Jean Marie Teno
Jean-Marie Teno’s early Homage (1985) remains one of his most delightful films perhaps because it contains the kernel of his entire œuvre. The opening of the film exhibits the quality of a whimsical mystery, with the voice of an older man calling out to his long-time friend, Boniface, who is absent. The narrator’s voice leads us to believe we might soon see Boniface because the camera rushes our gaze expectantly to openings or alleys, only to disappoint us with a continuing monologue. However, Boniface does soon come alive in the narrative as the one who left the village (and his friend) behind as he seeks his fortunes in the world at large.
Boniface still values, indeed romanticizes, artisanal work, reminiscing about the village craftsmen’s connection to their work, which is infused with enjoyment, engagement, and pride. The filmmaker manages, thus, to quietly admonish his people for the loss of such meaningful connection to one’s labor in modern capitalism, which, nevertheless, has allowed Boniface the opportunities to advance himself. The value of artisanal work reappears in a number of Teno’s films, most notably in his Sacred Places (2009), where a djembe maker’s work is given elaborate attention, as this artist’s crafting of the drum as well as the music he produces are cleverly presented as continuous with the newer medium of film in African hands. Teno’s boldness in using music in a variety of ways also takes form in this early film: in Homage we already see that music actually becomes the narrative at moments, intervening as irony or critique. It is a technique that Teno will masterfully develop in his later documentaries. What additionally comes through superbly in this short film is Teno’s keen awareness of the continuing imperative to wrest images of Africa out of the stereotypy and negativity of European depiction of the continent. Although the process had long begun since the early African filmmakers, who precede him by a generation, Teno’s virtuoso engagement with African history at macro and micro levels and his sometimes-mischievous deconstruction of European discourse and representation are revealed right from this early adventure in film.
Here, as continuously in his filmmaking, the young filmmaker is an unapologetic and eloquent spokesperson for Africa’s own modernity. His personal conviction in African futures alongside a deep investment in African filmmaking emerge as a corrective not just to colonialism’s limited and limiting narratives but also to power hungry new nationalisms and thoughtless Western-style modernization on the continent. All these emblematic themes and qualities that will mark Teno’s long and flourishing career are beautifully showcased through this homage the filmmaker pays to his father and which emerges in a touching revelation that closes the film.
Par Anjali Prabhu
(Extraits)
Contemporary Cinema of Africa and the Diaspora
