Il [fallait] à la Belgique une colonie

Nicolas-Guy Kunz – Il [fallait] à la Belgique une colonie

Still shots of monuments, vestiges, remains of a country’s History appear one after the other. An abandoned, neglected past; yet Belgium has a colonial past indeed. It is the history of King Leopold II, but it is also my history. The intertwinement of my family memoirs and the history of Belgium in this film allows creating a new stage for my investigative work on the Belgian Congo with the aim to understand and making people understand what happened 100 years ago. * Belgium needs a colony: inscription on a marble plate sent from Greece to the Minister of Finance by Leopold II even before his accession to the throne.

Diploma project (2014) by Nicolas-Guy Kunz

Still shots of monuments, vestiges, remains of a country’s History appear one after the other. An abandoned, neglected past; yet Belgium has a colonial past indeed. It is the history of King Leopold II, but it is also my history.

The intertwinement of my family memoirs and the history of Belgium in this film allows creating a new stage for my investigative work on the Belgian Congo with the aim to understand and making people understand what happened 100 years ago.

* Belgium needs a colony: inscription on a marble plate sent from Greece to the Minister of Finance by Leopold II even before his accession to the throne.