Togoland Projections
Black History Month
•
1h 35m
Directed by Jürgen Ellinghaus • Documentary • 2023 • 96 minutes
Shortly before the First World War, the film director Hans Schomburgk embarked with actress Meg Gehrtson on a film expedition to West Africa to shoot adventure films in the then German colony of Togo. Virtually unknown in Togo, the films are a fascinating and disturbing document from the height of Germany’s colonial rule in Africa.
More than a century later, Jürgen Ellinghaus sets out to examine this dark legacy, retracing Schomburgk’s journey in order to show the films in front of Togolese audiences for the first time. Discussions follow public screenings as audience members reflect on the historical context of these images, prompting spirited debates about tradition, stereotypes, and the distorting effects of the colonial gaze. Even as Schomburgk sought to portray an idealized version of village life and perpetuate the myth of Togo as Germany’s “model colony,” this fantasy strains under his own images of forced labor, humiliation, and imperial arrogance.
Interspersing these conversations among Togolese citizens with extensive archival footage, including excerpts from Gehrtson’s 1913 travel diary, Togoland Projections explores this painful history from the perspective of its independent present.
Up Next in Black History Month
-
Tongues Untied
Directed by Marlon Riggs • Documentary • 1989 • 55 minutes
The seminal documentary on Black gay life, Emmy Award-winning director Marlon T. Riggs’ 1989 Tongues Untied uses poetry, personal testimony, rap and performance (featuring poet Essex Hemphill and others), to describe the homophobia and r...
-
Marcus
Directed by Patrick Savey • Documentary • With Marcus Miller, Herbie Hancock, George Benson, Miles Davis • 2014 • 97 minutes
Patrick Savey plunges us into Marcus’s world, capturing the New York roots of the legendary bass player, following his path like the pebbles of Tom Thumb, as he meets mast...
-
Fundi: The Story of Ella Baker
Directed by Joanne Grant • Documentary • 1981 • 63 minutes
FUNDI: THE STORY OF ELLA BAKER reveals the instrumental role that Ella Baker, a friend and advisor to Martin Luther King, played in shaping the American civil rights movement. The dynamic activist was affectionately known as the Fundi, a...