Dir. Baloji
2023 | 91 mins | Belgium, Democratic Republic of the Cong
French, Swahili with English subtitles
Marc Zinga, Lucie Debay, Eliane Umuhire, Yves-Marina Gnahoua

Koffi’s epileptic seizure, prior to his trip back home to Kinshasa, acts as an omen for the turbulence that awaits him, in rapper-turned-filmmaker Baloji’s Cannes winner.

In this remarkable feature directorial debut, winner of the Un Certain Regard New Voice prize at Cannes Film Festival 2023 and Belgium’s Oscars submission for Best International Feature, hip-hop musician and visual artist Baloji tells the story of a Congolese man returning to his homeland with his European fiancee after long being exiled, only to find that his estranged family still views him with suspicion and disdain.

A deeply thoughtful and complicated magical realist fable about family, ancient cultural inheritance and belonging, Omen centres on Koffi (Marc Zinga) who has lived in Europe for many years. He’s happily engaged to Alice (Lucie Debay) who’s expecting twins and together, they travel to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo to introduce his family to Alice and share their news.

He’s determined to reconcile with his family, who originally ostracised him because they believed he was touched by evil spirits, but the only real welcome he receives is from his open-minded sister Tshala (Eliane Umuhire, Neptune Frost). Using Koffi’s story as a jumping off point, Omen splinters into other narrative viewpoints, each exploring the depth of its protagonist’s struggle to balance the pressures of cultural tradition and the innate need for familial acceptance with modernity and the quest for a coherent self.

Showing Times

• Fri 24 May: 7.30pm
• Thu 30 May: 8.20pm

∆ BBFC Rating Details:

Rated 15 – strong language, sex