Director: Manthia Diawara
Production: Jürgen Bock,
Lumiar Cité/Maumaus
Editing: Pedro Rodrigues
Camera: Bruno Ramos
Sound: António Fialho, Goumour Mohamed, Adelaide Mboueya,
Ed Paredes
Country: Portugal
Year: 2008
Runtime: 58’
Colour, sound
Languages: English, French, Portuguese, Tamasheq
Subtitles: English, French, Portuguese

With Ângela Ferreira,
Mirelle Ngatsé, João Fernandes,
Salah Hassan.

Commissioned by the Portuguese Ministry of Culture.

Funded by Portuguese Ministry of Culture / Directorate General of the Arts, Museu Colecção Berardo, RTP 2

Premiere:
Centro Cultural de Belém, Lisbon, 10.03.2008

Mireille Ngatsé lived for several years in the Maison Tropicale in Brazzaville. It was designed by Jean Prouvé, the famous French engineer and architect. Ngatsé describes the aluminium house as comfortable, even though it had no electricity or running water. She loved the fresh air and the light coming in through the round windows.

One day, four men came from France to Brazzaville, and took the Maison Tropicale away in containers. Today, Mireille Ngatsé sees her house in a catalogue, and reads about it as it is being exhibited around the world as a precious art object.

Mali-born Manthia Diawara’s documentary is a complement to Ângela Ferreira’s artistic project on the Maison Tropicale by Jean Prouvé, which was shown at the Venice Biennale in 2007. The film brings to life the hidden stories and memories of those left behind in Africa when the Maisons Tropicales were removed. It is a postcolonial excavation into African identity, art and the notion of cultural heritage.