‘LES INDES GALANTES- Clement Cogitore’

AFROPOLITAN FESTIVAL OPENING 

Marie France Vodikulwakidi, master of ceremonies of the Afropolitan Festival 2018, will present the events during the three days. Creative and dynamic, she pursues her professional carrier in Public Relations and as influencer. She founded the company Connects The Dots embodies the new generation of Afro-Belgians.

Screening of the short Les Indes galantes(FR, 2017) by Clement Cogitore followed by the premiere of "Fari Foni Waati"  by the choreographer  Bintou Dembele.

Clément Cogitore adapts a short section of the Indes galantes ballet by Jean-Philippe Rameau, with the assistance of a group of Krump dancers and three choreographers:  Bintou Dembele, Igor Caruge and Brahim Rachiki. Krump is a dance that originated in the ghettos of Los Angeles in the 1990s, a response to the riots and brutal police repression that followed the beating of Rodney King.

After completing his studies at the Graduate School of Decorative Arts in Strasbourg and at Le Fresnoy, National Studio for Contemporary Arts, Clément Cogitore developed a practice that lies midway between cinema and contemporary art. His films have been selected by many international festivals and have won a number of awards. His work has also been screened and exhibited at many museums and arts centres. In 2015 his first feature film, Neither Heaven nor Earth, won the Gan Foundation Prize at the Cannes Festival – Semaine de la critique, where it was acclaimed by the critics and nominated for a César for Best First Feature Film. The same year he received the BAL Award for young creation. In 2016 he received the Sciences Po Prize for Contemporary Art and the 18th annual Fondation d’Entreprise Ricard prize for contemporary art. 

Bintou Dembele is a dancer and choreographer recognised as being one of the pioneers of hip-hop dance in France. After a dancing career spanning more than 30 years, since 2002 Bintou Dembélé has been artistic director of her own dance company, Rualité. Her work is concerned with the memory of the body through the prism of France's colonial and post-colonial history.