Paris is Burning (dir. Jenny Livingston 1990)
Introduced by Zerrin Cengiz (Utrecht University) and Milica Trakilović (Utrecht University)
The legendary documentary Paris is Burning (Jenny Livingston, 1990) about the New York Underground drag queen and transgender culture.
A new restoration of Paris Is Burning has been released. The timing couldn’t be more apt: this year marks the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, which arrives at a fraught time in queer visibility. It’s no wonder that in addition to being cherished and debated over the years, Paris Is Burning has often been taught in colleges and beyond, an urtext for debates about the meanings of gender, race, class, and sexuality.
Over the past decade, Jennie Livingston’s landmark 1990 documentary “Paris Is Burning” has had a renaissance of sorts, thanks in no small part to the popularity of “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” If you’ve never seen “Paris Is Burning,” you’re only getting half of what “Drag Race” has to offer, so a new restoration and theatrical re-release of the film courtesy of Janus Films is the perfect opportunity to catch up.
Practical information
Date: 13 January, 2019
Time: 17:00-19:00
Location: Entrance at Muntstraat 2A, MCW-LAB (Grote zaal KNG20)
Admission is free of charge. However, due to safety regulations, maximum capacity of the room is 80 people. Because the screening is part of the postcolonial studies minor, seating for non-UU students is limited.
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Palimpsest of the Africa Museum (2019) & Lobi Kuna (2018)
Introduction and Q&A with filmmaker Matthias De Groof
During this special PCI screening event filmmaker Matthias De Groof will show fragments of his films 'Palimpsest of the Africa Museum’, a documentary on the renovation of the Tervuren museum in Belgium, and its crippled decolonization. He will also show Lobi Kuna, a participative fiction on cultural heritage. The film performs a cinematic restitution.
In 2013, the Royal Museum for Central Africa closes for renovation. Not only the building and the museum cabinets are in need of renewal: the spirit of the museum has to be brought into this century. The documentary which resulted from the renovations, entitled Palimsest of the Africamuseum, will be shown and introduced by the filmmaker, who will also show fragments of a Lobi Kuna, a fiction film he made with Congolese friends on restitution. Both films are part of a cinematic triptych showing crippling decolonisations. While showing these processes, the triptych itself attempts to undo the historic entanglements between the medium of cinema and coloniality.
Bio
Matthias De Groof is a postdoctoral researcher affiliated with the University of Antwerp. He has held visiting fellow appointments at the New York University, the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies in Finland, and the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence of the Bayreuth University in Germany.
Palimpsest of the Africa Museum (dir. Matthias De Groof in collaboration with Mona Mpembele, 2019, 1,09 min.)
In 2013, the Royal Museum for Central Africa, located just outside Brussels, closes for renovation. Not only the building and the museum cabinets are in need of renewal: the spirit of the museum has to be brought into this century. In COMRAF, a board of advisers, the process of decolonization leads to fierce discussions. In order to completely dislodge the majestic building from its colonial form, fundamental questions also need to be asked. Who is looking at whom here? And whose story is being told here? For the trailer, see here.
Lobi Kuna (avant-hier / après-demain), (dir. Matthias De Groof, 2018, 45 min.)
“ Lobi Kuna” is the fruit of a strong friendship between a Belgian and a Congolese. The film is based on a visit Mekhar (Congolese artist) and dr. Matthias De Groof paid to the museum of Central-Africa in Belgium. “Lobi Kuna” became the fruit of common concerns and reflections on interrelated issues such as the diasporic journey, stolen heritage, racism, museums and the postcolonial condition. It tells the story of Mekhar’s gaze being unsettled as he views through his lens the macabre museum as a mausoleum of his cultural heritage. Lobi Kuna tells the story of his appropriation of the past in order to project himself into a future. Being co-written by a Congolese, partially shot in Congo by a Congolese crew, co-produced by Congolese, the film is participatory / collaborative.
Practical information
Date: 9 March, 2020
Time: 17:00-20:00
Location: Entrance at Muntstraat 2A, MCW-LAB (Grote zaal KNG20)
More information: http://www.postcolonialstudies.nl/
Admission is free of charge. However, due to safety regulations, maximum capacity of the room is 80 people. Because the screening is part of the postcolonial studies minor, seating for non-UU students is limited.
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