All projects

SOLEIL LEVANT (RISING SUN)

Documentary

Director
Mickael-Sltan MBANZA
République Démocratique du Congo

Synopsis

In December 1996, thirteen members of my family were killed in Birambizo, the village where I spent my childhood holidays. Since then, silence has prevailed the silence of the dead, of the living, and of a shattered family. As an adult, I feel a pressing urge to understand what happened. But Birambizo is now unreachable, ravaged by war and time. Through memories and fears, I try to bring this lost place back to life. The film is a personal journey, a confrontation with a silenced past, and an attempt to break a family silence that could last forever.

Intention Note

This film was born from silence. Since childhood, I’ve been haunted by a massacre that tore my family apart and was never spoken of. Birambizo, once a place of joy, became a ghostly space I could not return to – but never escaped. Mixing memories, family testimonies and imagination, I seek to confront a buried story. My approach is intimate and sensory, driven by a need to understand and pass it on. Through my mother’s voice, my cousin’s survival, and my childhood gaze, I aim to revive a fragile memory and explore how trauma silently echoes across generations.

About us

Les Ateliers de Grand-Bassam is brought to life by Grand-Bassam Project, a non-profit association that embodies excellence in the film and audiovisual industry. The association is an organization of filmmakers, producers and cultural industry professionals from Ivory Coast, the continent and beyond, who help incubate performing arts and audiovisual projects by applying alternative methods of management, production, marketing and distribution in countries across the continent.

Grand-Bassam Project’s main objective is to contribute to the emergence of a solid, internationally competitive African cultural industry, notably through the development of the performing arts and audiovisual sector, capable of contributing to improving the economic impact of culture and consolidating the employability of young people.

Specifically, the objectives of the Grand-Bassam Project are to :

– Implement and consolidate an incubator for cultural projects and professional training workshops for artists and producers from Ivory Coast and other countries on the continent.

– Contribute to the reappropriation by Ivorian cultural players of the conception and governance of cultural policies, in partnership with public decision-makers at national level.

– Contribute to the dissemination of cinematographic works from the continent Formalize and implement a strategy for the implementation of activities, a risk management plan, as well as a monitoring and evaluation plan for all actions.

– Produce and/or co-produce performing arts and audiovisual works and projects for dissemination on the continent and internationally.

– Intensify artistic education initiatives aimed at children, young people and the general public.

Grand-Bassam Project is in the process of launching its program of activities, which include training, production, distribution, image education and consulting for the first edition of the Ateliers de Grand-Bassam. In keeping with its management strategy, the company’s aim is to combine production activities with socio-educational initiatives.

By working closely with sister organizations in Ivory Coast who share the same passion, Grand-Bassam Project will contribute to the future of cinema in Côte d’Ivoire and beyond.

The association capitalizes on the experience acquired over the last ten years by the Ouaga Film Lab, and projects will be carried out with the expertise required to increase the competitiveness of Ivorian and African filmmakers on the world stage.