film “Yoko Osha” (40’ - 2015)
(Hacerse Santo - Making Saint - Se Faire Saint)
Synopsis:
Lazara Rosell Albear returns to the magical–realistic world of Santeria or Regla de Osha:
the mysterious religion practiced in secret by more than 70% of the Cuban population in the director's home country Cuba. The film interweaves an intimate portrayal of this tradition with his rules and ritualistic initiations, with personal experiences and audio-visual recreations, performance and poetry. By merging different styles the film becomes a subjective self-portrait of the director. 10 years in the making; the result is a multi-layered work where the place of beliefs in the universal human quest for survival, is researched/questioned through levels of trance and heterotopias.
Runtime: 40’
Format: HD - 16:9
Country of production: Belgium
Collection & Distribution: Argos, Center for Art and Media
© 2015 MahaWorks
screenings
“Yoko Osha” (2015 - 40’)
-SIC’14 Presentation at The Beurschowburg, Brussels, December 2014
-Temporary Gallery - Kolhn during ART COLOGNE programme FILM COLOGNE focusing on Flanders and Brussels - 17 to 19 April 2015
-The III Biennale Internacional de Arte “Desde Aqui”. Bucaramanga, Columbia – October 3th to 30th, 2015
-Conference "AFRO-CUBAN ARTISTS: A RENAISSANCE". University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA
- April 27th to 30th, 2016
-Cinema Nova, Brussels - June 16, 2016
-VISITE. Het Bos. Antwerp - August 12, 2016
-SIC invites. De Beurschouwburg. Brussels - September 22th, 2016
-Exhibition Eutopia "28". CC Strombeek - Janurari 8 - March 8th, 2017
- Wiels, Contemporary Art Center – September 10 th 2017 Post Residency Presentation
film “Yoko Osha:Volume II” (2017 - 49')
(Hacerse Santo - Making Saint - Se Faire Saint)
Synopsis:
The second chapter of the trilogy started 13 years ago as an intimistic, performative, multilayered, sensorial, subjective selfportret of a return to the magical-realistic world of Santeria of Regla de Osha. The in secrecy practiced rich cult, that used to be forbidden by the government, has gained more and more followers from all corners of society in the past 20 years. In the continuation of the merging of different cinematic styles and its interweaving with different faces of the ceremonies and their resonance in other participatory situations. The use of found Hi 8 footage from Benin 26 years ago and mobile phone imagery add to the complexity and visual eclecticism of the piece. The soundtrack of this installment is made in its entirety of field-recordings from La Habana. A whirl of unseen sonic movement to the border where black magic starts. Bridging the past with the present and the futures, the individual with the collective.
Directed by Lazara Rosell Albear
Runtime: 49'
Format: HD – BW – 16:9
Country of production: Belgium
© 2017 MahaWorks
screenings:
“Yoko Osha: Volume II” (2015-2017 – 50’19)
The film had its premiere at Wiels, Contemporary Art Center in the context of the exhibition “Rita McBridge - Something Stronger Than Me” Sept 2017 – Jan 2018, Brussels and screened at Visite Film Series Program in Het Bos, Antwerpen in february 2018.
film “Yoko Osha Chapter 3 or The first day is the day of the river”
Synopsis:
The third and final chapter of the Yoko Osha trilogy. “Making Saint” is an
autoetnographic, sensorial and multilayered portrait of Santeria or Regla de Osha (The rules of the gods); the AfroCuban religion, forcefully imported from West Africa with the slaves trade and falsely syncretic for survival. Not anymore punished by the government, the practice is even more flourishing as the socioeconomic situation in the island remains precarious for the majority of the population. As proposed by the priest in the previous chapters, Lazara Rosell Albear intended to go
through the 7 days initiation ceremony. A crowning, a rebirth, a highly performative event. On becoming, on belonging. Eulogizing the body as a language, spontaneity and improvisation.
Engagement for black female representation in the arts and social change. In time social unrest around the world, Can a film be a tool for social change, for social healing? The pandemic placed travels on hold and most of the film was shot in Brussels and Gent selfexploring the rituals and the states of being to which they lead. Straddling trance and control, fixed and moving images the artist is both a participant and a spectator of the ceremonies she documents. A compelling, unconventional diaristic meditation that reveals the deep involvement
with her roots and the relationship with her artistic practice.
Directed by Lazara Rosell Albear
Format: UHD – Black & White - Color
Duration: 44min 49sec
Production year: 2021
Premiere at DE CENTRALE for contemporary art in Brussels in the context of the
exhibition-forum “BXL UNIVERSEL II : multipli.city” curated by Carine Fol and Tania Nasielski
from March 25th to September 12th, 2021.
The trilogy is part of Argos center for audiovisual arts collection and distribution.
