I was asked by director Nana Oforiatta-Ayim to provide music for her film poem A Shred of Identity, using a text by author Dambudzo Marechera and spoken by actor Christopher Simpson. The brief was for “something futuristic and African, minimal and torn”.
A more complete and fuller version of the piece appears on my album Shimmer & Bloom, titled Shred.
“Based on the poem ‘A Shred of Identity’ by Zimbabwean novelist and poet Dambudzo Marechera, this film explores the notion of a double identity in two ways: the split between the self can be interpreted as a product of colonialism, migration and displacement, where the mother tongue mutates into a foreign language. Double consciousness, however, is also at the heart of the creative act; artistic practice could be seen as a constant exploration of the tension between inner and outer self.”
Writer/Director: Nana Oforiatta Ayim
Assistant Director: Chino Moya
Producer: Melissa Jones
Cinematographer: Sam Jones
Editor: Herbert Hunger
Set Designer: Fiametta Horvat
Music: Ilpo Jauhiainen
Cast:
Chuka Okonkwo
Dubem Okonkwo
Eloise Fornieles
David Birkin
Sophie Hunter
Patrick Kennedy
Zulfiquar Rahman
Yves Ngoy
composer / sound artist / writer 