Do you believe in miracles? With his documentary “Le Burdeau”, in competition at the prestigious and abundant Festival Cinéma du Réel in Paris, Elvis Sabin Ngaïbino invites us to experience hell, but also the ecstasy caused by the religious belief of a couple struck by AIDS , often judged in the Central African Republic as a “disease of shame” and a “punishment from God”. His camera, incredibly close to the bodies and minds, allows us to physically share all the fury and madness of the lives of Rodrigue and Reine, condemned to living out their destiny around HIV in secret. Interview.
RFI : At the beginning of your documentary, a man and a woman dig the earth to erect a cross. What did you want to dig and erect with your film, The burden ?
Elvis Sabin Ngaïbino : I wanted to dig into the illusion that people have regarding AIDS patients, who stigmatize them, who marginalize them. And I really wanted to establish or show the eyes of the world that AIDS disease is like any other disease and that there was no need to stigmatize AIDS patients. That we really had to help them, because they are going through difficult times. Today, in the Central African Republic and in certain African countries, AIDS is seen as a disease of shame. People hide and die in silence. For us, for me, with my character, the idea of making this film is really to contribute and give people another look at this disease.
Who are Rodrigue and Reine, the two main characters of the film ?
They are a couple united by the Church and united by the disease of AIDS as well.
Why did you choose these two people? ?
In fact, I didn’t choose them. When I expressed the desire to make this film, they came forward. It’s a lot of courage to come forward. Many AIDS patients will not dare to express this desire to be filmed, but they did. So I said to myself: “ Wow, why not do the adventure with them ? ” So.
Read alsoFipadoc: “You and Me” in Bangui, Central African Republic
The burden, it is the story of a liberation, of a deliverance. What deliverance, what liberation are we talking about ?
It is liberation from stigma, liberation from rejection, liberation from many things. These characters have suffered a lot of injustice and it’s a liberation for them to be able to talk about this illness, to reveal themselves in front of people and to no longer be ashamed. So for me, it’s a big liberation.
Their membership in the Church of the Apostolic Mission and their belief in Jesus play a central role in the lives of Reine and Rodrigue and in the film. For them, this illness is also a spiritual struggle between their God and the Devil. We witness surreal scenes of collective exorcism where everyone is waiting “ let the miracle work “. While Reine and Rodrigue secretly take their AIDS medication, the other members of the Church preach, dance and sing to bring about healing. What is for you the role of the Church and this limitless belief? Is it an ersatz for a failing health system in the Central African Republic? ?
Yes, the Church has its share of responsibility. If the state has a weakness today, I think the Church tries to fill that weakness through biblical counsel. These tips help people who are suffering to understand things and come to their senses. I think the Church also really plays the role of a pioneer helping people in the country. When people no longer believe in care, doctors, etc., they turn to the Church and find a solution. So, the Church plays an important role, like the role that the State plays in the country.
In your previous film, Makongo, produced in 2020 and awarded at the Cinema of Real and the Venice Film Festival, you follow two Aka Pygmies thus giving back their dignity to the indigenous peoples of the Central African Republic. Is this a central subject in your cinematographic approach? ?
Yes, especially freedom. Everyone should aspire to freedom. Man should be free. As it is even written in the Bible, we must be free, we must love ourselves. Today there is a lot of stigma, a lot of injustice. My cinema seeks to give meaning and turns towards all stigmatized, marginalized, isolated people. In my cinema, the strength that I really seek is to give space to those who are marginalized.
You have a degree in geology, how did cinema enter your life? ?
It happened by force. Initially, I had this passion for cinema. As children, we watched black and white films on the screen. Afterwards, when I got my baccalaureate, I wanted to come and study in France and I had not had this opportunity. So I said to myself, with today’s unemployment, I had to find a job that could earn me money. So, I threw myself into cinema like that. There was a cousin of mine who worked in cinema. One fine morning, I came across his script. I said to myself : ” Ah, that’s how cinema is made ! » I took a passion and started like that. I was lucky to have been selected among the ten participants for the Ateliers Varan training in Bangui, in 2017. That’s where the adventure began for me.
Read also“We, students!”, by Rafiki Fariala, “the first Central African film at the Berlinale”
In 2012, you were one of the co-founders of the Central African Cinema Academy. In 2017, you participated in the first Varan Workshops in Bangui. In 2019, you co-created the first film production company in the Central African Republic. Over the past ten years, how has the cinema industry evolved in the Central African Republic ?
Things started to change. In 2010, when I started, there was almost nothing. To go back, in 2003, there was the first feature film made in the Central African Republic, The silence of the forest [coréalisé par le Centrafricain Didier Ouenagaré et le Camerounais Bassek Ba Kobhio, NDLR]. After that, it was a long drought. I said to myself why not get together as a group to do something, to keep this sector alive? This is where I set up the Academy of Central African Filmmakers. We made films with the means at hand. Then, little by little, the Ateliers Varan arrived. And I was lucky enough to be selected. Afterwards, I started making films and living from my passion, making films according to my wishes, because now I have the financing to really showcase my talent. [Rires]
► The burdendocumentary by Elvis Sabin Ngaïbino (Central African Republic), in competition at Real Cinema Festivalin Paris, from March 22 to 31, 2024.