Tarantula Heimatfilm Heur
present
in coproduction with BiraBiro Films
A movie by Patrick Dechesne & Alain-Pascal Housiaux
SHATTERING SHADOW
L’éclat furtif de l’ombre
Synopsis
Adisu, a young fisherman, fleeing his home
after his village is massacred.
On a journey to rediscover his identity, the
young man lose himself in the geological
wonder of his native country.
The film picks up forty years later in a port
town in northern Europe.
An aged taxi driver, Adisu revisits
sentiments each passing night, in search
of a memory of a love lost.
INTRODUCTION
We choose to construct our first film, Shattering Shadow, in hopes of surpassing the borders of
perceived intimacytt.
With this film, fiction provides us the liberty to depict the story of a life, fractured by exile.
The film doesn’t seek to show the number, the extent or the gravity of displaced persons, but
rather to trace the silent journey of an individual; to deconstruct the life and experiences of a
man in exile.
The silence that we talk about, we encountered it in africa and it appeared to us important to
that silence resonates throughout the film because we believe it will irrigate this journey.
Shattering Shadow : A man’s life, from childhood to the old age, at the cross road of
perceptions, on the path of exile.
Interview DIRECTORS
2° EFO is your first film. How do you move from art direction to film direction? And how did you choose to work on the scenery?
In both art direction and film direction, the desire to create stems from the same source. When working with Tsaï Ming-Liang (Visage)
and Chantal Akerman (La Folie Almayer), we were given a unique opportrunity in which we listened and observed. They helped us focus
our attention on the notion of fragility and humility. We decided not to use set constructions for our project, but rather we wished
to highlight the natural landscape of the earth. Ethiopia in its authenticity is the set, it is rich and original. It unleashes imagination.
3° If you could summarize the movie in a single word, what would it be?
Shatter.
Patrick Dechesne
4° Why did you decide to deal with the themes of exile and migration?
Alain-Pascal Housiaux
1° Why did you choose to film in Ethiopia? What connection do you have with that country?
The initial inspiration behind setting our story in Ethiopia derived from previous work experience on Ethiopian-American director
Hailé Gérima’s film “Téza”. It was the first time we felt a nascent desire to make a movie. The earth, the road, the spiritual journey,
and further exploration echoed in our minds. Bonds that had developed with producers Meseret Argaw, Daniel Taye Workou and
local craftspeople that we had collaborated with on “Téza” coupled with continued travels led us back to the Horn of Africa. It
was through these connections- to the people, the experience and the land that we were inspired to return to Ethiopia.
We show an exile made of flesh and blood, of hope and rage; a deaf rage. Our approach follows the silent cartography of a human
being who has been made mute by modesty and shame, yet retains an internalized and repressed rage within. Some people may
think that portrayng exile in this passive form is soft, but we think there are as many ways to preserve the dignity of those who suffer
the consequences of migration. By taking a closer look at these topics, we hope to invert indifference.
5° What inspired you to make that movie?
The reality of modern exile fans the flame in which everybody’s internal void is reflected like the blood of a shadow that has spread
across the dregs of society.
6° Could you talk about your main character and his evolution? Who is Adisu?
DIRECTOR’S biography
Our main character, Adisu, is based off a man we met while filming ”Téza,” who lived in Adis Abeba. He was the kitchen aid in the hotel
where the film crew was staying in Gorgora*. Every morning, we would leave the hotel to go shoot, and he would follow. He always sat
alone in the car parking lot in his car. Over time, has he developed a relationship witht the staff is presence became more obvius. He
told us the details of his mysterious life, which began to fill the pages of our notebooks. We collaborated together, searching for ways
to embody his character. Then, he suddenly disappeared, lured by curiosity back towards the country and away from our film set.
Alain-Pascal Housiaux and Patrick Dechesne develop a
path as artistics directors over the last twenty years within
Heur-Films cie.
Their works were recognised by the international films
festivals industry in 2010.
Hong kong and Tapei offered them the highest awards for
their work done in Tsai Ming-Liang’s film « VISAGE ».
We then met the acquaintance of Abebe Efrem Wale who would later play Adisu.
With him we decided to create a fictional story of a young carefree fisherman, Adisu, and the hellish night that thrusted forced him
into exile. We decided to broaden the space of his life and stretch it on sixty years. We see three different moments of his life: childhood, entrance into adulthood, and old age. On the road, Adisu becomes the image of a universal exile forced to wandering against
his will. He flees from war (the same war that still lies dormant nowadays between Ethiopia and Eritrea), and finishes in Northern
Europe. Memory works as the bridge between time and place. He embodies the life of yesterday and of today. As an old man in his
cab, he’s the purveyor of history. He shows how life is rich of with encounters that need to be developed. For this reason, Adisu is
intended to be a familiar character that our audience can identify with.
* A small village located on the banks of Lake Tana in the north-west of Addis Abeba
7° The grandfather is another important character in Adi’s memories. What does he embody?
The grandfather role helps represents childhood’s carefreeness. In the movie, the grandfather serves as a living form of
communication. His dialog with Adisu, in regards to stone throwing and the birds, also serves as a link to the firts imagines
witnessed in the film.
The artists dreamt and built the scenery, thereby helping to
determine the capture the look of the movie in which they
were involved.
Art Directors on the Ethiopian Hailé Gerima’s film « TEZA ».
The collaboration with the inhabitants gave birth to and
determinated a new line for creation. During the shooting,
the script of Shattering Shadow hatched.
They directed their first film which took place in Ethiopia
and in Europa in 2013.
. 8° Women are also prominent in Adisu’s heart. Several women appear in the movie. What do they represent?
As in everyday life, women represent both the dream and
reality. They portray the compassion and strength that
drives communities. The film depicts three female
characters. The first one dies in the first minutes. However
she continues to live vividly in the main character’s eyes.
The second character embodies the reality of war and the
distress it subsequently causes. She also however shows
selflessness and strength. Despite her pain, that woman still
has the strength to give hope to a more unfortunate
person. The third woman enables words to occur in the
movie. She provides a genuine voice, both of the two other
women as well as the taxi driver’s. She reveals the fractures
she silently suffers. We think that women can provide
something that men cannot in this way. That’s the reason
for their presence in the film.
9° How did you choose the actors? Some are profession
als while others are non-professionals. Can you explain
how you directed them and why you made that choice?
In Ethiopia, where the heart of the movie was filmed, we
relied on what the country provided in terms of actors.
We obtained priceless interactions between the inhabitants and craftspeople in a village in Gorgora that we tried to capture and
recreate on film as well. Nevertheless, some scenes turned out to be more complicated than others. The sequence in which Adisu
pushes stones into his mouth, in order to silence his pain and try to curb the growing emptiness inside him, wasn’t easy for our
character to recreate.
We asked that the stones should be cleaned carefully, and we asked that the staff to not look at him during the scene. Hygiene and
caution remain strong Ethiopian cultural values. However, for Abebe, the scene was not easy for him to act in. The gesture didn’t
remind him of any actual experience. It wasn’t embarrassment, but rather a problem of showing signs of such great weakness.The
echo of the screams he had to let out was even louder in the presences of silence. It took a long time to gain that kind of trust, we
had to work together, side by side, down on our knees, grabbing the same stones, going through the same motions. Eventually, he
was able to let his guard down. For Abebe, the pain was fictional, but finding the strength to shout out of disgust and fear in front of
a camera, and find the inner ways towards a common pain took time. We granted him the time he needed, which we believe gives
the film its primal narrative strength. Abebe wasn’t aware of the work we expected from him but he put his trust in us, which was
the greatest gift in exchange.
We also met the character of the taxi driver by chance. The role was already written and we were looking for a man who would look
like Abebe. Fate brought us luck and we met Joseph Farroul. We were cycling while he was driving his cab! We told him the story of
an undeclared, faceless war. A war that nobody wishes to experience. Joseph replied it wouldn’t be hard for him to act that part.
However, in order to do so, he needed to allows pains from his past to both resurface and be resolved. He needed time to write to
his sister in Haitï, who had lost contact with after an argument. And had been on tense terms for 50 years, the two struggled to bury
the hatchet. His personnel story join our fiction. The mood to work together was sealed.
We choose Sara de Roo by the dialog we had written in between these two characters. The long monologue in the middle of a movie
that is based on silence is a crucial scene. This scene allowed for us to expand the perception of the movie, to not confine the movie
to one sole angle of perception. Sara De Roo is an profound actress: she absorbs the essence of each word in her flesh.
For the taxi company, we wanted to show the relationship between the employee and his boss. It mingles subordination and threats.
That bad character benefited from the spontaneity and humanity that was developed by Philippe Jeusette. He’s played the role of
the shady bosses taking advantage of a flawed system.
10° Water seems to play an important role for Adi. Could you explain what it symbolizes in the film?
The film is based on a few simple components: stones, back roads, a couple of fish, birds and water. This simplicity guided our writing.
From the beginning, we wanted to face the notion of poverty and we decided to turn the harsh circumstances into a creative force.
In Europe, the script takes place in the a undefined port city. We decided to shoot in the area around Meuse river. In the movie, the
river is a link the taxi driver constantly maintains with his distant past. The water flow perpetuates motion. Water also plays a role in
the movie because of its absence. Young Adisu walks in the dried bed of streaming waters several times. During the wet season the
whole counts is green and full of flowers, but in the film, those dried paths erode away as he journeys and sinks into oblivion.
11° It’s obvious you took your time to choose the frame and to think about the shots and the light. There’s a real concern for aesthetics in the movie. How did you work with the director of photography?
There were two directors of photography. While imagining the scenes in Ethiopia, two major elements influenced our decisions:
the character’s displacement and subsequent technical constraints. On that basis, we focused on how to address the movements.
We started to plan the shots. When we arrived on scene, we decided to place the camera according to the position of the sun. In
Ethiopia, the working days started very early. It was magical to be ready to start working at five o’clock in the morning. Being back
in Europe didn’t mean we had plenty of technical means. Not at all. In the empty flat, the narrow frame constituted by the windows
that overlooked the river or the windows of the taxi (two intimate elements that were part of the scenario) influenced our choices
of camera positioning.
In the end, the wealth of imagination, deployed to use the light and the special attention given to each frame, fills the film with
shades and lights that act as a bright fire that provides clarity to the whole story.
12° The film wavers between two worlds, depending on Adi’s memories. The idea of space and confinement is illustrated. Could you explain why you wanted to use such contrasts?
The loss of a person or a place always creates a reflection or shadow that people equate with degrees of silence, pain or melancholy. In the film, confinement and the immensity Africa, especially Ethiopia emerge into each other. We wanted to begin the film
in the Ethiopian countryside to show the soil as much as the wounded soul of the main character. The vast area strengthens the
wanderer’s isolation. His feet move the dust after each step and the vanishing dust clouds echo the time that goes by in silence.
The narrow space inside the taxi and the small flate overlooking the river both reveal a life reveal a life reducted to being a silent
witness .
13° In the movie, silence is inhabited! Although Adi’s character is deaf, the sound of the movie is very delicate and polished. Can you explain what was your intention?
We tried to treat sound in such a way that the audience shares the awareness of deafness. The film shows a strong explosion which
doesn’t kill but injures. From that moment on, a bond is created between the character and the audience. (Nobody can ignore the
suffering the loss of hearing causes). That explosion hurts the character in his flesh and the terror he feels makes him run away.
The world of yesterday falls apart, he plunges into an abyss of silence. In the heart of silence, the film becomes an enclosed space
and the beat of the arms against the young man’s frail body reveals the lifeless color of misery. This explains our choice to film the
countryside, but the extent of silence isn’t the extent of the void. In our opinion, silence opens the way to a serene reflection to
the Other. In the film, the context of deafness increases the ways of understanding instead of reducing. To do so, it’s necessary to
deliberately adopt other codes and listening habits. That’s what we seek to reach along with David Mennessier’s work. As a radio
presenter and DJ look for music treasures, David put his eclectic knowledge and his great sensitivity at the service of the film. In
addition, this encounter with the world of sound magnifies the images. Gradually, that last layer leaves its print like a second skin.
Step by step, it surrounds the main character who sees his own end arrive and sporadic notes accompany him like a veil of modesty
on his skin. The naked skin under which blood beats in his veins.
14° Did you work in a different way in Ethiopia and Liège?
Basically, no! Our approach is based on trust. The importance of words remains the same in Amharic, Flemish, English or French.
15° how are tasks divided up when there are two directors?
Communication is fundamental. You can overcome anything when you communicate, even if you disagree. Trust is crucial otherwise
the moments of great fragility couldn’t be overcome. Otherwise, having two approaches to consider everything enables to take
some distance. The magic of cinema derives from its ability to open doors and bring minds together! The important thing is that it
traverses border.
Credits
Taxi driver
Joseph Farroul
Adisu (20 year)
Abebe Ephrem Walle
The parking’s girl
Sara de Roo
The young woman
Elilte Tareken
The operatorPhilippe Jeusette
The desert’s woman
Tsega Yitbarek
The grandfather
Aba Birhanu Sahlen
The young AdisuFitsum Alemnew
The joung Théo
Sofiane Henry
The Afar sheperd
Alli Mohamed
The first soldier
Asmamaw AleneT
The second soldierHabtamu Negatu
The third soldierMandefro Jemer
The birds hunterMelkamu Takele
Théo’s friendLucas Guerrero-Caballero
The water workerFlavio Capetola
The second water worker
Jean-Baptiste Frenoy
The trainee mechanic
Byron Valet
The brewer
Stephane Hauteclair
The neighbour
Anna Magari
SHOOTING
writters & Directors Patrick Dechesne & Alain-Pascal Housiaux
directors of photography
Frédéric Noirhomme
with the participation of Hélène Louvart(AFC)
EDITORMarie-Hélène Dozo
Sound and Sound designNico Bunnik
MIXAGING
Thomas Gauder
music advisor
David Mennessier
ASSISTANT CAMERA
Nicolas Arnould
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Meseret Argaw (ETH) & Jean-Pierre Garrabos (BE)
set decoration
Sophie Dubuisson
wardrobeMarie-Paule Brauers
MAKE UP Garance Vanrossum
GAFFER
Jennifer Ninane & David Rouxhet
LOCATION MANAGERMandefro Bantirgu (ETH) & Flavio Capetola (BE)
set photographer
Danièle Pierre & Getachew Dechesne
press coordinator
Anne Kennes & Gudrun Burie
GRAPHIC ARTISTE
Amandine Grafé
producers TARANTULA BE
Joseph Rouschop & Valérie Bournonville
producers HEIMATFILM
Johannes Rexin & Bettina Brokemper
producers Heur-Films
P. Dechesne & A-P Housiaux
producers BIRABIRO FILMS
Daniel Taye Workou & Meseret Argaw
PRODUCTION
Tarantula
Heimatfilm
Heur Films
www.tarantula.be
www.heimatfilm.biz
www.heur-films.com
+32 4 225 90 79
+49 221 977799-0
+32 2 256 92 86
PRESS
Anne Kennes
Gudrun Burie
annekennes09@gmail.com
gudrun@theprfactory.com
+32 486 24 34 00
+32 498 10 10 01
By means of the Center of the Cinema and the Broadcasting of the Federation Wallonie-Bruxelles and Voo, developed
with the support of the Program MEDIA of the Europeen Union, realized with the support of the Belgian Fédéral Governement’s Tax Shelter, with Cinéfinance Tax Shelter and his partners Big Mat Beaufays and Dherte SA ,with the support
of the Film-und Medienstiftung NRW, with the cooperation of the TEC, with the support of the school of hotel business
and tourism of the city of Liège, with the cooperation of establishments Van den Brûle and the restaurant l’Ange Vin.
www.leclatfurtifdelombre.be
Graphic designer : Amandine Grafé