Africa Desk

‘Premiere: Shashamane - Giulia Amati’

25 May'17
- 16:30

In the presence of the director

The journey towards Shashamane in Ethiopia where a community of Afro-Americans has returned to live on their forefathers' land, as sung by Bob Marley. An exodus of coming-of-home, that for some has become a haven, but for others a cage of no escape. "Shashamane" chronicles a chapter of the lengthy history of the African diaspora, through the voices of men and women who have left the West after 400 years since the dawn of slavery, to seek their promised land.

Giulia Amati is an Italian-French filmmaker. She has directed several ads and commercials for corporates, NGOs and International organizations such as FAO and Caritas International. In 2010 she co-directed, with Stephen Natanson, the feature-length documentary “This Is My Land… Hebron”, which won more than twenty awards, including the Aljazeera International Documentary Film Festival, the Festival International du Film des Droits de l’Homme de Paris, and the Italian foreign press association’s Golden Globe Prize. The film also earned a special mention at the Nastri D’Argento, it was a finalist for the David di Donatello Award and was selected by the Human Rights Watch Film Festival for their festivals in London, New York and Chicago. “Shashamane” is Amati’s second feature-length film. 

PROGRAMME
16.30: FILM
18.00 - 18.30 : Q & A  Giulia Amati
19.00 – 20.30 : Lecture & debate with historian Giulia Bonacci

The Pan-African Return Experience: From the Caribbean to Ethiopia

Ethiopia is one of the symbolic nations of Pan Africanism. When land is granted there to the descendants of the Africans deported to the Americas, they settled in order to fulfil their return. The Rastafari are heirs to charismatic and controversial Marcus Garvey, they are the dreamed children of Emperor Haile Selassie I, and the spiritual brothers and sisters of Bob Marley; and they keep arriving in Ethiopia. There, they contribute to shape today’s Pan African experience.

Giulia Bonacci is a historian, and researcher at the Institute of Research for Development (IRD). She is currently posted at University Nice Sophia Antipolis. Her book Exodus! Heirs and Pioneers, Rastafari Return to Ethiopia (L’Harmattan 2010) was translated and published by The University of the West Indies Press in Kingston, Jamaica. It received the IndieFab Book of the Year Award in 2015 and the Choice Outstanding Academic Title in 2017. She is specialist of Ethiopia and of the English-speaking Caribbean, and her work on the legacies of slavery, the Rastafari movement, the Back to Africa movement and Pan Africanism is grounded on archival, print and oral history research. She publishes regularly in scientific journals (Cahiers d’études africaines, Revue européenne des migrations internationales, African Diaspora, Annales d’Ethiopie, New West Indian Guide, Caribbean Quarterly, etc.) and in the cultural media.

Concerts

Exhibitions

Talks & Debates

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14 June'12 →
30 June'23

Afropolitan

Practical information

Location

Hall M

Rue Ravenstein 23 1000 BRUSSELS

80 min

OV st EN and FR

The film is followed by a discussion with film director Giulia Amati and then a lecture by historian Giulia Bonacci.

Co-production

Partners

Co-presentation

  • AFROPOLITAN