“Augure”, an award-winning film at the Cannes Film Festival, is a journey to the end of “magical realism” by Congolese director Baloji

Director Baloji questions identities, determinism and assignment in his first feature film. “Augure”, a surreal and poetic choral film.

“My first name is hard to bear. It means group of sorcerers. Originally, it just meant man of sciences. Then, it became a man devoted to occult sciences. In the West, it’s Satan, Lucifer… “, Baloji explained, with a mischievous look. He is known as a rapper, but his current work is that of a filmmaker. His film Augur, was selected at Cannes last May, where we met him. During the Festival, the film received the Nouvelles Voix Prize during its presentation in the Un Certain Regard section.

Baloji, tall, not far from two meters, comes from afar. “I look more like a basketball player than a filmmaker!” he laughs. He left his country, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and more precisely Lubumbashi at a very young age.because of political problems. Arriving in Belgium, he took up music with some success and later… short films, viewable online. “It’s not easy to enter the world of cinema. I didn’t go to any school. The financial counters are cautious, when they are not categorically in refusal”, laments Baloji, Tshiani by his surname. Result: he only managed to raise one million euros to shoot his first feature film.

Witches

The man counts and recounts his budget to the nearest cent and arrives at an incompressible result: he has 23 days of filming. Except that unforeseen events keep coming in Lubumbashi. At the end of all his efforts, a selection at Un certain regard. “VSThis gives me relative visibility. Festivals started to contact me”, rejoiced the one who says he claims “magical realism. His first film, Augure, is in this vein. It is a bit hybrid or multifaceted. Baloji surprises the viewer. After an almost classic beginning, the film shifts into another dimension. The character goes to the Democratic Republic of Congo to introduce his pregnant wife, played by Lucie Debay, to his parents. The reunion does not go as planned. Then, suddenly, the film shifts into something else. “The idea leads to the form”, decides the Belgian filmmaker of Congolese origin.

Synesthesia

Gifted with synesthesia, Baloji associates colors with musical notes. This can be seen in its aesthetics. We feel in-depth work on each image, each shot, each costume. Augur is an explosion of color and light. At the same time stylist, screenwriter and dialogue writer, the young forty-year-old had a very precise idea of ​​his film, before filming. The result is an original, personal work. Augur is an ensemble film with a quadruple narration. “Before shooting the film, I created a four-album soundtrack written from the point of view of the four main characters in the film,” explains the filmmaker-musician. Augure, a film which addresses both reason and emotion.

Technical sheet

Title : Augur

Direction, screenplay, dialogue: Baloji

Duration : 90 minutes

Year of production : 2023

Distribution : Marc Zinga, Lucie Debay, Eliane Umuhire and Yves-Marina Gnahoua

Synopsis: Koffi is considered a zabolo (wizard), Koffi was banished by his mother. After 15 years of absence, he returned to Lubumbashi to pay his dowry. Accompanied by his future wife Alice, he will confront the prejudices and suspicion of his family.