Translating African Worlds: A Conversation with Filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako

Summary:

What is the place of West Africa in the world and of the world in West Africa? These are the questions that the Oscar- and Palme d’Or-nominated filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako asks insistently in films that address the impact of World Bank and IMF policies in Mali and beyond (Bamako, 2006), the confrontation between extremist and moderate Islam in the southern Sahara (Timbuktu, 2014), and exile in Europe and the difficulties of returning home (Life on Earth, 1999). In all of his films, Sissako brings a worldly sensibility to the representation of the most pressing concerns of the continent, but always with an eye for the beauty and tenderness in everyday life, no matter how difficult, and for the moral ambiguities and linguistic complexities that evade so many representations of West Africa.

He will be joined in conversation for this event by Berette Macaulay (founder and co-lead organizer of Seattle’s Black Cinema Collective) and Maya Smith (director of the African Studies Program at UW).

This lecture will be in-person only.

In addition to the April 26, 2022 lecture in Kane Hall, the UW African Studies Program, the Black Cinema Collective, the Henry Art Gallery, and Northwest Film Forum are co-sponsoring with the Simpson Center for a weekend of Abderrahmane Sissako film screenings.

Screenings and Lecture Schedule:

• April 22 | 1–3pm | Life on Earth (1998) at Henry Art Gallery Auditorium
• April 23 | 3–5pm | Waiting for Happiness (2002) at Henry Art Gallery Auditorium
• April 24 | 1–3pm | Bamako (2006) at Northwest Film Forum
• April 25 | 6–8pm | Timbuktu (2014) at Northwest Film Forum
• April 26 | 7–8:30pm | Translating African Worlds: A Conversation with Filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako, Kane Hall at University of Washington

About Abderrahmane Sissako:

Abderrahmane Sissako, born in Mauritania, raised in Mali, trained in the Soviet Union, France, and elsewhere, is the director and writer or co-writer of four award-winning feature films: Life on Earth, 1999; Waiting for Happiness, 2002; Bamako, 2006; and Timbuktu, 2014. He recently staged his first opera, Le Vol du Boli, with music from Damon Albarn (Gorillaz, Blur). He has also made numerous short films and served as producer on the films of promising, young West African filmmakers. He will be joined in conversation for this event by Berette Macaulay (founder and co-lead organizer of Seattle’s Black Cinema Collective) and Maya Smith (director of the African Studies Program at UW).

Co-sponsored by the UW African Studies Program, the Black Cinema Collective, the Henry Art Gallery, and Northwest Film Forum.

Registration required to attend in-person lecture.