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Adaptation of a film from 1928 about an excursion through Suriname and the culture of the Maroon people. In 2010, Karel Doing made a soundtrack for the film, compiled from people’s reactions and specially composed music.

L.C. Reedijk was an army lieutenant and amateur filmmaker living and working in Suriname. Around 1928, he made the film Djoeka, an account of the excursion by a group of white men to the interior. The film shows the customs and practices of the Maroons (Saramaccans), the descendants of runaway slaves who lived there.
In 2010, Karel Doing returned to the region. Working with the artists group Totomboti from Pikin Slee, he revised Djoeka. The screening of the film stirred up many reactions and stories, which they captured. Music group Kwai Kwai wrote a new score for the dance and music scenes. Together with the voice-over and the everyday sounds in the village and on the river, this produced a soundtrack. The title of the film was changed into Saamaka. Thus, the eighty years spanning the recording of the images and the music turn the adaptation into a dialogue between two times and cultures.

Credits

Director
Producer
Executive producer
Scenario
Set geluid
Sound editing
Production company
Doing Film
Distributor NL
Eye Filmmuseum

Title: Saamaka
Year: 2010
Duration : 50 minutes
Category: Short Documentary
Edition: NFF 2011

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You are now in the NFF Archive. The archive contains contains information on film, TV and interactive productions that were screened at past festival editions. The NFF does not dispose of this material. For this, please contact the producer, distributor or broadcaster. Sometimes, older films can also be found at the Eye Film Museum or the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision.

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