Notes

Kambá! is a non-fiction choral short film that explores diaspora, friendship, language and communication. The film was born from the encounter of African migrants living together in a “Okupa” house in the neighborhood of el Raval in Barcelona. The film was shot in uncertain times for the characters, who were struggling to regularize their legal status and were applying for asylum.

The project began as part of a Spanish class given by us, the directors of the film, and led to the creation of this piece built hand in hand with the protagonists. Without a previous script and with a mixture of fictional improvisations, documentary scenes and documents to capture the essence of daily life. 

The film focuses on the separation of two friends. The contextual background works as an implicit theme: in the dialogues and in the scenario in which they move. The exodus and risking their lives to get to Europe is followed by the problem of housing in Barcelona and, with it, the obstacles of creating a home. The characters are forced, according to the demands of almost anonymous institutions, to move around the country regardless of their wishes, impeding them to build lasting relationships and to rooting in the places they have chosen for themselves.

The characters are in the process of learning Spanish, so language is paramount. Learning a language also means renaming the world, it implies the syncretism between maternal and experiential meanings. The multiplicity of languages is very important in the piece: Souleymane speaks with his friend Bah in Fula. At the same time, we listen to people speaking in French, variants of Arabic and Spanish, the language they are learning. I believe that these voices and these phonemes are crucial to overcome a discourse limited by the

expression of a single language.

On the other hand, there is the difficulty of communicating with those who stayed on the other side: in Africa. Because of the lack of words to express the uncertain current situation, and because of the lack of access to the technology to do so. The protagonists can only communicate by phone calls in a park where they find free wifi. 

The project was a challenge for me as Latin American migrant woman, director of the film and teacher: by betting on a community creation, I confronted my position in the complex power dynamics that exist both in society and in auteur cinema. Kambá! led me to reflect on the role of pedagogy in film: Thinking of film as a pedagogical device and pedagogy as an inherent part of the cinematic method. Likewise, a constant question is put to the spectator and to those who make the film: Who has a voice?