Paper short abstract:

A film about how I saw Paris upon my return of seven years of life with the Ovahimba of Namibia and Angola, the city, everyday life in the city, human rights...

Paper long abstract:

In this film, I depict how I saw Paris upon my return from a seven-year sojourn with the Ovahimba of Namibia.

To the amazement and the disarray of such a return, was added the death of three close friends, Jean Rouch, mentor and friend, Didier Contant, grand reporter and soul mate, the Headman of Etanga, who had become the father of my life.

I renew ties with Paris, my homes town ever since leaving South Africa for exile in 1984, by returning to familiar places, of which places visited with Jean Rouch, as well as discovering spots hitherto unknown to me.

The necessary redressing of the honor of the journalist Didier Contant, who died in Paris before he could publish his investigation into the death of the Tibhirine Monks in Algeria in 1996, deeply marked this period. I trace the arduous evolution of this process that lead me to publish the book, "Le huitième mort de Tibhirine", and to visit for the first time North Africa - Algiers and the Monastery of Tibhirine in Medea.

During this time, returning and mourning were inextricably entangled. My Ovahimba friends were constantly on my mind, as I was editing the films about my stay with them. Between periods of editing, I traveled to Algiers, Cape Town and Etanga (Namibia), filming all the while.

One morning overlooking the Bay of Algiers, I imagined an axis linking Paris, Cape Town, Etanga and North Africa, and hence the great circle of exile that started in 1984 was finally closed.