Published on : 11/05/2022 – 13:28Modified : 11/05/2022 – 13:48
Directed by the young 24-year-old Central African filmmaker, Rafiki Fariala, the film traces the life of a group of students on the Bangui campus, the difficulties they face, including corruption and sexual harassment. Its content did not please the authorities, who consider it too ” compromising ».
On Saturday April 30, We students! is scheduled at the Alliance française de Bangui for the opening of the Afro-European festival, organized in partnership with the government and the European Union. Among the guests, the boss of Minusca, Valentine Rugwabiza, and the Minister of Arts and Culture, Jennifer Saraiva-Yanzeré. This one, shocked by what she sees on the screen, leaves the projection.
A few days later, she summons the director, Rafiki Fariala, and several Central African and European producers of the feature film to her office to ask them for explanations.
« Images that do not reflect the country »
In a communication broadcast by Central African radio Ndeke Luka, she regrets that this film was made without government approval: “ We would also like to know, because we have seen very compromising images, images that do not reflect the country at the moment. We are obliged to take measures, because today, the Central African Republic has gone through very difficult times. We do not want incitement to hatred for the population. And in this movie, frankly, there’s too much incitement. And we just want to say: stop. We are willing to be helped to educate our children, but that it be done with us, not without us. »
The Ministers of Communication and Higher Education were also present, as well as soldiers. The virulence of the reproaches pushed the summoned to hide for several days for fear of reprisals, and to not want to express themselves.
Selected at the Berlinale
The decision falls: We students! is prohibited from broadcasting in the Central African Republic until further notice. The government now intends to review the partnership with the Alliance Française, which has been mentoring young Central African filmmakers for several years.
Made with the help of international partners, We students! has been selected by several film festivals, such as the Berlinale last February and the Saint-Louis documentary festival in Senegal, which is screening it this Wednesday, May 11 at 7 p.m. local time, Place Faidherbe.
► To read also: “We, students!”, by Rafiki Fariala, “the first Central African film at the Berlinale”