Chez Jolie Coiffure
1h 10m
Dir. Rosine Mbakam - 2018 - Belgium - Language: French - Subtitles: English
Sabine arrived illegally in Belgium. Her migration journey started in West Africa, where she was recruited by a Lebanese maid agency. After many years of suffering in Lebanon where she was reduced to slavery, she travelled to Belgium passing through Greece and Syria. As soon as she arrived, she discovered Matongé, the African quarter of Brussels where she could find a job.
Today, Sabine is the manager of the ‘Jolie Coiffure’ salon. With her position she can provide jobs to other girls while she is waiting for her case to be regularised. In this 8m2 saloon, Sabine talks with her clients, advises and find solutions for their hair problems or their personal problems. At the same time, police organise patrols and chase the girls in Matongé, which can be very threatening and embarrassing. Sometimes tourists come and visit the ‘Jolie Coiffure’, looking through the window as if at a museum.
"With a view that is at once intimate and distant, Mbakam shows the duality of diasporic identity; she is never totally at home, and never totally without it." New York Times http://ow.ly/yq7E50BvVwB