Wednesday 15 April 2009

Cinema-coming soon



Africa Addio

Leading examples of 'mondo' from the directors of Goodbye Uncle Tom

Sat 25 Apr 14:00

Shockumentary depicting the turmoil following the fall of colonialism. A cause of outrage, decide yourself whether it's the work of devious and dangerous film-makers or a brave experiment in documentary.A panel discussion with Colin Prescod of the Institute of Race Relations and Mark Goodall, 'mondo' historian, will follow this screening.Tickets £5
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Africa Addio is a famed 1966 Italian documentary film about the end of the colonial era in Africa. The film was released under the names "Africa Blood and Guts" in the USA (which was only half of the entire film) and "Farewell Africa" in the UK. The film was shot over a period of three years by Gualtiero Jacopetti and Franco Prosperi, two Italian filmmakers who had gained fame (along with co-director Paolo Cavara) as the directors of Mondo Cane in 1962. This film ensured the viability of the so-called Mondo film genre, a cycle of "shockumentaries"- documentaries featuring sensational topics, which classifications arguably characterize "Africa Addio". It is included in the "Mondo Cane Collection" currently being distributed by Blue Underground.

The film contains evidence of cynical treatment of humanity to itself, as seen during the first wave of what became endemic African revolutions. The film includes gruseome evidence of the Zanzibar revolution- which included the massacre of approximately 5000 Arabs in 1964.[1], as well authentic footage of the 'Mau-Mau Rebellion's aftermath. The latter includes scenes of damage at the scenes of massacres on white Highland farms, the mutilation of British livestock (and, apparently, wild animals including baboons), participants' sentencing in colonial British court, & their re-appearance at the popular celebration of Jomo Kenyatta's pardon of all Mau-Mau 'heroes' of anti-colonial resistance.

The film has been hailed as a masterpiece by some but has also been criticized as being racist, misleading, exploitive, or staged. The film arrived at the height of the Cold War, and well-before the popularity of 'de-contextual' reconsiderations of Colonialism.

4 comments:

  1. !"£$%^&*!!!!!!"£$%^&**&^%$£"!$£"^%**!.............


    **sighs**

    Speechless. . . and that's sayin a lot....our people really need to learn...really need to open our eyes and ears and learn...

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  2. Yes we do but like Harriet Tubman said she freed thousands of slaves and would have freed a thousand more if they knew they were slaves.
    We need to wake up!!

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  3. Soulfully, that is a perfect quotation!! describes then and it also describes NOW!!

    where did u get the quote from?

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  4. Click on the link, you find Harriet Tubman and many other women's quotes.

    http://womenshistory.about.com/cs/quotes/a/qu_h_tubman.htm

    ReplyDelete