special projects
EXHIBITION
PerAnkh: The June Givanni PanAfrican Cinema Archive
Exhibition at Raven Row
15 April – 4 June 2023
The Per Ankh exhibition at Raven Row reveals histories and ideas in African and African diasporic film, recalling significant events and bringing together the work of filmmakers around a wide range of themes, debates, and interests. It is structured around a programme of feature films, shorts, documentaries and television programmes – as well as archival materials – which together tell stories of different legacies, kinships and solidarities, and of crossings and overlaps that have formed the June Givanni Pan-African Cinema Archive over the past 40 years.
During the exhibition, screenings of feature films by pioneering filmmakers including Safi Faye, Gaston Kaboré and Djibril Diop Mambéty take place every Saturday evening, while regular intergenerational panel discussions bring together local and international practitioners to explore the exhibition’s key themes.
The exhibition’s title, Per Ankh, is borrowed from the ancient Kemetic name for knowledge centres affiliated with temples.
EXHIBITION
Movements
Chelsea College of Arts, Birkbeck Institute of the Moving Image
16 – 27 October 2014
Collaborating with The Birkbeck Institute of Moving Image, The Peltz Gallery & The Hub: Centre for Media, Culture and Creative Practice, Movements was an exhibition accompanied by a series of events which took place over two locations – University of the Arts London (Chelsea College of Arts Triangle and Cookhouse Galleries) and the Birkbeck Institute of the Moving Image – to explore a new sphere for the archive and to echo Stuart Hall’s statement on ‘context’.
The exhibition in the Cookhouse Gallery showcased a series of connections between the various elements of the archive such as film and festival posters, audio interviews and recordings with filmmakers, artists and writers and personal memories evoked through the photographic collection including: production stills and snapshots.
WEBINAR SERIES
DECOLONIZING AFRICAN CINEMA: A HISTORY
The Africa Institute
21 October – 19 November 2021
A collaborative project between JGPACA and The African Institute, Decolonizing African Cinema: A History sought to situate influential works of African cinema in relation to contemporary films, and highlight the trends and developments that have defined the critical conversations and debates around this cinema.
This programme examines the influences that have shaped the foundations of African ideas about cinema. By positioning these perspectives in a broader context, the program discusses how various interventions have been informed throughout history. Presenting a curated selection of film and critical perspectives – which echo across contemporary debates on filmmaking throughout Africa and the African diaspora – the programme explores the impact of the past on present-day African cinema, with its various intersections, communities and discontinuities.