Over the last 100 years, the Torres Strait Islanders in far north Aus­tralia have been the sub­ject of many anthro­po­log­i­cal expe­di­tions. The result­ing deple­tion of their cul­tur­al arte­facts has left … read more

Resti­tu­tion - What belongs to whom? in German language with Prof. Dr. Albert Gouaf­fo, Dr. Anette Rein, Tina Brüderlin The cur­rent dis­cus­sions about the resti­tu­tion of arti­facts from colo­nial eras focus … read more

For decades, Swiss trav­eller and film­mak­er René Gardi (1909-2000) explained the African con­ti­nent and its inhab­i­tants to us. In books, tele­vi­sion pro­grams and films, he waxed poetic about the beau­ti­ful naked “sav­ages” and the pre-modern era in which they appar­ent­ly lived. This sup­pos­ed­ly idyl­lic world became Gardi’s par­adise, as Africa was trans­formed into a pro­jec­tion screen for the desires of the audi­ence back home.
The film AFRICAN MIRROR tells the story using mate­ri­als from Gardi’s recent­ly opened archive, whose ambiva­lent pic­tures mirror our Euro­pean self-con­cep­tion in myriad ways. The film reveals image pro­duc­tion as a form of colo­nial­ism and shows how we have refused to truly look into this mirror to this very day.

A house gives us a sense of belong­ing. It envelops us and pro­tects us. It is a symbol of the time, the cul­ture, and the beings that it inhab­its. A … read more

Nes­tled in the Himalayan range in Uttarak­hand, India, the town of Kalap may soon have a road suit­able for motor­ized vehi­cles. Until then, the vil­lage con­tin­ues to be 10-kilo­me­ter walk … read more

On the eve of the post­poned Con­golese elec­tions, two Con­golese and two Bel­gian cineasts are col­lab­o­rat­ing on a film about Kin­shasa and its resis­tance against the lega­cies of colo­nial­ism. The … read more

The indus­tri­al city of Sisak, which is one of the oldest set­tle­ments in the region south of the Croa­t­ian metrop­o­lis of Zagreb, is the director’s home­town and is locat­ed where … read more

A busy train full of pas­sen­gers rolls through Tan­za­nia from the capi­tol to the provinces for three long days and nights. In third class, we meet a charis­mat­ic Masai named … read more