Avant-Première of Mahere (Sacred Shared Space), directed by Petna Ndaliko Katondolo (Democratic Republic of Congo, 2023)
Thursday, February 15th, 6:00 PM | McCormick Theater (HG 1070)
In the shadow of the mighty Nyiragongo Volcano, a forgotten graffiti sparks a journey of rediscovery as a community of the survivors of the last 2022 eruption strives to mend the disrupted balance between humanity and the natural world. Guided by ancient spirits of Nyamuhanga, they embark on a transformative quest to heal the land, while confronting a history tainted by colonial influence and misrepresentation of their guardian deity. Created in the hybrid genre of Ejo-Lobi ancestral aesthetic and geo-philosophy docu-drama, this is a visually stunning and emotionally resonant film that explores the interconnection between folktale, ecology, and the enduring human spirit.
Symposium and Discussion
Friday, February 16th
Session I, 9:30 - 12 PM | McCormick Theater (HG 1070)
- Mette Hjort (University of Lincoln, UK) - “The Zanzibar International Festival: Charting the Future through Screenings, Discussions, and Talent Development”
- Matthias De Groof (University of Antwerp) - “Tantalum’s Supply Chain from the Mine and Outer Space. Congolese Resonances between Media-Geology and Geo-Mythology”
- Peter Bloom (Film and Media Studies, UCSB) - “Reconsidering African Media Pasts and Futures: parole in libertà [words in freedom] and parole vive [living speech]”
Session II, 1:30 – 5:30 PM | HG1030
- Mark LeVine (History, UCI) - “Music and Politics in the African 1970s”
- Michael Uwemedimo (CMAP, Port Harcourt, Nigeria) - “The Center of the Edge of the World: Infrastructures of Extraction and Imagination in Nigeria’s Oil Capital”
- Petna Ndaliko Katondolo (Yole! Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo) - “Ejo Lobi: An Aesthetic Practice of Decolonial Recoding”
- Ngugi Wa Thiong’o (Comparative Literature, UCI) - Closing Keynote
This event is sponsored by the Department of Film and Media Studies, the Department of History, the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, the Program in Culture and Theory, the School of Humanities Dean’s Office, the Blum Center for the Alleviation of Poverty/School of Social Ecology, and Professor Tyrus Miller.