Watch Oscar Nominated Film Omen at Unseen Cinema

Unseen Cinema and Sudu Connexion’s partnership continues with three arthouse African titles showing in the first quarter of 2024. This month, the main feature film is Omen (Augure), directed by Baloji. Omen is the official submission of Belgium for the ‘Best International Feature Film’ category of the 96th Academy Awards in 2024, and will be showing on January 5-9,12-16,19-23, and 26-30.

Shot in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Omen follows the main character Koffi’s return to his birthplace after he has been ostracized by his family. It explores the weight of beliefs on one’s destiny, through four characters accused of being witches and sorcerers, all of them intertwined and guiding each other into the phantasmagoria of Africa. Tickets to the films can be purchased on Unseen Nairobi’s website.

Baloji was born in 1978 in Lubumbashi, in the DRC. The name Baloji refers to the occult and ‘evil forces.’ In Swahili, it initially meant ‘man of science,’ before it turned in colonial times into ‘man of occult sciences’ and then became known worldwide as the word for ‘sorcerer.’ The assignment of this name has influenced Baloji’s entire career as an award-winning musician, filmmaker, and polymath artist; both as a heavy burden to bear and, at the same time, as a driver for a playful and empirical approach.

As a musician, Baloji has released two critically acclaimed albums and two EPs, the latest being “Avenue Kaniama.” As a filmmaker, Baloji’s first feature film, Omen, was a Cannes Official Selection 2023, and is accompanied by a four-part soundtrack where each record is written from the point of view of the main characters.

The film has received several accolades, such as: Special Mention – Tübingen Francophone Festival 2023, Best Director – Sitges 2023, Best Achievement in Editing and First Debut Feature by a director – African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) 2023, Prix de la direction – Angoulême Francophone Film Festival 2023, Prix de la Nouvelle Voix at Un certain regard – Cannes 2023, Valois de la mise en scène – Festival du Film Francophone d’Angoulême 2023, Best African Feature – DIFF 2023, CineRebels Award – Filmfest München 2023, and the New Voice Award – Festival de Cannes 2023.

Sudu Connexion is an international sales and distribution company of films from Africa and its diaspora, based and established in Pantin, France, since 2016. Representing a catalogue of short, medium length and feature length films, Sudu Connexion actively networks in and pushes for African film in over 1000 festivals all over the world. These films have been screened and awarded at major film festival such as Cannes, Berlin, Locarno, Venice, Toronto, Sundance, IDFA, FESPACO, Carthage, and Durban. They are available on TV on globally available channels such as BBC, Arte, Canal+, TV5 Monde, and Aljazeera. In 2024, Sudu Connexion’s will release and exhibit African arthouse films in cinemas on the African continent.

Please click here for information on the upcoming Sudu Connexion films.