Snaps

To be recognized might be the most fundamental need of being human. Yet the means and methods for seeking it differ radically, especially among artists. As some of the movies at the 9^th NMFF 2019 have shown, recognition can become a matter of survival.

When Peter Guyer and Thomas Burkhalter were filming Contradict, they worked with female Ghanaian creatives to assemble a portrait of a generation tackling the post-colonial struggles, and how they see feminism after it gained an increasing global presence.

Since hip hop’s birth, samples of politicized words have resonated across genres, be it punk anti-establishment, jaunty new-wave experimentations, or EDM’s uplifting calls for unity. Lola Baraldi traces out music that gives political words a new meaning.

When making their film on the music scene in Ghana, Peter Guyer and Thomas Burkhalter discussed how to deal with the ethics of representation. Together with local artists, they decided to shoot a documentary that was not just about the scene, but created with it.

Since 2014, Hong Kong’s art and music industries have been baptized by a political awakening. Artists like Susi Law got elected into district councils. Law is not one for big speeches and her aural sensitivity could be beneficial to Hong Kong’s political crisis in 2020.

«People in Ghana have gone overboard with religion, politics, and corruption», says FOKN Bois' Wanlov the Kubolor. A critical investigation of the relevance of religion and churches in Ghana.

The musician Ata Ebtekar, aka Sote, is helping to build an experimental music scene from Iran and Iranians abroad: contemporary music that engages with tropes of the past.

Country Music has been long associated with a strong focus on its country of origin. When Peter Guyer and Thomas Burkhalter were filming their «Contradict» in Ghana, they discovered that it is very popular in West Africa.