“The past isn’t dead, it isn’t even past”

 —William Faulkner.

For the series BLACK EARTH RISING, we created Nine minutes of animation sequences to augment a story by writer-director Hugo Blick, which centres on the prosecution of international war crimes and the West’s relationship with contemporary Africa. While the animation sequences depict events around the Rwandan genocide and its aftermath, for the opening titles, Hugo Blick wanted something enigmatic to set the tone.

In response, AKA director Kristian Andrews crafted a restrained and unblinking sequence that focuses on the continent of Africa and ‘pulls us into place’ within a single ‘unblinking’ camera move. Backed by Leonard Cohen’s enthralling ‘You Want It Darker’, the resulting sequence is as hypnotic as it is compelling.