ZANJ HEGEL LA
(HEGEL’S ANGEL)
Inspired by southern Haiti’s Vodou and Kanaval cosmologies, and co-written with the entire cast and crew, Zanj Hegel La (Hegel’s Angel), is a cinematic fable challenging the boundaries between collaborative ethnography, fiction and reverie. The film follows an inquisitive boy named Widley whose life, suspended between mundane activities and foreign myths, unfolds away from the turmoil of an upcoming presidential election. As the boy wanders through an evanescent countryside, running errands for his father and paying furtive visits to a local film editor, his searching eyes become a mirror for the exotic new spell sweeping his people from one empire to another.
‑ Peter Dickinson (Anthropologica)
‑ Michael G. Smith (White City Cinema)
“A clever meta-commentary on encroaching modernity and the impact of cultural imperialism [...] A generous, richly layered work of cinematic self-awareness.”
‑ Shaun Inouye (The Cinematheque)
“Succeeds in raising questions about how one might portray a culture that is not their own [...] Allows its viewers to rethink stereotypes about Haiti and its people.”
‑ Paige Smith (SAD Mag)
“Thought provoking [...] Inspiring us to imagine new possibilities that may be realized by transgressing conventional boundaries between fiction and ethnography.”
‑ Dara Culhane (CIE)
“Not only does the film confront history and memory, but its structure also radicalizes ethnographic conventions and formality of linear storytelling.”
- █████████ (█████████)
“Pioneering new forms of collaborative dialogue, exchange and co-authorship that are breaking new ground and helping redefine practices of co-creation. Significantly, [this film] speak in particular to the struggles of access, privilege and hierarchy which are so central to our current debates concerning the decolonization of cinema. I argue that [the director’s] democratizing and decentring models of creation are making significant contributions to debates about authorship and privilege.”
- ███████ (██████████)
“A commitment to community-authored filmmaking, places [the director] and his work at the forefront of a new, non-extractive storytelling.”
- ██████ (████████████)
Awards and honours
2020 Best in Show Award for Documentary, Best Direction & Acting Award for Documentary, Best
Cinematography Award for Documentary, Best Audio/Music/Soundtrack Award for
Documentary, Colorado International Activism Film Festival, Denver, CO, USA
Golden Dragon Award - Experimental Film, Druk International Film Festival, Paro, Bhutan
Best Fiction Feature Award, Genova Flight International Film Festival, Genova, Italy
Nominee, Best Experimental Film Award, International Film Festival Cologne, Cologne, Germany
2019 Best Feature Film Award, Collected Voices Ethnographic Film Festival, Chicago, IL, USA
Best Indigenous African Feature Award, Quetzalcoatl Indigenous International Film Festival, Oaxaca, Mexico
Best Narrative Feature Award, Etowah Film Festival, Canton, OH, USA
Best International Feature Film, Ayodhya Film Festival, Hukampura, India
Best Documentary Award, Cinergo International Film Festival, Athens, Greece
Best Feature Film: Platinum Award, Mindfield Film Festival, Albuquerque, NM, USA
Best Feature Film, Karnavati International Film Festival, Ahmedabad, India
Nominee, Best Feature Documentary Award, Glendale International Film Festival, Glendale, CA, USA
2018 Best Experimental Film Award, Falcon International Film Festival, London, UK
Screenings (selected)
2021 Coal City Film Festival, Enugu, Nigeria
2020 Genova Flight International Film Festival, Genova, Italy
International Film Festival Cologne, Cologne, Germany
Onirica Film Festival, La Spezia, Italy
Castellabate Film Festival, Castellabate, Italy
Colorado International Activism Film Festival, Denver, CO, USA
Puglia International Film Festival, Bari, Italy
FESTCiMM - Festival Internacional de Cinema No Meio do Mundo, Garanhuns, Brazil
2019 Society for Visual Anthropology Film and Media Festival, Vancouver, Canada
Buenos Aires International Film Festival, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Everest International Film Festival, Siliguri, India
Intimalente/Intimatelens Film Festival, Caserta, Italy
Ayodhya Film Festival, Hukampura, India
Karnavati International Film Festival, Ahmedabad, India
Balneário Camboriú International Film Festival, Balneário Camboriú, Brazil
Aks International Minorities Festival, Copenhagen, Denmark
Collected Voices Ethnographic Film Festival, Chicago, IL, USA
Benin City Film Festival, Benin City, Nigeria
Glendale International Film Festival, Glendale, CA, USA
Wallachia International Film Festival, Bucharest, Romania
Split Film Festival - International Festival of New Film, Split, Croatia
Ciudad del Este Independent Film Festival, Ciudad del Este, Paraguay
Mindfield Film Festival, Albuquerque, NM, USA
Kadoma International Film Festival, Osaka, Japan
Druk International Film Festival, Paro, Bhutan
Brighton Rocks Film Festival, Brighton, UK
Quetzalcoatl Indigenous International Film Festival, Oaxaca, Mexico
Cinergo International Film Festival, Athens, Greece
Realtime International Film Festival, Lagos, Nigeria
Festival Nouvelles Vues Haïti, Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Etowah Film Festival, Canton, OH, USA
National Black Film Festival, Houston, TX, USA
Cannes International Pan-African Film Festival, Cannes, France
Tupelo Film Festival, Tupelo, MS, USA
Festival de Largos y Cortos de Santiago, Santiago, Chile
Darbhanga International Film Festival, Darbhanga, India
2018 Falcon International Film Festival, London, UK
Franklin International Independent Film Festival, Franklin, TN, USA
Docs Without Borders Film Festival, Nassau, NY, USA
Syracuse International Film Festival, Syracuse, NY, USA
The Bioscope Global Film Festival, New Delhi, India
South Film and Arts Academy Festival, Rancagua, Chile
Miami Independent Film Festival, Miami, FL, USA
Five Continents International Film Festival, Puerto la Cruz, Venezuela