Atalaku / Ladies in Waiting

Event Date as Display String:

Sunday, September 29, 2019, 7:00pm - 8:00pm

Location:

Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, 24 Quincy St., Cambridge

URL:

https://harvardfilmarchive.org/calendar/6350

Event Description:

Filmed during the 2012 elections, supposedly the first democratic
elections since the nation's independence in 1960, Atalaku ("Town
Criers") describes with equal vigor the poor functioning of democracy
within the country as well as a multiplicity of facets of daily life
and human relationships that this circumstance helps reveal. The film
follows three central protagonists. The first, Gaylor, is an ordinary
pastor, affiliate of a church where he exhorts his parishioners,
endlessly invoking the name of the Lord to convince women in the
audience to donate money. He becomes a tout for candidates in the
elections, a "crier" who incites local residents to attend meetings
for the political hopefuls who employ him; as he goes through the
markets distributing small sums of money, little electoral arguments
entrusted to him by incumbents to the national assembly, he keeps as
much as he can for himself. The second protagonist is an orchestra of
some twenty members, young musicians who rehearse, argue and get drunk
in a vast cemetery. The third is a group of young women who belong to
a citizens' association; they canvas the streets explaining to people
why and how to vote and supervise ballot procedure in polling
stations. Through these encounters, Atalaku captures the shameless use
of bribes, as well as the political passion of many citizens, the
misogyny still in force including among "democrats," and the force of
a clergy imbued with mysticism. The film ends with the riots that stem
from an electoral process so clearly marred by numerous
irregularities, and the repression that ensues. But it is the whole of
relations to the electoral process that appears as biased, ineffective
and immoral, even before the fraud that would bring dictator Joseph
Kabila back to power.

UID:

http://uid.trumba.com/event/134374858

Event Start Date as Date Type:

Sunday, September 29, 2019 - 19:00 to 20:00

Thumbnail:

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Detail Image:

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Feature Image:

Featured:

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