We Come as Friends
Documentary Film, FR/AT 2014, Farbe, 110 min., OmdU
Diagonale 2016
![](https://www.diagonale.at/wp-content/uploads/fly-images/69507/still_We-Come-as-Friends-464x348-c.jpg)
Director, Script, Camera: Hubert Sauper
Editor: Hubert Sauper, Cathie Dambel, Denise Vindevogel
Music: Slim Twig
Sounddesign: Veronika Hlawatsch
Additional Credits: Produktionsleitung: Stephanie Bourdin, Marie Tappero
Producers: Hubert Sauper, Gabriele Kranzelbinder
Production: KGP Kranzelbinder Gabriele Production, Adelante Film
Co-production: Adelante Films (FR)
We Come as Friends is a modern odyssey,
a dizzying, scifiesque journey into the heart of
Africa. At the moment when the Sudan is being
divided into two nations, an old “civilizing”
pathology re emerges — that of colonialism, clash
of empires, and ever new episodes of bloody (and
holy) wars over land and resources. Hubert Sauper
leads us into most improbable locations and into
people’s thoughts and dreams. Of the 124 submitted
films, We Come as Friends was selected for the
Oscar documentary feature shortlist 2016.
In an unusual narrative structure, We Come as
Friends presents impressions and facts around the
founding of the state South Sudan. At times, the way
of making contact and reporting seems highly subjective,
almost extraterrestrial. This anarchistic-like
approach and the images, which follow a disconcerting
rhythm, carry a documentary that is both complex
and deeply distressing.
(Viennale, Wiener Filmpreis, Jury-Statement)
We Come as Friends embodies its maker and
his methods: it is reportage cinema at its most
fleet, mischievous, provocative, compassionate and
plaintive.
(JIHLAVA International Documentary Film Festival,
Best Central and Eastern European Documentary Film,
Jury-Statement)