The Tree of Authenticity

Original Title|L'Arbre de l'Authenticité

Experimental | 88' 50" | 2025 (Completed)

Watch trailer

All images & Videos

(7 images)

Director	Sammy Baloji
Producer	Rosa Spaliviero
Writer	David Van Reybrouck, Thomas Hendricks, Ellen Meiresonne

Full credits

In the heart of the Congo rainforest, the remains of a research centre dedicated to tropical agriculture reveal the burden of the colonial past and its inextricable links to contemporary climate change.

twentyninestudio.net

synopsis

Located on the banks of the Congo River, the Yangambi INERA Research Station was a booming scientific centre in its heyday. Today, it is an amalgam of jungle and ruin, where questions of knowledge, power over it, and access to it, linger. The Tree of Authenticity recounts the ecological destruction that began at the time of colonisation through the voices of Paul Panda Farnana and Abiron Beirnaert, two scientists who worked at Yangambi between 1910 and 1950. Their stories embody the legacies of colonial modernity and trace the origins of today's environmental injustice.
Située sur les rives du fleuve Congo, la station de recherche INERA de Yangambi était un centre scientifique en plein essor à son apogée. Aujourd'hui, c'est un amalgame de jungle et de ruines, où les questions du savoir, du pouvoir sur la connaissance et de l'accès au savoir persistent. L’Arbre de l’Authenticité raconte les stigmates de la destruction écologique entamée au moment de la colonisation, à travers les voix de deux scientifiques emblématiques ayant œuvré à Yangambi dans les années 1910-1950, Paul Panda Farnana et Abiron Beirnaert. Leurs récits incarnent les héritages de la modernité coloniale et tracent les origines de l’injustice environnementale actuelle.
Het Yangambi INERA Research Station ligt aan de oevers van de Congo-rivier en was in zijn hoogtijdagen een bloeiend wetenschappelijk centrum. Vandaag de dag is het een amalgaam van jungle en ruïnes, waar vragen over kennis, de macht erover en de toegang ertoe blijven hangen. De Boom der Authenticiteit vertelt het stigma van de ecologische vernietiging die begon tijdens de kolonisatie, aan de hand van de stemmen van twee symbolische wetenschappers die tussen 1910 en 1950 in Yangambi werkten, Paul Panda Farnana en Abiron Beirnaert. Hun verhalen belichamen de erfenis van de koloniale moderniteit en traceren de oorsprong van de hedendaagse klimaatonrechtvaardigheid.

Credits

Director
Sammy Baloji
Producer
Rosa Spaliviero
Writer
David Van Reybrouck, Thomas Hendricks, Ellen Meiresonne
Cast
Diederik Peeters, Edson Anibal
Editing
Luca Mattei
Photography
Franck Moka
Sound
Chris Watson, Laszlo Umbreit, Frédéric Furnelle

Format

Creation details

Type
Film
Category
Experimental
Production share
Majority Flemish Production
Belgium
Genre
Experimental
Year of production

2025
Production status
Completed
Original title
L'Arbre de l'Authenticité
Original language
French, Dutch

Technical specs

Running time
88' 50"
Available in
2D
Aspect ratio
16:9
Sound format
5.1 (+sub)
Available formats
Apple ProRes 444; DCP (2K)
Colour
Colour

Contact & sales

Contact

Twenty Nine Studio & Production

Rue du Chimiste 34-36
1070 Brussel
Belgium

rosa@twentyninestudio.net

twentyninestudio.net

Details

Festivals & awards

Festivals

2025: International Film Festival Rotterdam IFFR - Tiger competition (NL); Festival internacional de Cine de Cartagena de Indias FICCI - (S)paces of time (CO); Courtisane - Undercurrents (BE); Ambulante - Intersecciones (MX); Visions du Réel - Highlights (CH); Jeu de Paume (FR); Hot Docs - World Showcase (CA); Gabes Cinema Fen - Official Selection (TN); Doxa - Spotlights: Demonic Grounds (CA); New York African FF - Official Selection (US); DOK.fest München - DOK.horizonte competition (DE); Videoex - Special (CH); Bozar - Portrait Sammy Baloji (BE); Tarifa FCAT - Hipermetropía competition (ES); Olhar de Cinema - International Competition (BR); Santiago del Estero FF - Feature Documentary Competition (AR); Encounters - The Frightening Reality of Now (ZA); Institute of Contemporary Art - Off-Circuit (UK); Decolonial Film Festival - Cycle Congo (FR); New Horizons - Visual Front (PL); Blackstar FF - Official Selection (US); Dokufest - Green Dox competition (XK); Cinémas d'afrique Lausanne (CH); Imagined New / VIAD / University of Johannesburg (ZA); ARKIPEL (ID); Festival cinémas d'Afrique – Lausanne (CH); Africa FF Köln (DE); Festival do Rio (BR); Dream City Festival (TU); Al Tarim / Musée Elder (ES); Silicon Valley African Film Festival (US); Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art (UK); Doclisboa International film festival - From The Earth to the Moon (PT); Viennale International Film Festival (AT); Festival Actoral (FR); Festival du Nouveau Cinéma - The New Alchemists (CA); New York Asian Film Festival (US); Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival - Testimonies 2025 (CZ); FACT Liverpool (UK); AFRIKALDIA Basque Festival of African Cinemas - Official and Competitive (ES); Festival de Tuebingen – Französische Filmtage Tübingen (DE); Institut Audiovisuel de Monaco (MC); Cinéma Africain! Linz (AT); Greenmotions Filmfestival (DE); MOVE IT! Film Festival – 21. Internationales Filmfestival für Menschenrechte (DE); Lo schermo dell’arte (IT); Film Africa, Royal African Society (UK); AfryKamera – 20. Festiwal filmów afrykańskich (PL); Fondazione Prada (IT); KAAP Oostende - Rethink & Replace (BE); Miradas Afroindígenas – Festival Internacional de Cine de Realidad de Canarias (ES); Forumdoc.bh (BR); Al Tareb / University of Elche (ES); CEC (BE)

Awards

2025: Special Jury Award - Tiger competition - World Premiere IFFR (NL); Premio Casa África de Cine a la mejor dirección - Hipermetropía competition - Tarifa FCAT (ES); Olhar Best Film Award - International Competition - Olhar de Cinema (BR); Main award - Testimonies section - Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival (CZ)

Partners

Co-production partners

Last Dreams Production (FR)

Supported by

Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF), ARTE France - La Lucarne, Vlaamse Overheid Departement Cultuur, Jeugd & Media, Taxshelter.be, ING, Tax Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government