PCI film series 2014-2015
On September 16, 2014, the Postcolonial Initiative PCI Utrecht starts its fifth postcolonial film series with a selection of films shown monthly that draw on a variety of different contexts in our postcolonial world. The series is organized annually and invites all interested in our European postcolonial present and the representation of its political, cultural and aesthetic realities and challenges. We want to explore, through visual representations and cinematographic narratives, how these realities are analyzed and re-imagined in contemporary film. Each film will be introduced briefly by scholars connected to the PCI.
The PCI is sponsored by and connected to Utrecht University's research focus area Culture, Citizenship and Human Rights
Concerning Violence (Göran Olsson, Sweden/U.S.A./Denmark/Finland, 2014, 85 min.)
On September 16, 2014, the Postcolonial Initiative PCI Utrecht starts its fifth postcolonial film series with a selection of films shown monthly that draw on a variety of different contexts in our postcolonial world. The series is organized annually and invites all interested in our European postcolonial present and the representation of its political, cultural and aesthetic realities and challenges. We want to explore, through visual representations and cinematographic narratives, how these realities are analyzed and re-imagined in contemporary film. Each film will be introduced briefly by scholars connected to the PCI.
The PCI is sponsored by and connected to Utrecht University's research focus area Culture, Citizenship and Human Rights
Concerning Violence (Göran Olsson, Sweden/U.S.A./Denmark/Finland, 2014, 85 min.)
Introduced by Doro Wiese (Comparative
Literature and Gender Studies, UU)
Concerning Violence is a bold, fresh,
and compelling visual narrative about the African liberation struggles of the
1960s and 1970s. It combines newly discovered archival material depicting some of the most daring moments in the confrontation with
colonial power, accompanied by singer Lauryn Hill’s searing narrative and drawn
from psychologist/philosopher Frantz Fanon’s seminal anticolonial text, The
Wretched of the Earth. In this potent, arresting, and surprisingly
emotional film, Olsson artfully elucidates Fanon’s psychiatric and
psychological analysis of the dehumanizing effects of colonization on the
individual and the nation. Concerning Violence makes accessible Fanon’s
theory that the violence of colonialism must be met with greater violence to be
defeated, as well as his vision and plea to reject the lust for colonial power
and instead embrace a more creative and humane society. As a result, Olsson’s
powerful documentary makes an accurate, timely, and vital contribution toward
building a better world for the future. (Sundance Filmfestival)
Date: 17 February,
2015
Time: 19.15-21.30
Location: Drift 21, room 0.32
For more information please go to: www.postcolonialstudies.nl
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Half of
a Yellow Sun (Biyi Bandele, Nigeria/UK, 2014)
Introduced by Sandra Ponzanesi
Based
on an award-winning novel of the same name by Chimamanda Ngozi
Adichie, ”Half of a Yellow Sun” is helmed by Biyi Bandele, a novelist and
playwright making his film directorial debut. A well-intentioned historical
drama that unfolds in the 1960s against the backdrop of the Nigerian Civil War
as the country descends into sectarian chaos and armed battle – the Igbo
people fighting to establish Biafra as an independent republic. The story
centres around a pair of twin sisters from a well-to-do family, Olanna
(Thandie Newton) and Kainene (Anika Noni Rose), who return to their
homeland after expensive educations in England, and have to struggle for their
survival after the falling apart of their country. The film relies on strong
performances by Chiwetel Ejiofor playing Olanna’s radical professor and Thandie
Newton playing Olanna. 
Date: 3 March, 2015
Time: 19.15-21.30
Location: Drift 21, room 0.32
For more information please go to: www.postcolonialstudies.nl
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Queen (Vikas Bahl,
India, 2014, 146 min.)
Introduced by
Barnita Bagchi (Comparative Literature, UU)
Queen is a movie
about growing up. Rani (Kangana Ranaut) is a Delhi girl from a conservative
family who is ditched by her fiancé just before her marriage. Shocked by this,
she decides to set out on the planned honeymoon alone. As she travels the world
and meets new people, she gains new experiences and discovers her own identity.
Date: 10 March, 2015
Time: 19.15-21.30
Location: Drift 21, room 0.32
For more information please go to: www.postcolonialstudies.nl
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PCI film series 2014-2015
On September 16, 2014, the Postcolonial Initiative PCI Utrecht starts its fifth postcolonial film series with a selection of films shown monthly that draw on a variety of different contexts in our postcolonial world. The series is organized annually and invites all interested in our European postcolonial present and the representation of its political, cultural and aesthetic realities and challenges. We want to explore, through visual representations and cinematographic narratives, how these realities are analyzed and re-imagined in contemporary film. Each film will be introduced briefly by scholars connected to the PCI.
The PCI is sponsored by and connected to Utrecht University's research focus area Culture, Citizenship and Human Rights
The postcolonial film series 2014-1015 screens on:
September 16: The Stuart Hall Project (John Akomfrah,
UK, 2013, 95 min.)
Introduced by Domitilla Olivieri
October 14: District 9 (Neill
Blomkamp, USA/South Africa, 2009, 112 min.)
Introduced by Kári Driscoll
Introduced by Kári Driscoll
November 18: The Secret Sharer (Peter
Fudakowski, UK/Poland/China/Thailand, 2014, 103 min.)
With the special participation of Peter Fudakowski.
Introduced by Gene Moore (UvA)
December 9: Mosquita y Mari (Aurora Guerrero, USA, 2012, 85 min.)
Introduced by Christine Quinan
January 13: Terraferma
(Emanuele Crialese, Italy, 2011)
Introduced by Birgit Kaiser
February 17: Concerning
Violence (Göran
Olsson, Sweden/USA/Denmark/Finland,
2014, 85 min.)
Screening to be Confirmed. Introduced by Doro
Wiese
March
3: Half of a Yellow Sun (Biyi Bandele, Nigeria/UK, 2014)
Introduced by Sandra Ponzanesi
March
10: Queen (Vikas
Bahl, India, 2014, 146 min.)
Introduced by Barnita Bagchi
The series opens with a tribute to Stuart Hall, the father of cultural studies, who passed away this year at the age of 82 (3 Feb, 1932- 10 Feb 2014)
THE STUART HALL PROJECT (John Akomfrah, UK, 2013, 95 min)
Introduction: Domitilla Olivieri (Utrecht University)
John
Akomfrah's film is a tribute to Stuart Hall, the founder of the New Left Review
and pioneer of cultural studies. Filmmaker John Akomfrah uses the rich and
complex mood created by Miles Davis’s trumpet to root a masterful tapestry of
newly filmed material, archival imagery, excerpts from television programs, home
movies, and family photographs to create this lyrical and emotionally powerful
portrait of the life and philosophy of this influential theorist. Akomfrah
finds a new and quietly moving significance in Hall's own life story: a man who
came from Jamaica – which Hall elegantly calls the "home of
hybridity" – and found himself not really at home there, nor in the
postwar UK in which he began a brilliant academic career at Oxford. It is a deeply considered project that
reconsiders culture and identity for those excluded from the circles of power through
race, gender and class.
Tuesday 16 September
Location: Drift 21, room 0.32
Time: 19.15
Admission is free
The second film is:
DISTRICT 9 (Neill Blomkamp, USA/New Zealand/Souht Africa, 2009, 112 min)
Introduction: Kári Driscoll (Utrecht University)
District 9 is a science fiction thriller directed by Neill Blomkamp. Part-action film, part-political allegory, the film is set in present day Johannesburg, South Africa, where, thirty years ago, an alien spaceship appeared in the sky and has been hovering over the city ever since. Instead of an invading army, the crustacean-like aliens turn out to be refugees, helpless and starving. In the three decades since then, these unwanted immigrants have been confined to a housing slum known as District 9, a collective object of fear and loathing for the human population. Now, the aliens are to be forcibly evicted and relocated to an internment camp outside the city.
With its corrugated tin sheds and abject poverty, District 9 stands in for the township settlements where more than a million South African blacks still live without basic human services, two decades after the end of apartheid, whose shadow looms over the film, just as the enormous broken-down mothership does over the city. The racial tensions that marked that period in South Africa’s history are here transposed onto inter-species hostility. The poison that permeates District 9 is the same toxin that has defined so much of human history: the oppression of the Other.
Tuesday 14 October
Location: Drift 21, room 0.32
Time: 19.15
Admission is free
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THE SECRET SHARER (Peter Fudakowski, Uk/Poland/China/Thailand, 2014, 103 min)
Introduction by Gene More. Conrad scholar and critic
With the presence of filmmaker and producer Peter Fudakowski for Q&A
Producer of the Oscar winning film TSOTSI
With the presence of filmmaker and producer Peter Fudakowski for Q&A
Producer of the Oscar winning film TSOTSI
Secret Sharer is a
contemporary fable about human relationships at sea. Set on a rusting cargo
ship in the South China Sea, it's the Polish captain's first command. His
mutinous Chinese crew suspect that he and their unscrupulous Boss want to
scuttle the ship in an insurance swindle. When the crew suddenly take to a boat
and leave, the young captain is left alone on board, helpless, anchored in a
bay. That night, while waiting anxiously on deck, he hears a noise and looks
down to see a naked body in the sea below, at the foot of the ship's rope
ladder. It turns out to be a Chinese woman, apparently in distress. She climbs
on board, but says nothing except "Hide me". Dawn comes a few hours
later and so does a search party, looking for a murderer..... (in English and
Mandarin). Inspired by Joseph Conrad's "The Secret Sharer". http://imdb.to/VSqiFB
About Peter Fudakowski
Peter Fudakowski is a film producer,
writer and director. Secret Sharer is
Peter’s first feature film as a director. He started writing screenplays in
1994 and has developed many feature film projects, including Secret Sharer, together with script
editor and wife, Henrietta. Tsotsi
(2005), which was Peter’s first film as sole creative producer, won the Oscar
for Best Film in a Foreign Language in 2006.
Peter (Piotr) Fudakowski was born of
Polish parents in London. Peter graduated with a Masters degree in Economics
from Cambridge University and an MBA from the European Institute for Business
Administration (INSEAD) Fontainebleau.
Peter set up his own
production company with Henrietta as script editor and head of development. Their
company, Premiere Productions Ltd, celebrated its 20th year in the
film business with the Academy Award-winning Tsotsi. Peter was also nominated
for the Most Promising Newcomer (Producer) at the 2006 BA
Date: 18 November
Time: 16.00-18.00
Location: 'T Hoogt, Utrecht
admission is free by please register by sending an e-mail to s.ponzanesi@uu.nl
For more information please go to: www.postcolonialstudies.nl
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Mosquita y Mari (Aurora Guerrero, USA, 2012, 85 min.)
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For more information please go to: www.postcolonialstudies.nl
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Mosquita y Mari (Aurora Guerrero, USA, 2012, 85 min.)
Introduction:
Christine Quinan (Gender Programme, UU)
Set in
Los Angeles, Mosquita y Mari (2012) is the coming-of-age story of
close friends Yolanda and Mari, two young Chicana high school students, who
fall in love with one another while negotiating a range of issues related to
family, community, and desire. Layers of emotion are communicated with
depth -- yet also silence -- in this bilingual, bicultural film that fills
a gap in media representation in its portrayal of queer Latina women. The
film's characters struggle with the challenges posed by undocumented
immigration and single-parenting while simultaneously experiencing a sexual
attraction that cannot be spoken about. This is the first feature-length
film from Chicana director Aurora Guerrero, an SF Bay Area-based activist
and community organizer and student of Cherríe Moraga. Having debuted at
the Sundance Film Festival in 2012, the film is also noteworthy in that it was
partially funded through a successful Kickstarter campaign.
Date: 9 December
Time: 19.15-21.00
Location: Drift 21, room 0.32
For more information please go to: www.postcolonialstudies.nl
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Terraferma (Emanuele Crialese, Italy, 2011, 88 min.)
Introduced by Birgit Kaiser (Comparative Literature, UU)
In this 2011 Italian drama, fisherman Ernesto and his grand-son Filippo
save a group of African immigrants off the coast of the small island of Linosa,
a little north of Lampedusa. Out on their daily fishing-tour, they find an
overpopulated boat with migrants in distress and take as many on board as they
can, bringing them back to shore. A woman from the group takes refuge with
Ernesto’s family, although the authorities pursue the family for facilitating
illegal immigration. A drama unravels between compassion and powerlessness,
empathy and fear of prosecution, when the family decides to help the woman,
with her little boy and a newborn baby, to reach Italian mainland and find her
husband in Turin. Emanuele Crialese’s film premiered at the 68th
Venice International Film Festival and was selected as the Italian entry for
the Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscar Academy Awards in 2012.
Date: 13 January, 2015
Time: 19.15-21.00
Location: Drift 21, room 0.32
For more information please go to: www.postcolonialstudies.nl
