Coming Soon
QUARTIER MOZART
1992
Director
Jean-Pierre Bekolo
Starring
Sandrine Ola'a
Serge Amougou
Jimmy Biyong
Essindi Mindja
Runtime
80 minutes
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CAMEROONIAN FILMMAKER JEAN-PIERRE BEKOLO WILL BE IN ATTENDANCE FOR ALL 7:30 SCREENINGS IN THIS RETROSPECTIVE!
Jean-Pierre Bekolo’s first feature length film is a gender farce and coming-of-age tale that extends beyond any of the generic conventions that it dips its toes into. All taking place during a 48-hour period in the working class neighborhood of Mozart and combining urban legend with a sprinkling of witchcraft, QUARTIER MOZART follows a rebellious young girl known to her neighbors as Queen of the Hood. During a late night rant with her neighbor, a friendly middle-aged woman known to be a witch, Queen admits to wishing she could be a boy just to know what it's like. She gets her wish alright – the next thing she knows, Queen has transformed into MyGuy, a total stud whom everyone in town either wants to fight or lay.
As MyGuy pursues the tyrannical police chief’s daughter Saturday, he is pressured into partaking in all of the iconic male experiences: drinking, lying around having sex with girls and getting beat up at soccer practice. Just as he’s getting used to the hectic life of boy-dom he has another run in with the witch who has also transformed herself into a man – a man with the special ability to disappear penises with a single handshake. Layers of mayhem and gender games ensue.
With a cast of characters that each have their special part to play in the shenanigans of Mozart all brought on by this curious young woman and her one wish, QUARTIER MOZART is an absurdist’s exploration of gender roles akin to something like Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Even in his first film, Bekolo is asking questions about representation using his signature style: re-mixing what is wanted from representations of African characters and narratives into constantly shifting dualities that are playfully insightful.
This screening is promoted in partnership with Black Cinema Collective, a group of multicultural artists and scholars who examine and celebrate works of African and Afro-diasporic filmmakers.
Jean-Pierre Bekolo’s first feature length film is a gender farce and coming-of-age tale that extends beyond any of the generic conventions that it dips its toes into. All taking place during a 48-hour period in the working class neighborhood of Mozart and combining urban legend with a sprinkling of witchcraft, QUARTIER MOZART follows a rebellious young girl known to her neighbors as Queen of the Hood. During a late night rant with her neighbor, a friendly middle-aged woman known to be a witch, Queen admits to wishing she could be a boy just to know what it's like. She gets her wish alright – the next thing she knows, Queen has transformed into MyGuy, a total stud whom everyone in town either wants to fight or lay.
As MyGuy pursues the tyrannical police chief’s daughter Saturday, he is pressured into partaking in all of the iconic male experiences: drinking, lying around having sex with girls and getting beat up at soccer practice. Just as he’s getting used to the hectic life of boy-dom he has another run in with the witch who has also transformed herself into a man – a man with the special ability to disappear penises with a single handshake. Layers of mayhem and gender games ensue.
With a cast of characters that each have their special part to play in the shenanigans of Mozart all brought on by this curious young woman and her one wish, QUARTIER MOZART is an absurdist’s exploration of gender roles akin to something like Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Even in his first film, Bekolo is asking questions about representation using his signature style: re-mixing what is wanted from representations of African characters and narratives into constantly shifting dualities that are playfully insightful.
This screening is promoted in partnership with Black Cinema Collective, a group of multicultural artists and scholars who examine and celebrate works of African and Afro-diasporic filmmakers.