Just a Movement (Vincent Meessen, 2021)
Meessen’s documentary tells the story of anti-colonialist artist and organizer Omar Blondin Diop who died in 1973 in a Senegalese prison under suspicious circumstances.
Free for students
Film/Video Theater
Omar Blondin Diop was a student in Paris when Jean-Luc Godard cast him in a small role as himself, a Maoist revolutionary, in his 1967 film La Chinoise. Six years later, Diop was arrested for subversive activities. His death in a Senegalese prison was called a suicide to the disbelief of followers, friends, and family who instead called it an assassination. Moving between essay film and documentary Just a Movement adapts the basic story and characters of La Chinoise to present-day Dakar to reassert the political philosophies that continue to inspire people today. (110 mins., DCP)
Screened in conjunction with the Director’s Dialogue on Art and Social Change between Naeem Mohaiemen and Vincent Meessen on March 27.