Balane 3

Balane 3 is a neighbourhood in Inhambane.
Inhambane is a city in Mozambique.
Mozambique is a country in Africa.
Africa is not just what you see on TV.

After several films on Mozambican youth, including Domy+Ailucha: Ket Stuff! in which two teenagers filmed their wanderings at the height of lockdown, here Ico Costa paints in16 mm a luminous portrait of Inhambane and those who bring it to life.  In a series of situations, the unobtrusive camera plunges into every corner of the city to capture fleeting fragments of life full of beauty and intensity: in a car, at work, in a hair salon or the dressmaker’s shop, the conversations move directly from small talk to secrets. Women laugh, evoke lovers, men share a meal, children play in the dunes at the golden hour. Elsewhere, a couple explore their first caresses, a band rehearses its music, voices sing out their karaoke, young people dance and, always, faces, gestures and a community vibrate.
Sustained by the sumptuous colours, the film uncovers the cinematic power of  everyday life and captures with sensuality the moments and exchanges that weave social ties. Against a contrasting background of media and complicated political developments, Costa highlights the desires, the incredible vitality and collective energy surrounding him. “So far, surviving has prevented us from living”, we read on a wall. The mise en scène seems to embody a thrust of joyous resistance: here, existing is no longer enough, it’s time to start living.

Nepheli Gambade