Sibiry is a romantic, a dreamer, a man both idealistic and charming. But he is also a man living a liminal existence between two cultures. A decade ago he left the small village of Tiene in Burkina Faso for Helsinki, the capital of Finland, where he still performs as a dancer and choreographer.
But life as an artist can be tough, and rarely pays the bills, so Sibiry also works in a mail sorting office. That doesn’t mean that requests to send money to Burkina Faso diminish. Far from it. Back home, he holds the status of a privileged, wealthy European, while in Finland he is regarded merely as an African migrant, and therefore an outsider, despite marrying a Finnish woman and raising a daughter.
“When an African person is looking at Sibiry, he sees him as a superior person,” comments co-director Jussi Rastas of Silent Legacy, world-premiering August 12 in Locarno Critics Week. “But the Europeans here, much of the time they see Africans as inferior.”
In an attempt forge a link between his polarised identities, Sibiry determines to send something of even greater value back to Tiene – a bus that would enable both mobility among the villagers and greater communication with the other villages in the region.
That said, the plan seems ill-fated from the start. The brakes and clutch on the bus are highly suspect, and the seller waives all rights to post-sale warranties after Sibiry negotiates the price down to a more affordable €1500. When it gets to Burkina Faso, there is no guarantee that the bus will even make it as far as Tiene.
What’s more, when Sibiry arrives home he is not instantly embraced as a son of the village, with many people barely recognising him. His sense of being lost between two cultures, two countries, two continents, therefore intensifies. He feels like an “abstract object.” But this does not diminish the sense of social responsibility he feels. “Trees cannot exist without their roots,” he maintains, and he therefore hatches an altogether different plan to improve the lot of his kinsfolk.
In the same way that the gift of a fishing rod is a thousand more times valuable than the gift of a fish, Sibiry decides to lead a programme to build a new road from the village, one on which future buses, people and goods, and future prosperity can be driven…
Silent Legacy has a hybrid construction. Before his return to Burkina Faso, Sibiry’s state of mind is illustrated by two self-choreographed and metaphorical dance sequences, one in which he is semi-naked in a white cube that is closing in on him, and another in which he dances within a constricting white suit that is ripping apart at the seams.
“For us the cinematic experience is essential. Our aim has been to craft a multidimensional film in aesthetics, with strong cinematography and interesting juxtapositions, reflecting the internal experience of a migrant that has his mind constantly divided between two very contrasting realities,” directors Kivistö and Rastas underline in their film notes.
The pair got to know Sibiry soon after his arrival in Finland, and they became firm friends, sharing an artistic vision, and collaborating on several creative projects. In the case of Silent Legacy, what started out as a film with a “light” approach in assessing the two contrasting worlds, took on a greater significance as the filmmakers began to address more intensively the themes of colonialism and social disparity, especially in a world where countries neglect their economic responsibilities and the buck is continually passed.
“Migrants like Sibiry are forced to find solutions,” Kivistö and Rastas assert. “It is them who are on the frontline – whether they asked for it or not – to respond to the increasingly unjust distribution of wealth. Thus, Sibiry’s journey can be seen as one man’s intent to balance the unbalanced world.”
Though not a country with a colonialist past, Finland itself can represent a hostile environment for migrants. “It has become more and more clear that we have political parties [in Finland] that are using racism really openly,” maintains Kivistö, citing a recent EU study which details shockingly high levels of prejudice towards people of West African origin currently living within 13 European countries, one of which is Finland. “We believe that, in addition to it being a work of art, the film can serve as a valuable tool for extensive discussion on migration for Westerners, Africans and especially for diasporas whose identities and lives are spread across contrasting realities,” they add in their notes.
Tonally, Silent Legacy is a film of contrasts. We see the snow and feel the cold of a Finland where folk seem to live solitary lives, before we are transported to the warmth, vibrancy and colour of the community-driven village in Burkina Faso.
“We have a background of living in another countries, really different to Europe, in Colombia, in Peru, in Chile,” Kivistö tells BDE of their international credentials in telling this story. “That was maybe how first we got to know Sibiry. We started to talk about how, when you have been in a really different environment, Finland can feel really shocking. You see the loneliness of the people who go to work and who have their really private lives.”
In the film Kivistö and Rastas also present the villagers’ reactions to their presence there as filmmakers. In the opening scene, two young West African boys in long shot discuss affluent white audiences, as well as their own presence on camera. “Even now, we are standing here talking, and they are watching us on TV. So we must speak well,” one young lad says.
The directors’ presence in Burkina Faso also encourages discussion among the villagers on their actual reasons for accompanying Sibiry there. “That was interesting because they saw it as really strange thing to do. What are they [Kivistö and Rastas] filming? They are working all the time. Why they don’t stop?” The villagers also listen with incredulity as Sibiry explains some of the “insane” excesses of Europeans, especially regarding matters canine. Dogs actually sleep inside houses, they are told, and they can even have passports!
The film is produced by Ella Ruhonen of Väki Films with whom the directors will be launching an Impact campaign aimed first at Finnish audiences, before a wider roll-out.
“With the film we will try to change especially the narrative around West African men,” says Rastas. “We believe that the film can give a wide understanding about identity and the feelings of belonging and responsibility that migrants may have. And that’s something that many Finnish and European people could think about.”
“I think that racism in Finland is probably different from what it can be in Central Europe, and we don’t have a colonial [legacy] like France and many other countries,” agrees Kivistö. “Here, people fear something that is different to what they have been used to in the past, but it is something we want to address – the fear of not knowing your neighbour.”
