CINEMAF (Animated Images, Controversial Memories)

2020-2024 | Monica Heintz, Damien Mottier | UMR LESC, HAR, Labex Les passés dans le présent (Université Paris Nanterre, France)

The CINEMAF project aims to explore how colonial-era films – created between 1920 and 1940 and preserved in Western archives – can be shared or repatriated, given that they are rarely screened today due to their problematic content. Often silent, these films reflect a distinctly Eurocentric perspective that glorifies colonial dominance. The project interrogates the heritage status of these films, drawing parallels with debates surrounding cultural artefacts from African nations held in ethnographic museums. Its principal goal is to (re)digitise, interpret, and recontextualise these sensitive films, providing mindful access while remaining attentive to the ethical challenges inherent in their circulation. Throughout the project, researchers embraced collaboration with scholars and artists – especially those from the African diaspora – many of whom were encountering these visuals for the first time. The films were redigitised in partnership with curators and archivists, then showcased during residencies and participatory workshops. This collaborative process brought together researchers, artists, and archivists, allowing them to reconstruct the historical production contexts. The team also examined photographic archives to more accurately identify the people depicted in the films and the nature of the scenes. The project highlights the need for innovative initiatives that transcend the restrictive framework of colonial archives, prompting the development of new modes of transmission. CINEMAF is built on strategic partnerships, most notably with the Centre for the Less Good Idea in Johannesburg, established by William Kentridge and Bronwyn Lace. The Centre has hosted residencies that brought together African and European artists, researchers, and archivists. The project also established initiatives in Benin and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, launching fieldwork to locate descendants of those featured in the films. Through these efforts, CINEMAF foregrounds the ongoing tensions between accessibility, collective memory, and reparation, creating a critical forum for exploring new modes of visual restitution in a postcolonial context.