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▶ Excerpt · 1′04″

198625 minDocumentary

Pas de cadeau pour Noël

Noël N’Tunda is forty-two. Born in Rwanda, he has lived in Belgium since he was twelve, on a welfare allowance that is just enough to live on. His days are all alike: chance meetings in bars, appointments with social workers. Noël shows the places he passes every day and tells of those that shaped his life, and Rob Rombout follows him with direct questions. Noël answers with humour: “There is an ocean between what I expected from life and what I have become.” The film moves between past and present. And also: “If I could afford it… I would go swimming.”

Photographs

Noël N’Tunda in a leather jacket beside a smiling shopkeeper in a white coat, bananas hanging in the window behind
1986Belgium, Liège, Noël N’Tunda
A shopkeeper at his till filmed through a shop window, a camera in the foreground and three men watching
1986Belgium, Liège
André Leplat filming with a video camera among shelves of bottles, a woman at the counter beside him
1986Belgium, Liège. Camera: André Leplat
A cameraman with a video camera on a tripod, a man in glasses and a woman at a desk with papers
1986Belgium, Liège
Two pictures one above the other: three men at a table in black and white, and a similar office scene in colour
Analogy
Four men in a room with a staircase, Noël N’Tunda in a leather jacket in the middle
1986Belgium, Liège
Noël N’Tunda smoking, his hands joined in front of his face
1986Belgium, Liège, Noël N’Tunda
Noël N’Tunda looking aside, a cigarette between his fingers
1986Belgium, Liège, Noël N’Tunda
A clapperboard reading Noël, take 12, director Rombout
1986Belgium, Liège

Technical sheet

Title
Pas de cadeau pour Noël
Year
1986
Runtime
25 min
Countries
Belgium
Languages
French
Production
Canal Emploi, Liège
Availability
Online on Rob Rombout's YouTube channel
Direction and script
Rob Rombout
Assistant director
Daniel Delmelle
Image
André Leplat
Assistant camera
Alain Marcoun
Sound
J.-N. Ceuens
Editing
Marie-France Collard
Mix
Jean-Pierre Depireux

Prizes

  1. 1987First prize, Festival Vidéo PSY, Lorquin

Selections

  1. 1986World Wide Video Festival, The Hague