CM 2023

Vlaams Audiovisueel Fonds

CCA Production support

Anti-Muse

IFFR Pro Immersive 2023 - Anti-Muse

Goals at CineMart We have developed the concept together with VR technical advisor Wim Forceville (BE) and have secured production funding from the two Belgian film funds. We have a script, did a first 360 test shoot in greenhouses and have a first 3D animatic storyboard. We are in talks with VR studio Poolpio (BE) for the VR production. This is our first VR project and we are still exploring several on- and off boarding options. We are looking for international creative, financial and technical partners, cast and crew, as well as potential technical sponsors and international sales. Synopsis You put on the VR headset and find yourself at about three metres high among tropical plants. Above you see the grandiose construction of glass ceilings of the Royal Greenhouses. All around you lush crops and flowers. Then, a black young woman appears from among the plants and catches your attention. She is holding a large art deco birdcage on a stick that you voluntarily fly straight into. She closes the cage and you slowly start to realise you are an exotic bird stuck in a closed cage. She takes you on her walk through her world. Together with her, you discover a group of diverse black woman from all ages, The Divines, of which she is a part of. All the women are dressed in plant-based clothing and jewellery.You are taken past their living quarters built of loam and straw and given an insight into the daily routine of this cloistered society. The Divines sing and dance and they carve out life-size glass sculptures of feminist symbols and figureheads. Today is a special day; they celebrate the summer solstice with a procession and banquet. They decorate their statues with fine fabrics and pearls. A glass sculpture of the Virgin is doused with a black liquid, becoming the Black Virgin. There is only one ice sculpture in the space, that of a life sized Leopold II proud on his horse, visibly melting. You end up on the banquet table alongside other birds in cages. The highlight is the immaculate conception of a woman in the community, a newborn is presented. An exuberant celebration with dance and music sets in. The atmosphere is exciting and joyful, until there is a crack in the glass ceiling of the main hall, and some glass screens fall down on the women and their banquet. Fear can be read from their faces as they suddenly run away. You are left alone on the banquet table in your cage, next to the other captured birds. Only after a while does your cage slowly open... When you do decide to leave the cage you arrive in room scale VR where you can walk around the greenhouses before the credits start. When you decide to stay in your cage for longer than 15 seconds, GAME OVER shows up before the credits start.&nbsp;Director&rsquo;s Biography Baloji (1978) is an award-winning musician and filmmaker, as well as a polymath artist and poet who also works as a stylist and art director for himself and for brands. He was born in Lubumbashi (Democratic Republic of the Congo), and was raised and is based in Belgium.In Swahili, Baloji originally means "man of science", but during the colonial era this transformed into "man of occult sciences", and into "sorcerer" today. This name, as a heavy burden to bear, has been transformed through his work, shaping an eye for surrealism and magic realism.As a musician he has released two critical acclaim albums and two EP, the latest gold certificated Avenue Kaniama, released by Bella Union records (Father John Misty, Fleet Foxes).As a filmmaker, he is currently finishing his first feature film and original soundtrack Augure. He is developing several new films, a VR experience and different art installations. He has previously directed six shorts such as Zombies (winner prize at Oberhausen Short Film Festival 2019, best short on MUBI 2020, Clermont-Ferrand short film festival, London Film Festival, Locarno 2019, and many more).As a visual artist, he is working on exhibitions and multidisciplinary art installations, among which are in Bordeaux/Basse-Sous Marine and Art Basel Miami/2022.

Amok

Anti-Muse tells the story of an endangered sisterhood called The Divines, a cloistered community of black women that live between the tropical plants of the Belgian Royal Greenhouses. Today is a special day: it’s the summer solstice procession. With their unique art and dance rituals based on ancient central-African traditions, they claim the public space and their past and thus a new future.