Woman without Mandolin

“Woman without Mandolin” is a portrait of Miriam Goldschmidt and a cubist
film. My intention is to rethink cubism as a film medium by using digital
motion compositing combined with a visual concept in which I
simultaneously use different cameras in different angles to capture several
perspectives of the same subject.

By choosing “Girl with Mandolin” from Picasso, a milestone of Cubism as a
movement, I am confronting this European art context with his evident
influence of African art and the vigour of black culture. It‘s also about
re-appropiating the appropiated.
Above all I wanted to make a portrait, that in a way displays the formalistic
methods and aspects of Cubism and at the same time expresses through a
strong woman, the conscience, the feelings and the memories of different
cultures and history.

I have been thinking about and working on these ideas for many years, when
I finally heard for the first time the powerful voice of Miriam Goldschmidt
singing an old song from Mali. She had learned it from a friend, Malik Bagayogo,
during her travels around the world working with him in Peter Brook’s company.
Since then she sings it by heart for different people on various occasions.
Through the encounter with Miriam Goldschmidt and the powerful song
the film “Woman without Mandolin” finally came into being
and this is my way to keep singing it. Axé!