Oct 16–19, 2008

Africa under the microscope

Film Festival

‘I accuse you of looking at us as if we were insects.’ With these words, the novelist and film-maker Ousmane Sembène attacted Jean Rouch, the doyen of ethnographic cinema, in 1965. Social reality, according to Sembene, is not shaped by cultural identities, but by power relations.

In this film, it is the production conditions – in other words, the funding, which generally comes from Europe – that determines what will be shown. Here in Germany, ARTE, in particular, has recently emerged as a sponsor of politically committed films, which take a critical and inquisitive look at 21st century Africa.