Haile Gerima - The Monopoly of History Through Cinematic Audiovisual Archive

Who has the right to tell the story of a conflict? How does the colonial possession of archival film, documents, art, and artefacts by neocolonial powers fuel struggles over the depiction of the past? Award-winning filmmaker Professor Haile Gerima will share his perspective on the politics and power dynamics of filmmaking and its role in liberation struggles. Professor Gerima will share a clip from his latest film, Black Lions, Roman Wolves. This soon-to-be-released film explores the challenges he faced in creating Adwa: An African Victory (1999), which depicts the victory of Ethiopian warriors against the Italian colonial invasion. A Q&A will follow Professor Gerima’s presentation. This lecture is the 2024 Vernon M. and Minnie I. Lynch Lecture from the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University.