Ubatizo by Antje van Wichelen BE / Fundi Mwamba Gustave DRC
Fiction – experimental/horror / French, Swahili, English
In coproduction with Twenty-Nine-Productions BE

UBATIZO, a Swahili word meaning "baptism" in reference to water, is a tale Oscillating between fiction and fact, horror and experiment film, archive and present. It tells of a dangerous disease set in motion by the very same toxic mining. As Doctor Fundi tirelessly searches for a remedy, his quest is interspersed by archive films, notebooks with formulas, petri dishes with bacterial cultures and the effects of environmental toxicity affects on the film itself - both as matter and metaphor.


Technical details: short film.
Genre(s): Fiction.
Sub-genre(s) : horror, experimental.
Themes : Toxicity, pollution, violence, sense of duty, oath, survival, death.
Language of shooting : Multilingual - French, Swahili.
Subtitles: French, English. Country: Democratic Republic of Congo.
City: Lubumbashi.

Other co-producing country : Belgium...
Year of production : 2023/2024.
Running time : Not yet determined. Production style : FOUND FOOTAGE.
Production formats : BOLEX 16mm camera, Go pro, Infrared surveillance camera without sound, webcam.
Frame: 16:9, 4:3. Sound format: stereo. Prohibitions: none.

COLLABORATIONS
direction: Fundi Mwamba Gustave and Antje Van Wichelen
sound: Franck Moka
title song: Willy Ilumbo, Jenny and Kaiser (to be ordered)
production: Rosa Spaliviero _ Twenty Nine Productions (probably)
a Congolese producer is being approached
...

partners until now: Biasasa Centre d'art, Picha, Lotte Arndt, Alexander Schellow, Rosa Spaliviero – Twenty Nine Studios, Kunsthalle Mainz, LABO BxL, Peliskan