Togoland Projections
On Cinema
•
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 On Cinema
-
1914: A War of Images
Directed by Günter Kaindlstorfer • Documentary • 2014 • 45 minutes
World War I was the battlefield for the first propaganda war in history. The recently invented and very popular medium of film was used by all military parties to create deception and manipulate public opinion. Scientists, using ...
-
Coconut Head Generation (Alain Kassanda)
Directed by Alain Kassanda • Documentary • 2023 • 89 minutes
At Ibadan, Nigeria’s oldest university, a student association hosts a documentary screening and discussion group. In a country where dissent is frequently punished, this Thursday Film Series becomes a space for conversation and impassi...
-
Wim Wenders' Story of His Early Years
Directed by Marcel Wehn • Documentary • With Wim Wenders, Peter Handke, Robby Müller • 2007 • 96 minutes
In intimate conversations Wim Wenders talks about his sheltered upbringing in post-war Germany. The film follows him on a journey into the past that takes him to Paris, where he lived as a yo...