(Filmed in Yembeul, suburb of Dakar, Senegal... produced, filmed, and edited, by Marc Lo Porto... second digital video project by MLProductions... original languages in wollof and peul with english subtitles...)
"zenzela" means many different things... earthquake in arabic... the right path in zulu... being zen in basque... and whatever else when writen on a wall in the ghettos... for MLP it means inspiration... imagine nation... second edition... first direction... first and last "film"... zenzela is an experiment... a far away place... an idea... it takes place in a suburb of Dakar, Senegal... Yembeul... a group of friends are having tea together... a box falls off... they find a video-camera and decide to film their daily lifes... the result is a unique social document... the discovery of an unknown and rarely filmed side of Africa... a contemporary self-view and knowledge of an often misinterpreted continent and cultures... zenzela is simple... true... its original footage shows the true nature of its characters... natural born actors... neighborhood heroes... zenzela is proof that creativity goes beyond boundaries... borders... colors... languages... no matter how far you are from this place... how differently you grew up from these characters... how much you like it or not... the following images and sound should open your eyes and mind... ready... cut... action...
zenzela from Marc Lo Porto on Vimeo.
