April 15–June 4, 2023
The June Givanni PanAfrican Cinema Archive (JGPACA) holds a unique collection of artefacts and archival material, which has at its core the interest of Pan-African cinema and its relationship with Black British cinema and culture. Over a period of seven weeks, the exhibition at Raven Row will reveal 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.
The exhibition is structured around a programme of feature films, shorts, documentaries and television programmes by celebrated filmmakers including Timité Bassori, Safi Faye, Gaston Kaboré, Sarah Maldoror, Djibril Diop Mambéty and Ousmane Sembène, and is complemented by a series of intergenerational panel discussions bringing together local and international practitioners. An Archive Studio and Reading Room within the exhibition enables direct public engagement with the collection. The exhibition also includes an installation of the earliest audio-visual works by the Black Audio Film Collective, Expeditions 1—Signs of Empire and Expeditions 2—Images of Nationality (1983–84), and a new work by Chimurenga, a collective of researchers and artists from Cape Town, South Africa, which charts the development of the JGPACA. Artist Zineb Sedira has designed a poster for the exhibition.
The JGPACA has been established as a “living archive,” evolving around the work of film curator and archivist June Givanni, who has been collating and sharing this material since the 1980s. A key figure in the Black British independent cinema movement, she was involved in the landmark Third Eye Festival of Third World Cinema with the Greater London Council (GLC) in 1983, later establishing the African-Caribbean Film Unit at the British Film Institute (BFI) in 1992. At the BFI, she also co-initiated the Black Film Bulletin and played a key role in the historic Africa ’95 conference, marking the presence of African filmmaking in the centenary of cinema.
To date, the JGPACA holds more than 10,000 items—including over 700 feature films, television programmes, short films and documentaries, as well as audio recordings, photographs, posters, manuscripts, magazines, books and documents—connecting African film with the film cultures of diaspora communities in the Americas, the Caribbean and Europe.
PerAnkh, an ancient Egyptian term referring to knowledge centres, is a title intended to reinforce the essence of the archive and this exhibition, curated by June Givanni, with consultancy from Awa Konaté.
Events
Screening: Hyènes (Hyenas) (dir. Djibril Diop Mambéty, 1992)
April 15, 6:30–8:30pm, introduced by Wasis Diop, Kaoru Egushi and June Givanni
Screening: What My Mother Told Me (dir. Frances-Anne Solomon, 1995)
April 22, 6:30–8:30pm, introduced by director Frances-Anne Solomon
Panel discussion: Black on Europe
April 27, 7–9pm, Juliet Alexander (chair), Felix de Rooy, Cecile Emeke, Colin Prescod and Onyekachi Wambu
Screening: Vula N’Kuvute (Tug of War) (dir. Amil Shivji, 2021)
April 29, 6:30–8:30pm, introduced by Dr Ida Hadjivayanis
Panel discussion: Third Cinema in the Era of Channel 4
May 4, 7–9pm, Imruh Bakari (chair), Gaston Kaboré, Hudda Khaireh, Rod Stoneman and Parminder Vir
Screening: Buud Yam (dir. Gaston Kaboré, 1997)
May 6, 6:30–8:30pm, introduced by director Gaston Kaboré
Panel discussion: Sisterhood
May 11, 7–9pm, Professor Wangui wa Goro (chair), Sindamani Bridglal, Amina Mama and Keith Shiri
Screening: Sambizanga (dir. Sarah Maldoror, 1972)
May 13, 6:30–8:30pm, introduced by Professor Lindiwe Dovey
Work-in-Progress Screening: A Radical Duet
May 18, 7–9pm, a short narrative film by Onyeka Igwe set in 1947 London, a hub of anti-colonial activity.
Screening: Camp de Thiaroye (dir. Ousmane Sembène and Thierno Faty Sow, 1988)
May 20, 6:30–8:30pm, introduced by actor Sidiki Bakaba
Panel discussion: Between Accessibility and Art Criticism—African and Diasporic Film Culture Today
May 26, 7–9pm, Awa Konaté (chair), Anthony Badu, Liz Chege, Abiba Coulibaly and Rōgan Graham
Screening: La vieille quimboiseuse et le majordome (The Old Sorceress and the Valet) (dir. Julius-Amédée Laou, 1987)
May 27, 6:30–8:30pm, introduced by Julius-Amédée Laou
Panel discussion: FESPACO and the Archiving of African Cinema
June 1, 7–9pm, June Givanni (chair), Mohamed Challouf, Claire Diao, Jihan El-Tahri, Aboubakar Sanogo and Keith Shiri
Screening: The Woman with the Knife (dir. Timité Bassori, 1969) and Selbé: One Among Many (dir. Safi Faye, 1983)
June 3, 6:30–8:30pm, introduction by critic and distributor Claire Diao
