Baloji’s ‘Omen’ derived from his personal experiences

Belgian rapper and director Baloji is poised to make his feature directorial film ‘Omen’, a supernatural folk-drama.

The movie is derived from his personal experiences as a Congolese-born European and deals with the complexities and emotions that come with inheriting two cultures, one of both his birth and the other of adopted homeland.

Witchcraft and magic are the centerpieces of the film.

Speaking to ‘The Hollywood Reporter’, Baloji said: “My name, Baloji, means ‘sorcerer’ in Swahili, which is a difficult name to live with. It’s like being an American named ‘devil’.”

“I did a lot of reading about witchcraft and the culture of witches in different societies. The origin of my name, actually, had meant man of science or woman of science. A healer might be the best translation in English,” he added.

He continued: “But when Christianity and the colonizers came, they gave the local science negative connotations, making it like black magic. So all those things, the tradition, the language, the religion, the history and how it all comes together in personal identity, that’s the subject of Omen.”

Baloji also described the film as a mix of different art forms which combine real events with imagination. He said that the perception of his work is derived from multiple art forms ranging from literature, writing, to his own job as a musician, music, as well as visual arts.

As per ‘The Hollywood Reporter’, the plot follows Koffi (Marc Zinga), a young Congolese man living in Europe with his white fiancée Alice (Lucie Debay) who travels to Congo in an effort to mend his relationship with his family, particularly his mother Mujila (Yves-Marina Gnahoua).