Events

We have invited the filmmaker and musician Baloji [Tshiani] to discuss Zombies (2019, 15 mins), which will be shown at the beginning of our 1 hour long event. The conveners will introduce the filmmaker, the film will then be made accessible through a link in the chat, and a discussion will be convened. The co-conveners will begin with a series of questions and open the floor to participants to ask further questions. This event will be recorded and some of the discussion may be transcribed for future posting or publication.

Baloji [Tshiani] was born in Lubumbashi (Democratic Republic of Congo [DRC]) and is based in Belgium. He is an award-winning musician, filmmaker, and polymath artist, who works as art director and costume designer for fashion and other visual art forms. As a filmmaker, Baloji recently released his first feature film Omen [Augure] that was selected as the Belgian entry for the 2023 Academy Awards. Omen follows several well recognized internationally distributed short films that have received awards at the London Film Festival and the UK Music Awards. As a musician, Baloji has released two critically acclaimed albums and is represented by Juanita Fellag at AS Talents (Paris) in association with United Talent Agency (Los Angeles). Baloji’s website can be accessed at:
https://www.baloji.com/

Zombies (2019) is a 15-minute short film directed by Baloji. (Click here) It depicts a hallucinatory tour through the streets, hair salons, and underground clubs of Kinshasa (DR Congo) that features a series of original music tracks.  Crossing between hope and dystopia in a hallucinating Kinshasa, Zombies transitions from the culture of the hairdressing salon, futuristic clubbing, an urban parade, and the glory of a dictator in the modern western. He considers the almost carnal relationship that we have with our phones as a bodily extension within the idiom of Afrofuturism. For further commentary, see: Thandi Loewenson, “Daring to dream with Eyes Wide Open: Review of Baloji’s Zombies. Review of African Political Economy (June 7, 2019)

We are experimenting with showing a short film with a Q&A featuring African art and media makers over Zoom. We are hoping that this will culminate in a series of African Media Arts events co-convened by Kwabena Agyare (Graduate Student, History), Peter J. Bloom (Professor, Film and Media), and Francis Yeboah (Graduate Student, Film and Media) for the remainder of the 2023-24 Academic Year.

Co-conveners:
Kwabena Agyare (Graduate Student, History), Peter J. Bloom (Professor, Film and Media), and Francis Yeboah (Graduate Student, Film and Media)

Zoom Link:
https://ucsb.zoom.us/j/85213503853?pwd=NjZ5M1VFSjBCWTBRbzhCU01OWUkrZz09
Meeting ID: 852 1350 3853
Passcode: 5811573

Supported by the Department of Film and Media Studies and Department of History. The event series has been developed in affiliation with the IHC Ghana Studies RFG and the AGI Africa Initiative at UCSB. We would like to thank Kyle Greenberg at Utopia Distribution for facilitating this event.