Jean Luc Herbulot_Saloum (2021)_Interviews2024
With a decolonised text-centric approach, these two interviews with Congolese director Jean Luc Herbulot about his Western-horror film Saloum (2021) discuss cultural iconography in this and other African horror films, and the creative choices behind them. The film is a Western-horror hybrid filmed in Senegal in the chaotic delta of its namesake. Directed and written by Congolese filmmaker Jean Luc Herbulot, violence and revenge are at the core of the film, and it infuses typically American genres with an African cultural milieu that exists outside of a Western gaze. A trio of African mercenaries are forced to make a detour in the mystical region of the Sine-Saloum after rescuing a drug dealer from a coup. However, their leader, Chaka, makes a return to his home with only one mission in mind - revenge on the warlord who abused him as a child soldier.
The interviews also investigate if there is a specific hesitancy towards the genre from African filmmakers and why, and how much their cinematic roots could be found within the historical and modern image of Africa crafted by colonial modernity. These interview sessions formed part of research for a Masters CFMS minor dissertation ("'African will eat you alive': Cultural iconographies in African horror films" by Gabi Zietsman) that attempts to unpack how African filmmakers use cultural iconography in their horror films by using the theoretical paradigm of the artistic Black Fantastic and horror’s relation to other genres under this umbrella. Alongside other interview sessions with South African filmmaker Jerome Pikwane, these interviews help unpack whether an Afro-centred approach can give an overview of the African horror film landscape, and if there’s some element that can tie these African cinematic nightmares together as a collective.
Ethical approval for the interviews was granted by CFMS before conducting them, and the interviewee signed a consent form for the interviews to be uploaded to Zivahub with their name visible.
