When the director Mickaël Bandela was six months old, his biological mother Gisèle, who lived in France, handed him over to the care of his foster mother Marie-Thérèse, who looked after him for almost twenty years. Contact with Gisèle never broke off, but visits remained irregular. Now Mickaël is 35 and starting his own family. Actually a perfect time to include Gisèle as a grandmother in his life. But she decides to return to her old Congolese homeland. Mickaël tries to understand - the woman who brought him into the world, the woman he grew up with, and himself. His autobiographical film becomes a fragmented search for traces of memories of his own becoming. Some sequences show moments of extreme disorientation. A loss of balance in turning around oneself, as one might think? A great documentary that explains the difference between family structures in most African families and those in other countries. A very important and often unspoken issue that affects many people born in the diaspora with African roots.
Introduction: Tutu Westerhoff
An event of the Africa Film Festival Cologne, ISD Cologne, Proud e. V. and Sonnenblumen Community Development Group e. V.
All the screenings during AFRICAN FUTURES COLOGNE 2023 sponsored by Stadt Köln