Blog post

Concerning Violence: New Frantz Fanon documentary from the director of The Black Power Mixtape

John Merrick28 October 2014

Image for blog post entitled <em>Concerning Violence</em>: New Frantz Fanon documentary from the director of <em>The Black Power Mixtape</em>

Narrated by Lauryn Hill, Concerning Violence (dir. Goran Hugo Olsson) is a filmic meditation on colonialism and anti-imperial struggles in Africa, seen through the lens of Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth.  



Like his previous film, The Black Power Mixtape, Olsson’s film is an archive-driven documentary, drawing from the footage of Swedish filmmakers shot during the height of the Cold War and the struggles for decolonization on the ground in Africa. The 16mm footage, found in the Swedish Television archives, shows the deep solidarity of the filmmakers with the anti-imperial and socialist struggles of the time. The unique footage features a nighttime raid with the MPLA against Portuguese colonial troops in Angola, interviews with guerilla soldiers of FRELIMO in Mozambique, as well as with Thomas Sankara, Amílcar Cabral and other African revolutionaries.

Fanon’s understanding of violence in The Wretched of the Earth has seen plenty of criticism in the 50 years since its release, but Concerning Violence skillfully defends Fanon’s claims. The film provides a forceful and stirring account of Fanon's continuing relevance as a major tool for understanding and illuminating the neocolonialism happening today, as well as the violence and reactions against it.

Verso and Dogwoof productions will be co-hosting a preview screening of the film at UCL on Sunday 9th November at 15:00. The film will be followed by a panel discussion with Esther Stanford-Xosei (reparationist, advocate and radio broadcaster), Kofi Mawuli Klu (Chair of the Pan-Afrikan Taskforce for Internationalist Dialogue), chaired by Adam Elliott-Cooper (UCL Human Geography) + other guests to be announced.

We've got 5 pairs of tickets to the UCL screening up for grabs - open to those without a student/staff card. To enter the draw, simply re-tweet this post. We'll choose the winners at random, providing you are a resident of the UK, and the twitter competition will close on Wednesday 29th October at 17.00 GMT.

For more information visit the Dogwoof website.

Screenings of the film will be happening across the UK in November and December. To watch a trailer and to see the full list of screenings, visit the Dogwoof website here.

Visit the Guardian to read an article about the film. 

Filed under: black-liberation