In November 2007 the One Minutes Belgian Open took place, a competition in which anyone can enter a film of exactly 60 seconds.
Seraphin Zounyekpe from Benin won
the 2008 award for the category documentary in Ghent with his one minute documentary 'Sous le pont'. This film is about an old man who, with his family, has been sleeping under the bridge of Dantokpa for about 20 years now.
In the documentary category 90 films entered the competition.
Zounyekpe received support from the Prince Claus Fund for his travel to
the World One Minute Exhibition in Bejing for which two of his films were selected. In June 2008 the best One Minute videos from ninety countries were projected continuously on the walls of the
Beijing Today Art Museum
(3000 m2).
Visitors were able to enjoy about a dozen one-minute videos from each of these countries, the movies being split up among approximately thirty beamers. All together there were about 1 000 One Minutes. Participants range from talented young people to both beginning and established artists. The selection of the best One Minutes was made by The One Minutes foundation in collaboration with curators from the participating countries. Among them are art critics, museum directors, art teachers and, of course, artists.
Seraphin Zounyekpe wrote a report about his experiences traveling to and participating in this unique exhibition that is well worth reading.
NB: downloading the report may take some minutes because of the number of photos it contains.
Read the Report by Seraphin Zounyekpe (in French)
Seraphin Zounyekpe at work
www.theoneminutes.org
article online in Benin on Seraphin Coffi Zounyekpe
profile on Berlinale of Seraphin Coffi Zounyekpe with a sample of his work
