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Phantom Pain - A letter to Henry A. Kissinger

Kiluanji Kia Henda
Phantom Pain - A letter to Henry A. Kissinger, 2020
Single channel digital video

The short film “Phantom Pain - A Letter to Henry Kissinger” is a video-letter addressed by the artist Kiluanji Kia Henda to the former North American Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Based on autobiographical elements, the film is shot entirely on the same street where the artist was born and raised. By visiting the cinema, the church and the Orthopedic Center, all located in the same street, Kia Henda talks about his childhood memories during the long years of the Angolan Civil War (1975 - 2002), and about the eminent influence of the Cold War in this conflict. The short-film takes on the perverse contribution of the U.S., in order to maintain and intensify the war in Angola, testified on the book "In Search of Enemies" written by the former C.I.A. officer and Chief of the Angola Task Force in 1975, John Stockwell.