scale images are necessary to portray the complexity of all the nuances that lie between black and white.
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by Marie Voignier France 2017 Bakwele, Bangando, Baka, French 82’ Colour Documentary form

Crew

Director Marie Voignier
Cinematography Thomas Favel
Editing Marie Voignier
Sound Design Thomas Fourel
Sound Marianne Roussy
Producers Eugénie Michel-Villette Les Films du Bilbouquet, Vassilis Salpistis Bonjour Cinéma

World Sales

Les Films du Bilboquet

Produced by

Les Films du Bilboquet

Bonjour Cinéma

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Photos

Marie Voignier

© Vassilis Salpistis

Born in 1974 in Ris-Orangis, France. She studied Engineering, Physics and Gender Studies. From 1999 until 2004, she studied Fine Arts at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts in Lyon, and she has been a professor there since 2011.

Filmography

2004 The Ghosts; 13 min. 2006 Le Bruit du canon (The Cannon’s Blast); 27 min. 2008 Au Travail (At Work); 47 min. 2009 Hinterland; 49 min. 2010 Hearing the shape of a drum; 17 min. 2012 L’Hypothèse du Mokele-Mbembe (The Mokele-Mbembe Hypothesis); 78 min. · The Land Was Already Occupied (The Future); 17 min. 2013 Standing Still; 14 min. 2014 One by One; 14 min., co-directed by Vassilis Salpistis · Tourisme international (International Tourism); 48 min. 2017 Tinselwood

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2017