Events
Images and Memory of Slavery
Jul 20, 2006 - Jul 20, 2006
This round table will take place within the framework of the Zanzibar International Film Festival . During the event, UNESCO’s new DVD on the Slave Route will be shown and the role of filmmakers’ in raising awareness regarding this tragedy will be discussed with cinema professionals and the general public.
The DVD was produced by the UNESCO Slave-Route Project to inform the general public about the global scope and complexity of the Slave Trade and Slavery and will complement the new communication tools developed by the Project to make UNESCO’s efforts in this field more visible.
The following themes will be discussed:
How has film, which has become the mode of expression most relied upon to construct collective memories, portrayed this tragedy?
How has this relatively recent art form, which learned very quickly how to exploit historic tragedies in order to establish its own legitimacy, told this story?
Why has the film industry delayed giving the tragedy of the slave trade and the resultant centuries of slavery the place that they rightly deserve?
Why has Black cinema, with notable exceptions, generally not brought slavery and the slave trade to the forefront?
How have the rare films and innovative filmmakers who have dealt with this issue illustrated this painful memory?
In addition to analyzing the film industry's reluctance regarding this tragic chapter of history, the meeting aims to stimulate thinking on the role of filmmakers related to "the responsibility of remembering" and their contribution to the "work of remembering" that modern societies need to accomplish in order to draw lessons from such human barbarities.
The event is organized in partnership with the ZIFF, RFI (Radio France International) and The Black Film Project (sponsored by Dr Hal Weaver, Principal Curator, The Black Film Project, and Fellow, W.E.B. Du Bois, Institute for African and African-American Research, Harvard University), which encourages cross-cultural respect and understanding through film and moving images and is dedicated to presenting accurate images of Africa and the African diaspora.
Related Unesco Programme: The Slave Route