A new five-part film season at The Barbican starts this month, focusing on âthe relationship between French and Francophone African cinemaâ. Part of The Barbicanâs 2018 season The Art of Change, Returning the Colonial Gaze will present audiences with bold postcolonial cinematography from the 50s through 70s, inclusive of work by âMoroccan, Mauritanian, Senegalese and Nigerien directorsâ.
Running from 2nd May until 30th May, the aim of these works was to literally mirror back and return the ‘colonial gaze’, presenting a new perspective, questioning the âformer occupying nationsâ, and further exploring âhow the arts respond to, reflect and potentially effect change in the social and political landscapeâ. Challenging the Western viewpoint, these directorial voices were both purposefully disruptive and actively liberating; a powerful artistic reclamation of control.
Soleil O (18) opens the season on 2nd May and is unfortunately sold out, but it is this work by Med Hondo – âone of the first films depicting the experience of migrating from the African Continent to Franceâ â that is most poignantly radical this season at The Barbican. Acerbic, fast-paced, and influenced both by European avant-garde and West African oral traditions, Soleil O remains a filmic âpolitical awakeningâ, portraying the experience of Mauritian-born accountant Jean and his dire immigrant experience in Paris.
Afrique 50 + To Be 20 in the Aurès (18) is a RenĂŠ Vautier double-bill, the French activist filmmaker who described himself as âthe most censored director in Franceâ. Screened on Cinema 3 on 9th May, Afrique 50 concerns itself with French colonial rule, while To Be 20 in Aurès greatly criticises the Algerian war and the brainwashing of its conscripts into killing machines. Creator of over 150 movies, Vautier was regularly in trouble with the authorities over the content of his work, but Afrique 50 saw him imprisoned. Indeed, âcensored for over 40 yearsâ, Afrique 50 is now considered France âfirst anti-colonial filmâ.
Afrique sur Seine + Little by Little (15) is another double-bill on 15th May, only these two films encapsulate precisely the sentiment of Returning the Colonial Gaze, depicting as they do black Africans âdiscoveringâ France as a new country (âtouringâ Paris; experiencing âthe bizarre customs of that strange local tribe, Parisiansâ). Paulin Soumanou Vieyraâs 1955 Afrique sur Seine was the âfirst film made by Senegalese filmmakersâ.
Si Moh, The Unlucky Man + The East Wind (18) grace The Barbicanâs Cinema 3 on 23rd May, Moroccan director Moumen Smihiâs purposeful non-Western filmic narratives, part of a post-independence drive to âinvent new forms appropriate to the local cultureâ. The East Wind is certainly not to be missed as an example of the eraâs âgroundbreakingâ cinematographic ânew languageâ.
Finally, An Adventurerâs Homecoming + Touki-Bouki (18) bring a closing touch of comedy to Returning the Colonial Gaze on 30th May, parodying as they do the genre of the Western and the film Easy Rider. The intriguing question explored within this double-bill is, âWhere is home when colonialism is your inheritance?â
All standard tickets are ÂŁ10.50; members ÂŁ8.40; concessions apply.