Conference presentation
“Decolonising Film Festival Research: Africa in the World,” Dr. Estrella Sendra and Dr. Sheila Petty, 2022 Conference of the Society for Francophone Postcolonial Studies, “(Post)Colonial Francophone Archives: Commemoration, Preservation and Erasure,” Senate House, University of London, Nov. 18-19, 2022.
ABSTRACT:
As African nations gained independence during the 1960s, festivals provided a mechanism to bring together filmmakers from around the continent keen to build viable film industries and contribute to their new nations’ economic and cultural well-being. According to Lindiwe Dovey, “arts festivals with a strong film presence” took root “during decolonization” (2015, 1). This presentation focuses on the results of two transnational partnership projects that consider African film festivals as spaces of living cultural heritage involving multiple audiences that engage with local and transnational levels of meaning, control of representation in image production and modes of resistance to colonialism. Our research answers the call for the decolonisation of film festival research and new forms of decolonial archiving. We are inspired by decolonial thinkers Ndlovu-Gatsheni and Bachir Diagne, who advocate for pluriversalisation of thought—a rehabilitation of ancient and non-Western forms of economic and social organization, as well as the quest for new forms of solidarity between the various Souths.” We will present preliminary results of the innovative and accessible two-part Decolonial Test we have developed and implemented across African film festivals in Brazil, Canada, Senegal and the UK. The project defies ethnographic methods in film festival research by suggesting a shift from a one-way data extraction to a multi-directional and collaborative dialogue between researchers and practitioners. Through this two-part Test, we ultimately suggest that decolonizing film festival research involves working multilingually, dialogically, innovatively and engaging in “reciprocity practices”, to define the kind of relationships forged at festivals that rely on mutual commitment, and work towards a more equal, diverse and inclusive film festival world.