He seems to be able to pull every second, the protagonist of the remarkabledebut femi. Dennis, 21, is one lump of pent-up emotions. Not only is heaggressive towards his surroundings, including his pregnant ex-partner, therealso seems to be a permanent battle going on in his head. He sees his Nigerianfather, who committed suicide, appear in dreams about his future child and hehimself has suicidal thoughts. His solution to the memories that terrorize himis not therapy, but voodoo.
Director Dwight Fagbamila (1993) is intrigued by the theme of absent blackfathers, he says. He used it in his graduation film Babatunde and knows ‘thefatherless existence’ from his own experience. “My Nigerian father is stillalive, but he separated from my mother when I was about five, moved to Londonand commuted up and down.”
Black boys who grow up without a father often appear in American films. Itsometimes leads to characters looking for and finding father figures in theunderworld. Well-known example is Oscar winner moonlight. In Fagbamila’sfilm, growing up without a father figure leads to self-hatred. “Dennis getsinto a fight with almost all the characters of color in the film, shaves hiscurls and even his pubic hair and finds the colored part of himself verydifficult.”
Growing up as a “mixed” boy of color in an almost completely white environmentcan lead to an identity crisis, says the director. “This search never led todepression for me like Dennis did. But his behavior is a dramatization offeelings I’ve had myself, which is that you never really belong anywhere andthat you want to fulfill something that is impossible. In the Netherlands Iwas always seen as black and in Nigeria as white.”
That Dennis doesn’t feel at home anywhere in the film doesn’t seem to beexplicitly due to his environment? “Compared to other black or mixed boys, Imyself have had little to do with outside racism. Of course I have beenstopped by the police for no reason, but never on the same structural basis asmany around me.
“So I thought it was more fair and interesting to look at internalized racismin my film. For example, I myself had a little voice in my head that told meto behave in an exemplary way in front of authorities or to be patient withthe elderly who need time to adapt to the current world in which you can nolonger do everything. say and do.”
Voodoo Rituals
Yannick Jozefzoon in the film as Dennis alternates very convincingly outburstsof anger with helpless attempts at overtures. He has rightly been nominatedfor a Golden Calf. His character goes in search of a ‘solution’ for thenegative spiral in which he finds himself in the culture of his deceasedfather. More specifically in voodoo rituals such as those in the West AfricanIfa faith, in which you can influence people and their behavior through spellsand magic. It delivers some thriller and horror-like moments. Fagbamila: “Myfather and Nigerian family are Muslim, but you notice that they know andrespect other West African religious traditions and elements. For example, myfather warned me when I visited people who are working on the dark side ofIfa: don’t let them get to you, they might conjure you.”
Also read a column by Sabeth Snijders about, among other things, ‘Femi’:Dutch film wallows in death and mourning
Except for the occasional warning, Fagbamila’s father made little effort topass on Nigerian traditions, religion, or language to his son. The youngdirector calls it a ‘mortal sin’. “There are all kinds of things that played abig role in the lives of my grandparents, but that I will never be able topass on to my children.” So he did his own research, read a lot and talked toa babalao, a kind of Ifa counselor or priest. Precisely because he knew solittle about them, he wanted to portray these traditions in his film. “Youhave the feeling that it is also part of who you are.”
femi takes place in Eindhoven. “A hugely underused setting in Dutch cinema,”says Fagbamila. And he’s not just saying that because he’s never lived andworked anywhere else. His film is set in somewhat drab locations: emptyfactory buildings, workers’ houses, a window prostitution neighbourhood. Butthe director often bathes these places in striking colors; for example, thePSV stadium casts its red and white light on Dennis’ mother’s residentialarea. It creates an unreal atmosphere that fits a film that combines rawrealism with mysticism. Fagbamila: „I see Eindhoven as a searching city afterthe departure of Philips. Large business premises have been vacant for a longtime and are now all being given new, trendy destinations. I thought thatsearching character of the city was a nice mirror for the character of themain character.”