Civil war tale marks Chad debut at Venice film fest

By Silvia Aloisi

VENICE, Italy (Reuters) – African cinema is back at the
Venice film festival after nearly 20 years with Chad’s
“Daratt,” a story about coming to terms with the horrors of
civil war inspired by director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun’s own
experience.

“Daratt” is the first Chadian film in the history of the
Venice festival to be included in the main competition and the
first African production vying for the top Golden Lion award
since 1989.

In an understated style, the film tells the tale of Atim, a
16-year-old Chadian boy who sets out to kill the man who
murdered his father during the country’s civil war.

When he does find him, he ends up working for him as an
apprentice baker, plotting his revenge but also struggling to
draw a line under the past and forgive.

Haroun, born in 1960, had an uncle abducted, was himself
wounded and eventually fled his homeland, which has a long
history of conflict and political instability, in a
wheelbarrow.

He says he knew “a great many” of the 40,000 people
believed to have been killed under former ruler Hissene Habre
and that “Daratt” partly draws on his personal experience.

“I don’t know how many people in this room have seen a man
being executed at point blank,” he told reporters after
“Daratt” was presented in Venice this week. “I did when I was
16.”

“I was there when the civil war started. You find that your
neighbor who lives next door and had never given you a reason
to be suspicious grabs a gun and transforms himself,” he said.

The conflict that forced Haroun to flee has officially
ended, but violence still plagues the country.

Shooting for “Daratt” started in Chad on April 3. Ten days
later, rebels were attacking the capital N’djamena and the film
had to be temporarily put on hold.

“The tragedy of civil war is that it never ends, it cannot
end until all the score-settling is over,” Haroun said.

“Daratt,” which is competing for Venice’s top prize with 20
other films, including four big U.S. titles, cost just 1.5
million euros — compared to the $200 million budgets a big
American production can reach.

Haroun, who won the award for best first film in 1999 in
Venice with “Bye Bye Africa,” said he was happy to be back in
the main competition.

“People see this continent as the banlieue (suburbs) of the
world, but there are quite a few of us who think it is up to
the banlieue sometimes to bring life to the center of town,” he
said.

“We must ensure that African cinema is as visible as other
films and that it is regarded as cinema before being regarded
as African.”

Reuters/VNU