MA’ OHI NUI – IN THE HEART OF THE OCEAN MY COUNTRY LIES
Annick Ghijzelings | Tahiti, Belgien 2018 | 113 Min. | OmeU
Tahiti, French Polynesia. A district called Flamboyant lies between the runway of the international airport and a small mound of earth. Over there, one calls it “district” in order not to say “shanty town”. After thirty years of atomic bomb testing by the French in Polynesia, the threads of neo-colonial strings have a different face today. By confronting the Ma’ohi spirit with its history of displacement, nuclear testing and a fractured existence, the film shows the vital impetus of a people trying not to forget themselves or their homeland and accompanies them on a quiet path in the pursuit of independence and self-determination.
Director: Annick Ghijzelings
Camera: Caroline Guimbal, Annick Ghijzelings
Editing: Annick Ghijzelings
Sound: Jean-Jacques Quinet
Producer: Isabelle Truc
Co-Producer: Javier Packer-Comyn
Music:Herman Martin
Screenings
2018 Berlinale, Barents Ecological Film Festival, TIDF-Taiwan International Documentary Festival, Krakow Film Festival, Wairoa Film Festival, Valletta Film Festival, Festival du Cinéma Aborigène Australien, Macao International Documentary Film Festival, Pärnu International Documentary and Anthropology Film Festival, SoleLuna (Palermo), Zones Portuaires, DokuFest, Douarnenez, Festival International du Film Insulaire de l’Île de Groix, Rencontres cinéma de Gindou, CineMigrante, ÂNÛÛ-RÛ ÂBORO, Hawaii International Film Festival (HIFF), Festival Interférences, Festival du Film d’Education d’Evreux
Filmography as director
2016 (in production) : Tahiti aux multiples eaux sombres
2016 : 27 Times Time, documentary, 73’
2010 : The Very Minute, Unfinished 1 > 7, experimental, 37’
2009: Avant de partir, documentary, 20’
2008: Nous trois, CM experimental, 4’
2008: Terre terra terrae, documentary, 50’
2004: Matin calme, fiction, 14’
2003: Le jardin, fiction, 18’
Biography
Born in 1965 in Belgium, Annick Ghijzelings initially studied biology and philosophy. After her
studies, she published some essays and narrations, including the story “Le Jardin” which she put
on the silver screen in 2003. Ever since, she is entirely dedicated to filmmaking and mainly
focuses on documentary features. Owing to her work, she went to Africa, Latin America and Oceania where she made the films “Terre terra terrae” in 2008, “The very minute’ in 2010, “27 times Time” in 2016. Her new film “Ma’ohi Nui, in the heart of the ocean my country lies” was shot in Tahiti and shows the face of contemporary colonisation and the vital impetus of the Ma’ohi people who try not to disappear. Both her literary and cinematic work address the volatility of things, wishing to let time stand still for once.
