Many would associate bread as a basic boring food, but those words certainly don’t describe the charmingly creative An Ode to a Time I Loved Bread (Neema Ngelime, 2023). Presented in stop-motion style, Ngelime attempts to contemplate and reconcile with her past. Particularly, the painful memories from her troubled time attending a colonial legacy boarding school.
Ngelime’s story is told through collages, fun cut outs of pictures and from magazines, an ode to her inner child. A definitely eye-catching and expressive element, the collages’ colours add a further layer to her already deeply emotive storytelling. Beyond how the popping colours contrasted the blandness of bread, the titular food also becomes symbolic of different themes in the three chapters of the documentary. The first, predominantly bright themed chapter represents the time before she leaves boarding school.
As she tells her story of the school, the theme and colours of the collage become darker with only the cut-outs sparsely providing colour. Through this change, Ngelime effectively expresses the appalling effects her education there had as an individual. At first, bread seemingly symbolises the comforts of home that she misses, with bread being a treat in comparison to the paraffin-laced porridge they served at the boarding school.
After time, how something as banal as bread can become such a cause of celebration. It becomes symbolic of being there and taking away all the excitement and expressions of youth, the emotions which were seen as something they needed to be saved from. Despite the traumatic and tough times she had, we triumphantly see a return of more bright colours at the third chapter, in defiance of the dark tone of the collage and clips from the chapter before.
In the closing act, Ngelime explores her attempts to rekindle what she lost during her time at the school whilst trying to face what baggage she gained. Perhaps, this is all of us when facing the demons deep from our pasts, with our own never ending appetite for bread.
An Ode to a Time I Loved Bread (2023) is selected in Docs Docs: Short! Festival Film Dokumenter 2023. (Aradi Ghalizha) (Vanis)
Film Details
An Ode to a Time I Loved Bread
Neema Ngelime | 11 Min | 2021 | Belgium, Hungary, Portugal, Tanzania | Color | 17+
Screening Schedule
12.05 | Auditorium IFI-LIP | 14.30 WIB
12.08 | Gedung ex Bioskop Permata | 15.30 WIB
