Quitte le Pouvoir (Wade, get out!) is a documentary (2014 |46′) with subtle animations. The film follows ‘Y’en a Marre’ (‘We’re Fed Up’), a collective of rappers and journalists from Dakar’s inner city, that join forces to mobilize the Senegalese youth to revolt and register to vote Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade out of power in the 2012 elections. By using animations over the live action footage, the dark atmosphere of the tension hanging over the city is subtly highlighted.
In 2011 Senegal’s President Abdoulaye Wade declares that he will run for a third term in the elections. Knowing full well that the Consitution does not allow it. ‘Y’en a marre’ (Fed Up’) is founded that same year. Using music and door-to-door campaigns, ‘Y’en a marre’ calls upon the youth to engage politically and demonstrate against Wade’s candidacy. They also urge the youth to register and use their voting card as their democratic weapon.
Y’en a marre succeeded to register 300.000 new voters, historically a record number. They have inspired young people from other West-African countries to politically engage in pacifist civil movements, to avoid the violent scenario of the ‘Arab Spring’.
Fundraising through Dutch Foundation A.D.A.P.T.
Thanks to three crowd funding campaigns and a large donation by Webster University we have been able to realise this film.
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Aida Grovestins (director/producer) and Machteld Aardse (artist/producer). The inspiration for “Quitte le Pouvoir” came in 2011 when we were in Senegal doing research on a fascinating old story of resistance of queen-warriors, the Women of Waalo. Storytelling connects us and we wanted to tell and visualize this story through documentary film style and drawn-animations.
Aida Grovestins is an independent film maker in Amsterdam and Senegal. After 13 years of journalism for Dutch public current affairs programs, her first documentary film ‘Diamond Dust’ was broadcast by Dutch TV (VPRO) in 2009 and by Belgian TV (CANVAS) in 2010. Under her company name Crossroads DOCS, she makes commissioned films, documentaries and news items. In March 2011, her radio documentary “Nina Kalpeta – Holodomor – Ostarbeiter” was broadcasted by Dutch Radio (VPRO-­Radio-1): ‘a moving portrait of a Ukrainian woman who survived the Great Famine in the Ukraine, only to be sent later by the Nazis as a so-called ‘Ostarbeiter’ (‘labor worker’) to Germany.
Machteld Aardse is an artist in Amsterdam. In her work she uses various media including drawing, video and performance. Aardse: “I’ll go out and look for the confrontation with my subject. The complex relationship between power and powerlessness and different world views with its specific connections and short circuits intrigues me.” After studying art history Machteld Aardse studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy and got her Masters in Art at the Dutch Art Institute. Most of her work is realized in the public domain. She has exhibited at – among others – De Nederlandsche Bank, the New York Island Festival, Museum het Rembrandthuis Amsterdam, Museum Scheltema in Leiden (Netherlands), Women’s Art Festival in Aleppo, Syria.
Quitte le Pouvoir (WADE, GET OUT!) (2014 | 46′) is een documentaire met subtiele animaties.
De film volgt Y’en a marre (‘We’re Fed Up’), een collectief van jonge rappers en journalisten uit de binnenstad van Dakar, dat jongeren mobiliseert om via vreedzame demonstraties en met hun stemkaart als wapen Senegal’s president Abdoulaye Wade de verkiezingen van 2012 te laten verliezen.
Quitte le Pouvoir (WADE, GET OUT!) est un film documentaire avec animations (2014 | 46′) , d’Aida Grovestins (réalisatrice) et Machteld Aardse (dessins-animés). Un film sur la quête de pouvoir et la résistance non violente lors des élections présidentielles au Sénégal, en 2012.
Dans un pays où le président en exercice, Abdoulaye Wade, 86 ans, tente par tous les moyens, avec son fils Karim, de garder le pouvoir. Parmi l’opposition, de jeunes rappeurs risquent leur vie pour pousser les citoyens à prendre la rue et protester contre la candidature du président Wade, qui termine son second mandat. Tandis que le pays s’enfonce dans la violence, les rappeurs sont confrontés aux manipulations d’Abdoulaye Wade.
C’est le combat d’un vieux leader face à la résistance de la jeunesse.