Karina
Griffith
Crude Processions (2013), 7:10
Two “movements of people”: the carnival practices in Buenos Aires and Cologne and the forced migration of Africans across the Atlantic. Since 1929, the “Original Negerkoepp E.V.” have participated in Cologne carnival in blackface, with the sole explanation of parody and “good fun.” The film takes us across the Atlantic, from the festivities in Cologne to the ports of Salvador de Bahia, Montevideo and Buenos Aires. Crude Processions is a non-verbal exploration of the filmmaker’s reaction to witnessing blackfacing in Germany: one of confusion, fear, anger and compassion.