PopChange screened Colette and Justin (2022) , a debut feature film by Paris based Congolese filmmaker Alain Kassanda. This film delves into the intimate tapestry of personal family narratives while unravelling the complex history of a nation shaped by colonisation. Alain Kassanda’s directorial debut encapsulates this duality with finesse, prompting viewers to reflect on the enduring legacy of colonialism across generations and continents. The Q&A after the screening created a lively discussion with a wonderfully engaged audience and unearthed more of the intentional thinking through every step of Kassanda’s filmmaking process.
What sets Colette and Justin apart is its ability to navigate the delicate balance between personal storytelling and historical exposition without glorifying or perpetuating the violence inherent in colonial narratives. Instead, his film serves as a poignant reminder of the importance of reclaiming and retelling marginalised histories with authenticity and sensitivity.
The journey of crafting this film spans seven years, Kassanda explained to the audience which showed his commitment to honouring his grandparents, Colette and Justin, and their journey from pre-independence Congo to their new life in France. Through negotiation and deep introspection, he peeled back the layers of familial identity, revealing Colette and Justin not just as grandparents, but as individuals shaped by their experiences and the tumultuous history of their homeland. It left a lot of the audience reflecting on their own families histories and questions they would like to pose the elders in their family.
As migrants themselves, Colette and Justin left behind a wealth of memories and lived experiences in Congo to forge a new life in France. Yet, their contributions to their homeland are not forgotten in this films narrative; rather, they are celebrated and immortalised, serving as a bridge between past and present, homeland and adopted country.
Colette and Justin is a testament to the power of storytelling as a tool for decolonisation. The film brings to question who owns the archives, with Kassanda admitting how much it costs to use the colonial archive that depicts Congolese people in awful ways. But by centring the voices and experiences of those often marginalised in traditional historical narratives, Kassanda challenges the hegemony of colonial archives and offers a more nuanced perspective on the complexities of pre and postcolonial identity.
In a world where the stories of displaced elders often go untold or unheard, Colette and Justin serves as a powerful preservation and celebration of diverse migrant narratives. It reminds us that behind every statistic or historical event lies a deeply personal story waiting to be unearthed, documented, and shared.
