Ciné-café: Ethnographic Films — contrasting Jean Rouch’s pioneering work with Dennis Machio’s ethno-documentary, Apr. 26 2017 @ Alliance Francaise


Date: Wednesday,April 26, 2017
Venue: Alliance Française Terrace
Time: 7.00pm
Free Entry

Ethnographic Films: Past and Present Approaches – contrasting Jean Rouch’s pioneering work with Dennis Machio’s ethno-documentary

About
‘Screening of the anthropological classic ‘The Mad Masters’ (Les Maïtres Fous) by Jean Rouch and the ethno-documentary ‘Lukumbe’ by the Kenyan filmmaker Dennis Machio. By juxtaposing two ethnographic films, one from the mid-20th century and another from this decade, Chloé Josse Durand, researcher in social sciene and Deputy Director at the French Institute for Research in Africa, together with Dennis Machio, documenatary film maker and graduate of the Mohamed Amin Foundation Film School, will discuss the contrasting approaches to visual anthropology in two very different eras.

‘The Mad Masters’ is a controversial yet most widely celebrated work by the French filmmaker and anthropologist, Jean Rouch. The film documents the Ghanaian Hauka cult, whose members convened to enter a trance-like state and become possessed of the spirits of their colonial officials – the true ‘mad masters’ of the film’s title.

‘Lukembe’ (Knife) documents the traditional rite of passage from childhood to adulthood in the Bukusu community. The Bukusu is one of the sub-tribes of the Luhya community. The Bukusu’s circumcise their boys between the ages of 12 -16 in August every after 2 years.

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