38th edition 2023 feature films
Coconut Head Generation
Alain Kassanda
Every Thursday, a group of students from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria's oldest university, organize a film club, transforming a small lecture hall into a political agora where they develop a critical voice. "Coconut Head Generation", a derogatory expression for narrow-minded, brainless youth, takes on a whole new meaning when students turn this stigma on its head to claim their freedom of thought.
Born in Kinshasa, Alain Kassanda was a film programmer in the outskirts of Paris before moving to Nigeria. He directed his first film, Trouble Sleep, which won awards at Dok Leipzig and Visions du Réel in 2020. His first feature film, Colette and Justin, blends family history and the history of decolonisation in Congo. Coconut Head Generation won the Grand Prize at the 2023 edition of Cinéma du Réel.
- Photographie
- Alain KASSANDA, Tobi AKINDE
- Son
- Alain KASSANDA
- Montage
- Alain KASSANDA
- Production
- Ajimati Films
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A word from the committee selection :
University of Ibadan, Nigeria. A group of students screens Darrat by Mahmat-Saleh Haroun. “It isn’t just a film club. We are here to talk about films to broaden our horizons”, remarks a student during a session. Indeed, films tackle all sorts of issues: intersectionality, feminism, decolonisation, gender... However, reality soon catches up with students and films alike as the 2020 student protests erupt, moving to debates to the streets, where massive demonstrations are violently repressed. Frames, which first focus on faces, become progressively larger, revealing what is actually happening outside. This film not only allows Nigerian youths to make their voices heard - “coconut head generation” being a derogatory word for a supposedly lazy youth -, but it also bears witness to the progressive shift in these youths as they face a world turned upside down.
- Claire-Emmanuelle Blot