THEMOVIES

Dutch artists Lonnie Van Brummelen and Siebren de Haan team up with Surinamese writer and theater maker Tolin Alexander for their second feature as a directing trio. Monikondee (which translates to “money country”) is an immersive work that blends documentary with elements of performance and traditional oral culture, following a boatman who delivers provisions to remote indigenous and afro-descendant communities along the Maroni River, which separates Suriname and French Guiana. The structure—a trip downriver that is punctuated by stops, each representing a new story—becomes repetitive over time, infusing the film with the soporific quality of ritual.