The British filmmaker Louis Henderson seeks connections between colonialism, post-colonialism, new media, archaeology and the writing of history (including through the Internet). His films take place in a frontier territory between documentary and fiction, with Henderson's extensive research taking a prominent role.
Black Code/Code Noir is a collage of fragments, separate from one another in terms of time and space, but which all cast a critical eye on two 2014 murders by police in the American state of Missouri, where Michael Brown and Kajieme Powell lost their lives. Henderson juxtaposes news fragments with smartphone videos dispersed across the Internet as a form of protest and remembrance.
From an archaeological perspective – with the Internet and social media as its excavation site – Henderson investigates the complex causes of tragedies of this kind. His quest takes him to the history of slavery, anchored since the 17th century in the laws of the Code Noir. In our modern times, they have been transformed into the algorithms that dictate the analysis of police data and still determine attitudes towards, and control of, Afro-Americans today.
Louis Henderson shows how these suppressed codes can be hacked, and with this video, he reveals to us not only an indictment, but also a perspective for the future.
21’
EN spoken
Produced by Olivier Marboeuf for Spectre Productions
► On Wednesday April 13th at 8 pm, we organise a collective viewing moment. We introduce the film and provide food. Feet under the table, eyes on the screen.
http://beursschouwburg.be/en/event/147142/all/#!147897
