Émilien Abibou, documentary filmmaker: “We had to make the Thiaroye massacre known”

La Croix L’Hebdo : How are you ?

Emilien Abibou: I find the news to be quite harsh. Between the war in Ukraine, the conflict in Gaza, the American elections and the crises in France, the news is hypercomplicated. I have the impression that we are not heading towards a period of calm and, from this point of view, it is difficult to be optimistic.

You have started producing a documentary on an event little known to the general public, the Thiaroye massacre. What is it about?

AND. A: On December 1, 1944, the French army killed several hundred Senegalese riflemen who were demanding payment of their military pay, in the Thiaroye military camp, near Dakar, Senegal. My grandfather, Antoine Abibou, escaped this execution and was then condemned, along with 33 other soldiers, for having instigated an alleged mutiny. In the family, it was a big void, we talked about it very little. In 2012, the historian Armelle Mabon contacted us: she had reconstructed, thanks to her research in the archives, everything that had happened in Thiaroye, and found my grandfather’s belongings. There were notably the interrogations of his trial, with those of the other accused riflemen.

A wealth of information for you…

AND. A: Yes, it was like a revelation: my grandfather recounts his confinement in one of the Frontstalags, camps opened in France after the debacle of 1940, his escape, his entry into the resistance, until the last days leading to the massacre . A completely crazy, almost romantic itinerary that tells the story of the riflemen during the war. I had this very rich material in my hands. I was able to reconstruct his journey and thus evoke the fate of all the riflemen who were victims of this bloody episode. Without making a historical documentary.

Commemorations of the 80th anniversary of the massacre took place in Senegal on 1^is last December, what does this mean to you?

AND. A: The witnesses to the tragedy are getting older, this is perhaps the last time they could participate in such an event. So I went there to meet them and continue filming my documentary. In Senegal, the new government wants to take advantage of this anniversary to begin memorial work. For France, it was an opportunity to rehabilitate the condemned. Many descendants of the victims were hoping for a symbolic gesture from Emmanuel Macron.

The president finally declared, on November 28, that it was a « massacre ». But there are still inaccessible archives in France. They must come out, so that we can finally exonerate the convicted riflemen. With the opening of mass graves in Thiaroye, this is one of the last battles to be fought.

What keeps you going?

AND. A: What sticks with me is the idea that the public can rediscover the story of these riflemen, from their participation in the war, from their imprisonment in France to the massacre, upon their return to Africa. When I discovered what my grandfather had suffered, it was, as I said, a bit like a revelation: we had to make known what had happened in Thiaroye. This was beneficial for me. I then chose to put my life on pause to recount this episode from the family and national past. I see this documentary as an act for the future.

The last time you took a risk?

AND. A: Professionally, I took risks by changing direction quite often. I stopped video production to start from scratch and work as an assistant on film sets. Then, I decided to leave them in order to produce works for an artist. Changing professions is quite terrifying. The instability has been very insecure. My biggest fear was losing my creative freedom. Today I feel freer than before. I can carry out my film project at the same time as the rest.