Menu
We express our gratitude to the African Movie Festival in Manitoba (AM-FM) for their willingness to participate in the trial of this methodology. Founded by Dr. Ben Akoh in 2017, AM-FM is part of a small group of festivals in Canada dedicated to showcasing African and Black cinema, including Vues d’Afrique, Festival International du Film Black de Montréal, and Festival Fondu au Noir. While the other festivals are based in Montreal, AM-FM stands out as the only one situated in the province of Manitoba, specifically in Winnipeg.
According to its website, AM-FM aims to showcase films from across the African continent and from Africans in Canada, the USA, Europe, and beyond. The festival focuses on contemporary African films, encompassing both shorts and features in fiction and documentary formats. Its programming is curated through an annual open call for film submissions.
The festival plays a crucial role in promoting dialogue between Africans and Canadians through cinema, considering the significant presence of African people in Manitoba, including the festival’s founder, Ben Akoh. As Canada, especially Manitoba, is home to many African individuals, AM-FM serves as a platform to connect Africans in diaspora with their cultural roots by presenting African films. The festival has become a “place of memory,” maintaining its mission to celebrate black and African cultures in Canada. AM-FM collaborates with African associations in Manitoba to increase the participation of the African community in cinema-related activities.
Despite its compact format, spanning three days from Friday to Sunday, AM-FM has maintained consistency since its inaugural edition in 2018. The festival’s program includes film screenings, discussions, and the training of young black filmmakers in Canada. A noteworthy component is the annual symposium held on Saturday morning, featuring keynote speakers and panelists who share insights on black cinema, its societal impact, and its role in shaping culture. Distinguished scholars in African cinema studies, such as Dr. Sheila Petty, Dr. Onookome Okome, and Dr. Alexie Tcheuyap, have participated in the symposium, contributing to specific themes. Some of these scholars also serve on the Advisory Board of the festival.
AM-FM is primarily funded by the Manitoba Arts Council, and its dedicated team comprises Ben Akoh as the festival director and volunteers who contribute to its success.
We are grateful to African Movie Festival in Manitoba for the access provided to trial this methodology, being available to us for the implementation of the Decolonial Test and follow-up focus group, and for the range of spaces and resources shared with us for the purposes of this project. Special thanks to Ben Akoh, CEO and Artistic Director of AM-FM, who was our main festival contact when we sent the invitation letter to be a festival partner.
We selected AM-FM as part of our research sample taking into account the short length of this research project and our previous knowledge and involvement in this festival. Sheila Petty has been on the festival’s advisory board since its inception in 2017. She gave the keynote lecture at the first edition’s symposium on May 5, 2018 on “African Cinema and Multiculturalism in Manitoba.” In the beginning years, an advisory board member would give the keynote and/or help organize and moderate the annual symposium, which brings in both academic audiences and the general public. Representatives from local arts and activist groups are invited to participate in the symposium panel, bringing an interesting mix of ideas for all audiences.
Ben Akoh was invited to participate on the festivals and industry representatives panel at the June 24-26, 2021 virtual symposium: Transnational Screen Media Practices: Safeguarding Cultural Heritage, at the University of Regina; co-organized by Sheila Petty with Dr. Charity Marsh, Director, Humanities Research Institute. This symposium and film screenings brought together scholars, media artists, cultural practitioners, industry funders and policy makers from different areas of the world grappling with common issues around the safeguarding, presentation, and documentation of living cultural heritage in the domain of screen media. The HRI Barbara Powell Lecture and keynote address, “Revitalisation de la langue Amazighe/ Revitalization of the Amazigh Language” was presented LIVE in French via Zoom by the distinguished professor, Dr. Ahmed Boukouss, Recteur at Institut Royal de la Culture Amazighe, Rabat, Morocco, on Thursday, June 24th at 10am (CST).
Ben Akoh is also a collaborator and AM-FM is a partner in Sheila Petty’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Partnership Development Grant project, “Film festivals and transnational flows of living cultural heritage: Africa in the world.” The festival has generously provided Sheila Petty’s film students online access to the festival since 2021 and senior film studies students attend remotely and write film reviews as part of their semester’s assignments. Students from other US and Canadian prairie universities take part as well.
Below, is a chart outlining the researchers involved in the pilot implementation of this test at African Movie Festival in Manitoba 2022.
Researchers: Sheila Petty, Ben Akoh
Participants:
22 October 2022 on Zoom
