ZO REKEN
a film by Emanuel Licha
FEATURE PRESENTATION
FREE IN-PERSON
+ ONLINE SCREENING
IN-PERSON SCREENING:
MARCH 21, 2022 • 7 PM
@ Halifax Central Library
VIEWABLE ONLINE IN ATLANTIC CANADA
FOR 48 HOURS FOLLOWING IN-PERSON SCREENING
2021 / CANADA / 86 mins
Emanuel Licha’s newest work takes its name from the Haitian Creole slang term for “shark bones”—a nickname for the Toyota Land Cruiser, the vehicle popularized amongst humanitarian aid organizations in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. A primary feature in Zo Reken, the film quietly situates itself in the back of such a 4x4. That being said, the conversations that take place in it are anything but quiet: fly-on-the-wall viewers witness Haitian passengers discussing the state of neocolonialism, the president, and the failed promises of international community, and urgently so. Muted shouts of demonstrations and clangs of barricades being erected background Zo Reken’s dialogue as the car turns corners around bumpy Port-au-Prince roads. Candid, angry, suspicious and immersive, Zo Reken navigates the aftermath of international aid by privileging the act of listening, above all. —Audrey Chan
Before Zo Reken, After Images will present Israel Ekanem’s short film Slave/Servant/Human.
TRAILER
ABOUT THE FILMMAKER
Emanuel Licha
Initially trained in urban geography, and then visual arts, Emanuel Licha is an artist and documentary filmmaker. His work in installation, film, video installation and photography focuses on the role of spatial objects in the representation and the understanding of geopolitical events, leading to a reading of the features of the urban landscape as so many social, historical, and political signs.