This essential essay for the senses examines the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s colonial past under Belgium and its lasting impacts on the natural environment today. Crafted with the eye of an artist and the precision of a scientist, the film takes us back in time to the Yangambi INERA Research Station. Now defunct, the station was one of the world’s largest tropical agricultural research centres in operation during the 20th century. Sharply woven together using recently unearthed scientific research, historical personal testimonies, photographs and contemporary footage of the land, which is now jungles and ruins, The Tree of Authenticity tells a story of racism and human greed. It exposes the devastating hypocrisies of colonialism, creating space to reflect and honour the resilient people and plants who came before, whose voices will not be silenced. Are we capable of truly listening to them? By the end, all that remains are landscapes and mystifying soundscapes. Is this a reprieve, or a haunting. Simone Estrin.
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Distributor: Twenty Nine Studio and Production