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Decolonisation in Motion

Poster detail “Black Girl” (dir. Ousmane Sembene)

“Decolonisation in Motion” is the title of a film season organised by University College at the Bodleian Library this autumn. Bringing together classics of Third World cinema alongside little-known films rarely available to view in the UK, the season explores how African decolonisation was imagined and represented at its high point in the 1960s. What hierarchies did the end of colonial rule undo, and which ones remained? How were transnational solidarities forged, and what were their limitations? Who got to tell the story of decolonisation? Who did they tell it to? What kinds of aesthetic innovations were seen as embodying political transformations? All films will be screened in their original languages, with English subtitles.

Poster Detail The Battle of Algiers (dir. Gillo Pontecorvo)

Beginning life as a collaboration between Univ’s Sanderson Tutorial Fellow in Modern History, Dr Natalya Vince, and documentary maker and expert on post-colonial cinema Walid Benkhaled (Bodleian Library), with the support of the Master of the College, Valerie Amos, the series will draw on expertise within and beyond the College in a series of screenings, talks and Q&A. This includes Univ’s two new Beacon Junior Research Fellows, Dr Mobeen Hussain and Dr Lyn Joanne-Victoire Kouadio.

Aimed at students, university staff and the wider public, entrance is free, but places are limited – secure your place by signing up on the weekly links below.

For more information, please contact Natalya.Vince@univ.ox.ac.uk

The full season comprises:

• Tuesday 10 October, 5.30pm: Decolonisation in Motion: Shooting our Way to Independence (film shorts) – Free, limited spaces, sign up here.
• Tuesday 17 October, 5.30pm: Gillo Pontecorvo, The Battle of Algiers (1966, 120 mins) – Free, limited spaces, sign up here.
• Wednesday 25 October, 5.30pm: Ousmane Sembene, Black Girl (1966, 55 mins) – Free, limited spaces, sign up here.
• Wednesday 1 November, 5.30pm: Sarah Maldoror, Sambizanga (1972, 97 mins) – Free, limited spaces, sign up here.
• Tuesday 7 November, 5.30pm: Moufida Tlatli, The Silences of the Palace (1994, 127 mins) – Free, limited spaces, sign up here.
• Tuesday 14 November, 5.30pm: Season finale – Algiers Pan-African Festival (1969, 102 mins) – Free, limited spaces, sign up here.

Further details of each session can be found below.

Decolonisation in Motion: Shooting our Way to Independence (film shorts)

The Battle of Algiers

Black Girl

Sambizanga

The Silences of the Palace

Season finale - Algiers Pan-African Festival

Published: 27 September 2023

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