After Derrick

Directed by Alan Marzo

Produced independently, After Derrick is a raw road-movie documentary following the journey of 4 East African music producers and sound artists and their encounter with a group of Western musicians for recording sessions and a tour around the region.

Featuring artists like KMRU, Slikback, Karun, Pier Alfeo, Tite (Poni Hoax), Flexfab and Jinku, the documentary raises crucial questions about the complex realities of East African sound artists and music producers, facing the challenges of defining a new sound in the post-colonial era, while fighting against Western exotic stereotypes. How can the new vanguard artists fill the void created by centuries of colonization without simply replicating hegemonic expectations and cultures coming from the West. In a region which over-consumed European commercial entertainment, what happens when the young generation stops watching Derrick?

Navigating between different expressional mediums, ranging from writing to music and video-making, Alan Marzo’s practice crystalizes around works of transdisciplinary, transmedia and collective nature.

Defending a fluid creative approach, where the essence of the message is prioritized over the mean of expression, he co-founded the art collective and publishing house FLEE, dedicated to the documentation and hybridization of music phenomena around the world.

In parallel, he is at the forefront of the music project Alan Strani, bringing together rhythms and samples, analog kitschy synths as well as sung voices, an initiative finding inspiration in 80’s disco music.

Finally, maliciously blurring the lines, the Swiss-Italian artist also directs documentaries and short films, with high audience ratings at the 2020 Roma Pigneto Film Festival for his movie Ultimo Giro (Last ride).