This research project is situated at the intersection of documentary, anthropology and visual arts while it aims to explore the possibilities of co-creation in two films. This evolution away from the exclusivity of the unique author stems organically from the issues that I addressed in my previous film Lili (2015). Lili deals with the tradition of so-called China girls, in which white skin is used as an (invisible) standard for color adjustment in audiovisual media. After each screening, spectators asked how filmmakers with a different skin color than mine deal with this built-in racism. I therefore started looking for filmmakers whose work I find interesting and who have a different skin color than I do. I thought it essential that the work that Lili follows is co-creative. How can I know what it is to have a different skin color and how this affects filmmaking? This issue also leads to research questions about the consequences of white privilege, white exclusivity on authorship in the arts, the importance of intersubjectivity and the need to share authorship (see also: Nzume 2017; Wekker 2017; Eddo-Lodge 2018, et al. ). Moreover, these considerations are inspired by the invitation of media researchers Ella Shohat and Robert Stam to adopt a decolonizing stance by criticizing the balance of power in knowledge production (Shohat and Stam 2003: 5). This research therefore aims to develop the films Prisme and Kastom Kopiraet on the basis of reciprocity, co-creation and participatory relationships. For the film Prisme I work with Rosine Mbakam and Eléonore Yameogo; for the film Kastom Kopiraet I work with Christina Stuhlberger and Hugo DeBlock.

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Moya Michael. Photo Copyright Thomas Nolf