The Militant Image: Films by René Vautier

Nicole Brenez to present a selection of films by director René Vautier, followed by a discussion and Q&A.

Afrique 50 – René Vautier’s film Afrique 50 has been hailed as the first French anti-colonial film. Made under conditions of severe political repression and censorship, the film clearly demonstrates the brutality of the French colonial regime in West Africa. The film opens with scenes shot in Niger of the daily labour necessary for survival in a rural village, and quickly subverts its apparent genre of travelogue to make a damning attacked on the ‘grande misère’ of colonial rule. Culminating in a call to all Africans and comrades around the world to resist colonial oppression, Afrique 50 makes the transition from denunciation to resistance.

Frontline – The documentary Frontline confronts Apartheid rule in South Africa. It features an interview with Oliver Tambo, and was made in conjunction with the African National Congress (ANC).

Le Glas – Le Glas tells the story of three African revolutionaries who were hanged in Salisbury in white-minority ruled Rhodesia. The film was made for the Zimbabwe African Party for Unity, and features a narration by the celebrated Senegalese filmmaker Djibril Diop Mambety and music by the Black Panthers.

Nicole Brenez is Professor of Cinema Studies at Paris 3 (Sorbonne Nouvelle University). Author of Abel Ferrara (2007) and several books about the film avant-gardes, she curates the avant-garde film sessions at the Cinémathèque Française and has organised many film events and retrospectives in Buenos Aires, Tokyo, Vienna, London, Madrid and Zagreb.

René Vautier was born of a factory worker father and a teacher mother. He led his first militant activity in the French Resistance in 1943, when he was 15 years old, for which he was given several awards. In 1950 he directed his first film, Africa 50, the first anti-colonial French film which earned him 13 indictments and convictions in prison. The film was banned for more than forty years.

Book online:

EVENT PASS for Militant Image: Films by René Vautier: BOOK ONLINE HERE £5 (£3 concs) + booking fee

FOUR DAY MILITANT IMAGE PASS: BOOK ONLINE HERE £15 (£9 concs) + booking fee

For enquiries call 020 7749 1240 or email bookings@rivingtonplace.org.

CONCESSIONS: For a concessionary rate (students, over 60s, unemployed) enter  the code: Iniva_concession on eventbrite for a discounted rate. NB. please print out your ticket (and present proof of concession) when you arrive at Rivington Place.