Emerging from the Covid era of virtual festivals with a seeming new resolve to top itself in what it does best, the 52nd Annual Rotterdam International Film Festival IFFR opened an all in-person festival on January 25, for a run through February 5, with a broad slate of films, including features, 97 of them world premieres. Behind the scenes, virtual access to high-profile sections of the festival and press conferences was enabled for selected international press, which made my coverage from afar possible.
An on-site friend and her cell phone camera provided me with a virtual front-row seat for events including the opening ceremony. Director Raingou focuses on three children, brothers Mohamed and Ibrahim, lively little boys given to bouts of giggling and wrestling, and a pre-teen girl named Falta.
The brothers had previously been kidnapped into a Boko Haram camp but escaped. Now, they are in search of their missing parents. All three children live in a village on the Nigerian border in the north of Cameroon, which is under heavy military occupation to protect the residents.
A boy casually entertains his friends by describing how he saw hostages executed with an ax to the head. The village teacher reminds his students that no war imagery is acceptable when they discuss what to make with their modeling clay. Nevertheless, the final products include childish renderings of tanks and guns made of clay. The schoolhouse windows look out on a line of soldiers fitted out in full combat gear and carrying assault rifles, the sight of everyday life.
In a press conference, director Raingou revealed that she had initially set out to develop a film centered on adults but found that she was increasingly drawn to the children. The more time she spent with the children, the less the adults took notice, regarding her as a kind of handy babysitter keeping the kids entertained with her camera. The resulting freedom to work unhindered provided a unique window on horrific unfiltered childhood.
