Elvis Sabin Ngaïbino (1985, Bangui, Central African Republic) considers himself a pan-Africanist, humanist, Catholic believer and Real Madrid fan. He is a geologist by training, but his grandmother was worried because he had “only a diploma,” so he looked for a trade. His love for culture comes from a young age, when one day he read a poster with the phrase “Art is the only thing we have left when we have lost everything”, which he does not know who to attribute to. He thus began to write stories and novels that did not transcend, but which gave him tools to start making short films with the limited means he had at his disposal.
Despite the abundant mineral resources of the Central African Republic (CAR), this country of barely six million people occupies third place among the states in the world with the least Human development Index. In the film sector the news is not better. There is no film school, nor theaters. The country’s first feature film dates back just two decades (The silence of the forest2003) and after the death of its director, Didier Ouenangaré, in 2006, the film creation was orphaned for more than 10 years.
A group of young filmmakers, of which Sabin Ngaïbino is a part, set the goal of bringing it back to life. Director, producer and sound technician, as well as founder in 2012 of the first Central African Cinema Academy, answers these questions in Senegal, within the framework of the StLouis’Docs African Documentary Film Festival.
Ask. The new generation of Central African filmmakers of which he is a part has managed to bring their country to the world’s screens thanks to the selection of their films in international festivals.
Answer. Since 2012 we have been in a very positive dynamic: directors such as Hurel Régis Beninga (died in 2021 at the age of 41), Leïla Thiam, Pascale Appora Gnekindy or Rafiki Fadiala (born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but who works in CAR) have won awards and visibility. We made the qualitative leap thanks to the training of Ateliers Varan (a non-profit film workshop platform) in 2017. It gave us tools to professionalize ourselves in creative documentaries and make cinema not only a means of expression, but also a profession. There is a new generation that perceives being a filmmaker as something possible. Our challenge now is to create a permanent training center.
Q. For more than a decade, the Central African Republic has been experiencing instability, with a weakened government, inter-ethnic conflicts and part of the country controlled by rebels. How do you make cinema in this situation?
R. The CAR is a game board for world geopolitics, where the great foreign powers confront each other, to the detriment of ordinary people. This situation is very difficult for the people, and also for the filmmakers. Through our films we want to show another side of the country and help raise awareness about everyday issues that we can improve. I am optimistic.
Q. His first short film, Docta Jefferson (2017)is the portrait of a false community health agent.
R. Unemployment has led to the proliferation of this figure in CAR, which we colloquially call “learned” and who intervenes in the neighborhoods clandestinely. In my short film I follow one of them, Jefferson, for two years, until he reconverts to another profession. The fragile state of healthcare contributes to the emergence of these charlatans, despite being prohibited. In the capital there are health structures, but there is a lack of personnel, and in the regions there is hardly anything. Although the risk is known, people go to them because they offer cheaper services than medical visits in dispensaries or hospitals.
Q. Health is a topic that is also addressed in the short film in which he participated in 2018 as a sound engineer, Chambre N1, directed by Leïla Thiam. This time they are inside a hospital. What is the situation like there?
R. We recorded five patients sharing a room in a hospital in Bangui. It was very hot and the situation was quite complicated for them, due to the saturation. It was very interesting to see how, among so much suffering, help, laughter and good words are born. Of course there are many shortcomings in these infrastructures, but I believe that humanity and coexistence also heal.
Q. In his first feature film, Makongo (2020), brings us a dream: that of access to education in a pygmy aka community. What are the challenges you face in this area?
R. Pygmies prefer to live among themselves in the forest, so sending children to school is a challenge. The two protagonists of my film are one of the few people from this Aka community who have gone to school and when they returned they wanted to share their knowledge by creating a traveling school in the forest. Thus, children can learn in their environment, close to their families. I think it is nice to dream of the school reinventing itself and adapting to the needs of the populations.
Q. The film also addresses the importance of the relationship with nature.
R. Deforestation and climate change are endangering the pygmy community, because their basic resources (animals, fruits) are decreasing, but so is the rest of the population. The intimate relationship they have with nature and which is based on care actually benefits us all. Makongo It is made from my activism for the cause of the pygmy community. It is my way of valuing their way of living and their region. The success it has achieved (among others, won the III ACERCA prize for Spanish Cooperation at the last edition of the Tarifa African Film Festival) has improved empathy—and I hope, in the long run, coexistence—with them, since it is a highly stigmatized community in CAR.
Q. In his last film, Le Fardeau (The Burden), from 2023, which is presented at the StLouis’Docs Festival, tells the story of a couple affected by AIDS. Why was it important to address this topic?
R. There are many people with HIV in the country (about 120,000 adults and children) who feels ashamed of the stigma attached to the disease and keeps it a secret, hoping for a miracle. I was interested in this relationship with faith and decided to follow a couple of fervent Christians whom I filmed very intimately for two years. My goal was to show the human side of AIDS patients, to support them and make them not feel alone. Shame means that the real numbers of infected people are not known and that many do not want to be treated for fear of being seen when they go to look for antiretrovirals, so their situation deteriorates.
Q. Did the miracle occur?
R. For me yes: that of the liberation of the protagonists’ words. Break the taboo and verbalize your experience with the community. I hope this makes an impact when it screens on RCA.
Q. At the festival you also accompany the film Grace, the Messi of Bangui (Leïla Thiam, 2023) in which he participates as producer. In this work, but also in the award-winning Nous, students! (We, the Students), by Rafiki Fadiala (2022), in which he is also a producer, is about corruption and the lack of opportunities for youth.
R. Education is free in CAR and youth are eager to learn (the literacy rate was 38% in 2020, according to the World Bank). The problem is that after training there is no job, and it is disappointing to think that with a diploma or talent you cannot find a job. We need the Government and NGOs to work to create opportunities and a dynamic economic fabric. Young people have hope, but the context of conflict is undermining it. Cinema is here to show young people that another RCA is possible.
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