March 22: Festus Toll

“The theme 'unmasking' is can be taken in the widest sense. My film The Black Pete Files, for example, is about unmasking the racist overtones of the tradition of Zwarte Piet, which was immediately visible in the riots against the action group Kick Out Zwarte Piet in recent years. I also want to explore the theme in various ways, ranging from 'mask' to revealing your ‘true face.’” 

He selected to show the restored version of Mandabi (The Money Order) by Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembène from 1968 as part of this exploration. A seminal work in the larger African cinema and key film examining the role of post-colonialism and Western capitalism. “We will also show a clip from the documentary film Caméra d'Afrique (1985), in which Sembène eloquently explains how African films are all too often viewed through a purely Western perspective.” African filmmakers also make films for their own audiences, in their own style and storytelling method. But that doesn't make those films any less relevant to a global audience. “The Money Order is not only about postcolonialism and the relationship between Africa and Europe, but also about the mechanisms behind it: about capitalism, power, about what happens between people when their relationships are disrupted by money.”

This exhibition presents works by various young artists whose work is rooted in the African diaspora.

One of the featured artists is Marc Sylla, whose work has its origins in both his Guinean roots and Dutch upbringing. From tribal skulls, bones, and masks, to fashion and graffiti—his work is genre defying. The exhibition will include a stand where his art works can be purchased and costumes will be showcased. 

Fragments of Carnival by filmmaker Kristof West will be on show. Set on a University Campus in The Netherlands, a group of students participated in a mask making workshop In which they were introduced to Carnival in Haiti and Trinidad and Tobago. The masks featured embody their interpretation of Carnival as a form of resistance against systems of oppression

Lastly, The Black Pete Files by Festus Toll will also be shown as part of this exhibition: a film essay that sketches the history of Zwarte Piet using archival footage.

The exhibition is open from 13:00–18:30. Entrance is free.

Unemployed and in his sixties, Ibrahima Dieng spends his days struggling to provide for his children and his two wives, until one day he receives a money order for 25,000 francs from a cousin in Paris. When he tries to cash it, he finds himself in a Kafkaesque maze that leads him from one counter to another but brings him no closer to his goal. Sembène's compelling, tragicomic film gives a bitterly ironic picture of a society plagued by corruption, greed, and poverty.

Ghandiman (2013 - Festus Toll - 7 min.)
Police officers arrest a man at a playground in the Dutch village of Deurne. The man attempts to assert control over what is happening to him by recording his interrogation.

The Black Pete Files (2023 - Festus Toll - 15 min.)
Film essay by Festus Toll, using archive footage to trace the history of Black Pete and the escalating controversy around this blackface character—he has become a divisive factor in an already deeply polarized society.
This film was commissioned by Playgrounds and Beeld & Geluid.

The Story of Ne Kuko (2023 - Festus Toll - 25 min.)
Around 1878, a nkisi was stolen from Congolese chief Ne Kuko. Not only was the theft of this object with spiritual powers a great loss for Ne Kuko, it also disrupted the local community.

The films will be shown with English subtitles. Tickets for the Pavilion Shorts grant access to the Nightshift program.

Nightshift will dim the lights in the studio and welcome the night. Lovers of Congolese Rumba and Afropop are invited to immerse themselves in the infectious melodies of Festus Toll and friends.

Visuals by Festus Toll

Host/Mc: Kingsta Darkskin Lion 

DJ Line-up:

22:30-00:00: TiZi
00:00-01:00: KRETEK
01:00-02:00: NINO ANDREAS
02:00-03:00: MATTALAND SOUNDSYSTEM

Entrance is free, reservation required.