Hommage à Noir : a journey through the dark continent, an homage to its people and cultures, an intensive confrontation with a "third world", a filmed poem which shows the people of Africa in their full dignity and with their full pride, between traditional rituals and modern everyday life, between palaces and simple huts.

This film has no words. They aren't necessary. The power of its images is language enough - underlined with the hypnotic pulse of music from the turn of the 21st century which binds the trance-inducing rhythms of native musicians, recorded on site, with Western electronics. There is also a quest here for the melting point of different cultures, the equal partnership of several worlds, the one, fourth world. This film has a vision: the vision of releasing oneself from inner barriers and confronting the third world as a partner, as a seeker. Not as a tourist and middle-class person who wants to satisfy his desire for comforts for only a little money.

Filmed in Cameroon, Hommage a Noir is a visual poem set to music which pays tribute to the people of modern Africa. Shot entirely in black and white, this stunning array of images is scored with a mixture of traditional African rhythms and futuristic electronica. Hommage a Noir is an unusual tribute to the strength and diversity of the African people. ~

HOMMAGE A NOIR, stunningly filmed in black and white, is a visual, musical poem to the people of contemporary Africa conceived by award-winning German filmmaker Ralf Schmerberg . Not one word is spoken, for none are necessary. The haunting imagery of the film is accompanied by a continuous soundtrack, a seamless fusion of traditional rhythms and cutting-edge electronica, by Ralf Hildenbeutel . Shot entirely on location in Cameroon, the journey yields indelible impressions of a remarkable cross-section of society, from nobility to the masses, from western influences to ancient rituals. HOMMAGE A NOIR is unlike any documentary on Africa you have ever seen!