DocX Diaries: Reflections From Dominic Yarabe

Dominic Yarabe is an award-winning filmmaker and interdisciplinary artist based in New York. She participated in the DocX Residency: Another World is Possible at the Duke Center for Documentary Studies (CDS) in spring 2025 — conceived by Stephanie Owens and Nyssa Chow as an invitation for documentary artists to connect, breathe and create. 

Below, Yarabe reflects on this experience and time spent working on her project, “Feu de Lune” (working title). The a hybrid docufiction feature film explores West African mythology, gendered childhood dreams and the palimpsests of wartime through two young twins in a rural village in West Africa.                 

“There was an immediacy in the exchange of ideas, an unspoken trust that allowed us to explore freely and honestly.” 

From the very beginning, the conversations with our speakers felt like a return rather than an arrival. What struck me most was how deeply connected we all were in our shared understanding of the work. There was an immediacy in the exchange of ideas, an unspoken trust in the room that allowed us to explore freely and honestly. 

This experience has been especially meaningful for me in relation to my oral history practice, which is rooted in the belief that wisdom is not just passed down, but also shared in community. I have learned so much from the lived experiences of others here — insights that have ignited new ways of thinking for my own work. 

“My process has been about listening — to the environment, to the voices that have shaped my understanding of the world, and to the evolving needs of my project.”

Much like the oral histories I am gathering for the film, my process has been about listening — to the environment, to the voices that have shaped my understanding of the world, and to the evolving needs of my project. My upcoming feature film seeks to bridge generations of oral histories, merging magical realism, mythology and collective trauma in the context of a rural village in Côte d'Ivoire. At the heart of this film is the exploration of gendered childhood dreams, the myths that shape us and the collective memory of a village's past. This residency has been a space to deepen my relationship to the very practice that anchors my film — oral histories — and how this practice informs my creative journey. 

In working through the project, I have reflected on the moments of tension, the spaces in between, and the magic that emerges when we dare to confront the past and reimagine our place within it. I have been experimenting with how these images speak to the underlying narrative, creating a tension that mirrors the conflict within the story. It has been both a journey of self-reflection and creative discovery. 

“The residency has offered the space to integrate the lessons of oral storytelling into my cinematic practice.”

As I prepare for the upcoming shoot, these reflections and experiments continue to guide me. The residency has offered the space to integrate the lessons of oral storytelling into my cinematic practice, helping me to find new ways to create a visual language that honors the traditions I am drawing from, while also investigating radical possibilities. 

What excites me most is that this is just the beginning. The oral histories I’ve collected and the creative work I’ve developed here will guide the next stages of production. This residency has not just been about refining a story but about deepening my understanding of the process — both as a filmmaker and as a storyteller — and I look forward to continuing this journey on set.