Dreams made of fabric – women fashion designers from Sierra Leone
Thursday, 29th May, 8:15 PM
A long civil war in Sierra Leone came to an end 20 years ago. The country is still one of the poorest in the world. Sierra Leone‘s women are creating a new dawn by reinterpreting traditional fabrics. With a firework display of colours and shapes, they are changing the image of Sierra Leone in the world and fighting for their independence.
Documentary by Beate Gerber, ARTE/ZDF 2023, 43 min.
Senegal’s solar heroines
Thursday, 29th May, 9:15 PM
Far from any school or electricity connection, three women bring about change: they go to the city to be trained in solar energy and return to electrify their villages. A film about social change, technological progress and the place of women in African society.
Documentary by Elise Darblay and Antoine Depeyre, ARTE France 2023, 53 min.
premiere: Africa‘s forgotten history – Freedom fighter or human trafficker – who was Jan Conny?
Friday, 30th May, 6:15 PM
As a ‘Black Prussian’, he was supposed to legitimise the colonial claims of the German Empire, but he is now revered in the Bahamas as an anti-colonial resistance fighter. Historians, on the other hand, see Jan Conny as a power politician and military leader whose economic base also included human trafficking. Who was he really? A search for clues between Pokesu, Emden, Berlin and the Bahamas.
Documentary film by Obaji Akpet and Jean-Alexander Ntivyihabwa, ARTE/ZDF 2025, 28 min.
ARTE:SALOON Africa Special – live from Frankfurt
Friday, 30th May, 7:00 PM
On the occasion of the Africa Festival, ARTE is producing an ARTE:SALOON for the first time, reflecting on European-African relations against the backdrop of colonial history. The live talk format regularly delves into important socio-political topics from ARTE programmes. Excerpts from the films provide impetus for the discussion, while the ARTE YouTube community helps to determine the dynamics of the programme through comments. The programme will be streamed live from the Kunstverein Montez in Frankfurt to the ARTE cinema tent – and the audience in Würzburg can also take part in the discussion.
ARTE/HR 2025, 90 min.
The pearl throne – Cameroon‘s cultural heritage in German museums
Friday, 30th May, 8:45 PM
Over 40,000 artefacts from Cameroon can still be found in German museums today. The famous pearl throne, which Cameroon‘s King Njoya of Bamun presented to Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1908, is one of the centrepieces of Berlin‘s Humboldt Forum. A film about the history of the throne and the question of how colonial-era cultural heritage should be handled in German museums in the future.
Documentary by Johannes Fellmann, Jochen von Grumbkow and Grit Lederer, ARTE/ZDF 2024, 52 min.
Visions for peace in Africa: Chad – Maps for peace
Saturday, 31st May, 8:15 PM
Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim is a cartographer and activist from the Fulbe people, the cattle breeders of Chad. Land and water are becoming scarce there and people are fighting over them, too often with deadly consequences. That’s why she travels all over the country to draw maps with the people – maps that are supposed to help everyone.
ARTE report by Sébastien Mesquida and Julien Dubois, 2024, 24 min.
Nigeria – Sowing peace at last
Saturday, 31st May, 8:15 PM
In Nigeria, a co-operative wants to get small farmers out of their misery and bring peace to the whole country. The ‘Babban Gona’ cooperative offers small farmers loans if they undergo training and share their knowledge and seeds. In this way, they not only improve yields, but also rescue young people from unemployment and the clutches of radical militias such as Boko Haram.
ARTE report by Peggy Bruguière, 2019, 24 min.
Rasta Gracie and Jamaica‘s healers
Saturday, 31st May, 9:15 PM
Gracie doesn‘t have enough money to support both her children, but she still dreams of opening a greengrocer‘s shop in her small village in Jamaica that fulfils the Rastafarian rules of sustainability. Her friends also follow her dreams in search of a healing root in the deepest thickets of the rainforest. An insight into the life-affirming and nature-loving world of Jamaica‘s Rasta community.
Documentary film by Lars Barthel, ARTE/SWR 2023, 52 min
Ethiopia – Promised Land of the Rastafari
Sunday, 1st June, 8:00 PM
When Haile Selassi was crowned Emperor of Ethiopia in 1930, he was a beacon of hope for the black liberation movement in Jamaica. On his return from exile in Italy, he donated 500 hectares of land to the Rastas. A world of its own, a sacred place that non-Rastas, whether black or white, are only allowed to enter after paying a fee – a symbolic offering to pay off the debt of 300 years of colonial history.
ARTE Reportage by Frédéric Tonolli, ARTE 2019, 24 min.
Bob Marley: One Love
Sunday, 1st June, 8:30 PM
Bob Marley is still a giant of music culture, an icon who has inspired generations with his message of love, peace and unity. More than 40 years after his death, his songs are still among the most played songs in the world. But Bob Marley is much more than a reggae musician. Now, for the first time, a feature film tells the impressive story of how he overcame many adversities and changed the world with his revolutionary music. ‘A worthy tribute to one of the great artists of our time.’ (ZDF Heute Journal)
Feature film, Paramount 2024, 107 min.
