John Akomfrah, Stuart Hall and the Film Essay

Akomfrah's films gives voice to the legacy of the African diaspora in Europe, and his experimental approach to narrative and structure helped pave the way for the re-emergence of the "essay film" today.

Stuart Hall.

In 2013 I had the opportunity to work with frieze, the UK-based contemporary art and culture magazine. Towards the end of my time at the magazine, I co-produced a film on John Akomfrah, which just went live. For those of you unfamiliar with Akomfrah’s work, he began his practice as an artist and filmmaker as a member of the hugely influential group, the Black Audio Film Collective, who between 1982 and 1998 produced films, essays and ‘slide-tape texts,’ which “opened up a new aesthetic and discursive space within the world of British art, experimental film, television and critical theory.”

Films such as Handsworth Songs (1986), Testament (1988) and Twilight City (1989) gave voice to the legacy of the African diaspora in Europe, and Akomfrah’s experimental approach to narrative and structure, following filmmakers like Chris Marker, in no small way paved the way for the re-emergence of the ‘essay film’ today.

Handsworth Songs.

Throughout his career, Akomfrah has operated both in the gallery, and in the cinema. This is most evident in his recent project, The Unfinished Conversation (2013), a multi-screen installation exploring the life and legacy of the cultural theorist Stuart Hall. Currently on show at Tate Britain (until 23rd March), Akomfrah and his production company, Smoking Dogs Films, decided to extend – or mutate, perhaps – the piece into a feature-length documentary, which was recently released in UK cinemas, and on DVD. As a film, The Stuart Hall Project assumes a more conventional narrative structure, but the ideas and investigations of the project – how identity is not an essence, but a process of becoming which is continually shaped by history and memory – is reflected in the structural relationship with images, the archive, making some comment on the status of the image, and its relationship to diasporic identity.

Testimony.

Further Reading

Kagame’s hidden war

Rwanda’s military deployments in Mozambique and its shadowy ties to M23 rebels in eastern Congo are not isolated interventions, rather part of a broader geopolitical strategy to expand its regional influence.

After the coups

Without institutional foundations or credible partners, the Alliance of Sahel States risks becoming the latest failed experiment in regional integration.

Whose game is remembered?

The Women’s Africa Cup of Nations opens in Morocco amid growing calls to preserve the stories, players, and legacy of the women who built the game—before they’re lost to erasure and algorithm alike.

Sovereignty or supremacy?

As far-right politics gain traction across the globe, some South Africans are embracing Trumpism not out of policy conviction but out of a deeper, more troubling identification.

From Cape To Cairo

When two Africans—one from the south, the other from the north—set out to cross the continent, they raised the question: how easy is it for an African to move in their own land?