Synopsis
An experimental afrofuturist fable centered on Wanita, a mysterious young woman embarking on a journey of discovery that could save humanity. Set 150 years in the future, Africa has become a unique, sprawling metropolis controlled by a race of immortal beings, filled with ordinary mortals dying from a disease called “Bad Luck”. Blending fiction and documentary, Bekolo tackles themes such as culture, society, and the representation of Africa in the media, weaving a bold narrative that questions the notion of truth in a hyper-mediated world.
A word from Tënk
Naked Reality is another work that showcases Jean-Pierre Bekolo’s unique melange of Afrofuturism and African colonial histories with the added element of science-fiction and the empowering of Black bodies. Naked Reality is another testament to Bekolo’s work as a filmmaker whose films are not confined to the binaries of fiction or non-fiction. The film eschews the trappings of conventional narrative fiction and uses its sounds and visuals, including the monochromatic images to break free of convention and create a unique work of art true to the filmmaker himself – a work where he embraces experimentation, non-narratives and focuses on the future for Africans all the while acknowledging that without adequate recognition of our past, it is impossible to envisage this future.
In the mode of other Jean-Pierre Bekolo’s films, the film has a female protagonist through which the story is narrated. Bekolo’s intentional use of African female characters is a common trait in his work as someone whom some would call an African feminist filmmaker. In Naked Reality, set 150 years from now, we see the protagonist Wanita stuck between both her identities, who she is and who she wants to be, a conflict which leads her to an even bigger conflict: what her true mission is in accordance with the plans of her African ancestors and what her old life is as she deems it to be. In order for her to receive her mission from her ancestors, she needs to ensure that the person she is, is also the person she wants to be.
In the future where "Bad Luck" is the major medical problem which can be traced to personal ancestry, the link between the future and the past is immediately established. As an Afrofuturistic filmmaker, Bekolo has always been intentional about depicting the links between the future and the past. Given Africa’s colonial past, Wanita’s battle with her identity even 150 years into the future portrays that the wounds caused by colonialism and slave trade are not only too deep to have been healed in the present but much deeper than to expect the damages to be transient moving into the future.
Badewa Ajibade
Guest curator
