Filmmaker Maarten Rens, followed Kofi Setordji for several weeks in February 2002, with the intention of collecting visual material of Setordji's genocide monument for a virtual exhibition. The intensive collaboration resulted in the creation of an extraordinary documentary.
 Kofi Setordji explains |
Marja Sonneveld (editor):
'A very magical film. It was particularly interesting to be able to follow the artist's working process. Filming the sculptures in a kind of ritual was very interesting. The artist has succeeded in expressing the train of thought behind the phenomenon genocide. He has attempted to transpose this into a symbol in order to make it tangible.'
Fleur van Dissel (filmmaker):
'The strong sculptures of the perpetrators and victims of this horror stare at you in a penetrating manner. As a viewer, you are taken to the world behind these masks as Maarten Rens follows Kofi with his camera in close proximity, zooming in on these human-like sculptures. If you ignored the interpretation, you would be able to allow the emotional release that is experienced to break through even further. This is a meeting between two creators in which you feel that fundamental curiosity and engagement triumph.'
Paul Termos (composer):
This film enables you to comprehend the incomprehensible. By zooming in on the artist's vision, that which would normally remain an abstract number of dead enters reality. As the camera does not leave the artists studio you are called upon to use your imagination. That makes the film impressive, the fact that you don't need newsreel images to realise the reality of genocide.'
ICCO - Netherlands
EED - Germany