The flim follows Congolese artist/photographer Mekhar Kivoso as he explores the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren, Belgium, during its renovation. The objects he encounters are both captivating and alienating, embodying his cultural heritage. Through his camera, he discovers a macabre mausoleum of his cultural heritage. But instead of dwelling on the past, Mekhar uses it to project himself into the future.
Under the White Mask: The Film Haesaerts Could Have Made uses fragments of Under the Black Mask, a 1958 film about Congolese art directed by the Belgian artist Paul Haesaerts, which has been qualified as colonial propaganda. This new film imagines what the masks – now subjects, and not objects – would say. Aimé Césaire’s Discourse on Colonialism is spoken in Lingala for the first time. This speech is still a critical mirror for Europe. Under The White Mask is limited to the elements already existing in 1958.
