Following Koffi’s return to his birthplace after he has been ostracized by his family, OMEN 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. Rapper Baloji’s visually stunning film debut won an award at the Munich Film Festival, and is in the running for the 2024 Oscars for Belgium.

“Magic realism has played a seminal role in Baloji’s work. He uses this aspect to open the film with a stunning view of a Magritte-esque desert, peppered with straw men swaying in the wind, who burn ablaze in the dead of night towards the end. These mystical, surreal touches do not feel contrived or pretentious at any point.” (highonfilms.com)

Baloji, born in 1978 in Lubumbashi/Democratic Republic of Congo and based in Belgium, is an award-winning musician, filmmaker and a polymath artist who also works as art director as well as costume designer for fashion and other visual art forms. In Swahili, Baloji initially meant “man of science”, but in colonial times, it turned into “man of occult sciences/sorcerer”. He released his first feature film OMEN (Cannes official selection 2023) accompanied by a four-part soundtrack where each record is written from the point of view of the main characters.

Filmography: 2018 PEAU DE CHAGRIN, BLEU DE NUIT, 2019 ZOMBIES (both short films), 2023 OMEN

Awards: CineRebels Award (Filmfest München, Munich/Germany 2023)