What happened after Mozambique?
In 1978, the late Jean Rouch himself a famous figure in French cinema, and a group of Parisian filmmakers created the Mozambique film workshop which created the first ever indigenous third world filmmakers.
Today, indigenous and third world filmmakers are still struggling to have their own voice and world view heard on the international forum.
There are still too many people and organisations who believe that we need to the third world needs to be represented by first world filmmakers. But are we really incapable of speaking for ourselves, representing ourselves and offering our own particular perspective on the way the earth functions. Shouldn't we create, run and control our own film forums that truly empower the third world?
It is fine to collaborate together with filmmakers from the industrialised countries but we also need third world filmmakers and a third world film industries to be self regulating and to be self driven.
Most third world film festivals are just appendages of a larger first world industries funded by Paris or Brussels. Many international film festivals created in our name are not run by third world people. They are still Eurocentric.
Upon what forum can we really stand as third world people? Our struggle goes on.
Bob Dylan wrote a song called Mozambique - about a his own dreams, inspired by Mozambique. That kind of artistry is great. Because its a third dimension and not someone using the third world for their own career like many people purporting to support the third world do.
That's my point here. It's not about blocking first world filmmakers from working in the third world, but its about proper recognition of third world aspirations as well.
Outside of fiction and drama filmmaking, first world filmmakers do not have to shut out the voices of third world filmmakers just so that they themselves can have a socio-political voice regarding the state of the third world. They should be facing the common issues from their own humanity, standing on their own personal politics and they should define that for themselves properly before they start publishing their own observations. That way they can provide the earth with authentic art and not the mere noise making about third world issues which only affect them as consumers.
Outside of fiction and drama filmmaking, first world filmmakers do not have to shut out the voices of third world filmmakers just so that they themselves can have a socio-political voice regarding the state of the third world. They should be facing the common issues from their own humanity, standing on their own personal politics and they should define that for themselves properly before they start publishing their own observations. That way they can provide the earth with authentic art and not the mere noise making about third world issues which only affect them as consumers.
During many other articles regarding film and emancipation, I shall carry on with a critical analysis about North/South relationships and how the third world voice is constantly silenced by various constructs.
