msinimefoce: Reverse the Crisis

The film’s title, msinimefoce, spells “ecofeminism” backwards, establishing the work’s governing principle: running time in reverse to question extractive patriarchal structures under UN SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production).

The visual design is deliberately abstract and performative rather than realistic. Framing and blocking were choreographed specifically for retrograde motion. Terracotta pots shattering into violent splatters of crimson pigment across parched ground pull themselves back into unbroken vessels in reverse. Men in dark formal suits carrying earthenware matkas against empty skies, and blue crystal beads poured into hands adorned with red glass bangles, were staged with rigid, measured cadence so the backward motion feels sculptural and intentional.

The temporal rewind extends equally to the soundtrack. The audio was reversed so acoustic attacks and decays are inverted—ambient sounds, breathing, and impacts swell mysteriously into sudden cuts rather than decaying naturally, creating an unsettling sonic momentum that matches the visual reconstitution on screen.

Visually, the film relies on extreme graphic minimalism. Actions are isolated against featureless daylight skies and stark, high-key white backgrounds, removing environmental clutter to foreground high-contrast symbolic materials: raw clay, deep red pigment, reflective water, and young green saplings.