African Cinema Series
09 - 13 May 2012
This May, between the exhibition ‘Mengele’s Skull’ and a solo show by artist Nora Schultz, Portikus uses this installation period for the film event African Cinema Series. In collaboration with the curator and film scholar Marie-Hélène Gutberlet, Portikus presents this film programme with screenings on five consecutive days. The films presented (May 9–13, 2012, always at 7pm) take an explicit look at motion—from literal movement, the physical act of walking, to issues of geopolitically structured mobility.
The oeuvres of African filmmakers have long enjoyed international renown. Viewers appreciate the distinctive forms of African filmmaking, which differ from the conventions of Western narrative cinema. Many more recent productions distance themselves both thematically and aesthetically from the films created by the founding generation of African cinema (Ousmane Sembene, Moustapha Alassane, Souleymane Cissé, et al.), trying to define a contemporary and global, African filmic language. Their experimental engagement of urban life plays a crucial role in the development of new narrative and stylistic formulae, as does a nuanced recourse to the discourses of postcolonialism and gender.
May 9, 7pm: Conversations on a Sunday Afternoon, Khalo Matabane, SA 2005, 80’
The documentary/feature hybrid Conversations on a Sunday Afternoon roams Johannesburg, looking for an inspiring story of migration.
May 10, 7pm: Relentless, Andi Amady Okoroafor, Nigeria 2010, 91’, German premiere!
The feature film Relentless forays through nocturnal Lagos to escape the past.
May 11, 7pm: Heremakono – Waiting for Happiness, Abderrahmane Sissako, Mau/Sen 2002, 95’
The feature film Heremakono interweaves several parallel storylines about arrivals and departures to create a multi-perspectival fabric.
May 12,7pm: Four films by Penny Siopis, SA, 45’ in total
South African artist Penny Siopis works with found footage created by amateur filmmakers. Complex visual and acoustic montages, her four experimental films—My Lovely Day, 1997; Pray, 2007; Obscure White Messenger, 2010; and Communion, 2011—blend personal recollections with collective images from the contemporary history of apartheid.
May 13,7pm: Indochine, sur les traces d’une mère—Indochina, Traces of a Mother, Idrissou Mora-Kpai, F/Benin/Vietnam 2011, 71’
Investigative and cinematically ambitious at once, the documentary Indochine, sur les traces d’une mère examines the participation of African mercenaries in the French-Vietnamese colonial war.
Bio
Marie-Hélène Gutberlet (b. 1966) studied art history, philosophy, and film studies in Frankfurt am Main and Basel (PhD). From her teaching position at the Institute of Theater, Film, and Media Studies at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt/Main stems the cooperation between Portikus and the Goethe University. Gutberlet is now a freelance writer and curator. She cofounded the experimental film series reel to real in Frankfurt/Main (www.reeltoreal.de/) and co-initiated the ongoing project Migration & Media (www.migrationandmedia.com/) with platforms in Frankfurt/Main, Bamako, and Johannesburg.
Numerous publications, editorial contributions, and journal articles on African cinema, experimental and documentary filmmaking, and film in the art context.
A collaboration with the film studies chair at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University.
The oeuvres of African filmmakers have long enjoyed international renown. Viewers appreciate the distinctive forms of African filmmaking, which differ from the conventions of Western narrative cinema. Many more recent productions distance themselves both thematically and aesthetically from the films created by the founding generation of African cinema (Ousmane Sembene, Moustapha Alassane, Souleymane Cissé, et al.), trying to define a contemporary and global, African filmic language. Their experimental engagement of urban life plays a crucial role in the development of new narrative and stylistic formulae, as does a nuanced recourse to the discourses of postcolonialism and gender.
May 9, 7pm: Conversations on a Sunday Afternoon, Khalo Matabane, SA 2005, 80’
The documentary/feature hybrid Conversations on a Sunday Afternoon roams Johannesburg, looking for an inspiring story of migration.
May 10, 7pm: Relentless, Andi Amady Okoroafor, Nigeria 2010, 91’, German premiere!
The feature film Relentless forays through nocturnal Lagos to escape the past.
May 11, 7pm: Heremakono – Waiting for Happiness, Abderrahmane Sissako, Mau/Sen 2002, 95’
The feature film Heremakono interweaves several parallel storylines about arrivals and departures to create a multi-perspectival fabric.
May 12,7pm: Four films by Penny Siopis, SA, 45’ in total
South African artist Penny Siopis works with found footage created by amateur filmmakers. Complex visual and acoustic montages, her four experimental films—My Lovely Day, 1997; Pray, 2007; Obscure White Messenger, 2010; and Communion, 2011—blend personal recollections with collective images from the contemporary history of apartheid.
May 13,7pm: Indochine, sur les traces d’une mère—Indochina, Traces of a Mother, Idrissou Mora-Kpai, F/Benin/Vietnam 2011, 71’
Investigative and cinematically ambitious at once, the documentary Indochine, sur les traces d’une mère examines the participation of African mercenaries in the French-Vietnamese colonial war.
Bio
Marie-Hélène Gutberlet (b. 1966) studied art history, philosophy, and film studies in Frankfurt am Main and Basel (PhD). From her teaching position at the Institute of Theater, Film, and Media Studies at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt/Main stems the cooperation between Portikus and the Goethe University. Gutberlet is now a freelance writer and curator. She cofounded the experimental film series reel to real in Frankfurt/Main (www.reeltoreal.de/) and co-initiated the ongoing project Migration & Media (www.migrationandmedia.com/) with platforms in Frankfurt/Main, Bamako, and Johannesburg.
Numerous publications, editorial contributions, and journal articles on African cinema, experimental and documentary filmmaking, and film in the art context.
A collaboration with the film studies chair at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University.