Gaze Regimes
Film and Feminisms in Africa
Published on 1. June 2015
Book
Paperback/Softback
264 pages
978-1-86814-856-1 (ISBN)
Description
Gaze Regimes is a bricolage of essays and interviews showcasing the experiences of women working in film, either directly as practitioners or in other areas as curators, festival programme directors or fundraisers. It does not shy away from questioning the relations of power in the practice of filmmaking and the power invested in the gaze itself. Who is looking and who is being looked at, who is telling women's stories in Africa and what governs the mechanics of making those films on the continent?
The interviews with film practitioners such as Tsitsi Dangarembga, Taghreed Elsanhouri, Jihan El-Tahri, Anita Khanna, Isabel Noronhe, Arya Lalloo and Shannon Walsh demonstrate the contradictory points of departure of women in film - from their understanding of feminisms in relation to lived-experiences and the realpolitik of women working as cultural practitioners.
The disciplines of gender studies, postcolonial theory, and film theory provide the framework for the book's essays. Jyoti Mistry, Antje Schuhmann, Nobunye Levin, Dorothee Wenner and Christina von Braun are some of the contributors who provide valuable context, analysis and insight into, among other things, the politics of representation, the role of film festivals and the collective and individual experiences of trauma and marginality which contribute to the layered and complex filmic responses of Africa's film practitioners.
The interviews with film practitioners such as Tsitsi Dangarembga, Taghreed Elsanhouri, Jihan El-Tahri, Anita Khanna, Isabel Noronhe, Arya Lalloo and Shannon Walsh demonstrate the contradictory points of departure of women in film - from their understanding of feminisms in relation to lived-experiences and the realpolitik of women working as cultural practitioners.
The disciplines of gender studies, postcolonial theory, and film theory provide the framework for the book's essays. Jyoti Mistry, Antje Schuhmann, Nobunye Levin, Dorothee Wenner and Christina von Braun are some of the contributors who provide valuable context, analysis and insight into, among other things, the politics of representation, the role of film festivals and the collective and individual experiences of trauma and marginality which contribute to the layered and complex filmic responses of Africa's film practitioners.
Reviews / Votes
This intricately woven collection presents nuanced images - from the north to the south of the African continent - of the contemporary state of women's representation, roles and engagements in the film world. - Lindiwe Dovey, senior lecturer in African film, SOAS, University of London and honorary associate professor, University of KwaZulu-Natal.More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Johannesburg
South Africa
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
17 black and white illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 241 mm
Width: 149 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
404 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-86814-856-1 (9781868148561)
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
06/2015
Abingdon Press
€25.49
Available for download
Persons
Max Annas is an author, journalist, film curator, filmmaker and currently the SARChI Chair in Social Change at the University of Fort Hare in East London, South Africa.
Tsitsi Dangarembga is a writer, filmmaker, teacher and cultural activist. She lives in Harare, Zimbabwe where she directs the Institute of Creative Arts for Progress in Africa Trust.
Beti Ellerson is the founder and Director of the Centre for the Study and Research of African Women in Cinema.
Taghreed Elsanhouri is a Sudanese-born documentary filmmaker based in Britain.
Jihan El-Tahri is an author and documentary filmmaker. She lives in France.
Henriette Gunkel lectures in the department of Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths, University of London.
Katarina Hedren is a freelance writer and the co-programmer of the Johannesburg-based First Wednesday Film Club.
Ines Kappert is the editor of the opinion section of the taz, a Germany-wide newspaper.
Rumbi Katedza is a writer and filmmaker who lives in Zimbabwe.
Anita Khanna was born in India and studied in Great Britain. She is a producer and writer as well as the director of the Tri Continental Film Festival.
Arya Lalloo is an independent filmmaker based in Johannesburg.
Nobunye Levin is a filmmaker and lecturer in the Film and Television division of the School of Arts at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
Jyoti Mistry is a filmmaker and Associate Professor in the School of Arts at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
Isabel Noronha is a Mozambican documentary filmmaker.
Antje Schuhmann is a Senior Lecturer in the Political Studies Department and the Centre for Diversity Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
Christina von Braun is a filmmaker and Professor Emeritus of Cultural Theory anda representative of The Centre for Jewish Studies, Berlin-Brandenburg.
Katharina von Ruckteschell is the Director of the Sao Paulo Goethe- Institut and Regional Director for South America and a former Director for sub-Saharan Africa.
Djo Tunda wa Munga runs his own film production company, Suka Productions! in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Shannon Walsh is a filmmaker and Assistant Professor at the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong.
Dorothee Wenner is a freelance filmmaker, writer and film festival curator based in Berlin.
Tsitsi Dangarembga is a writer, filmmaker, teacher and cultural activist. She lives in Harare, Zimbabwe where she directs the Institute of Creative Arts for Progress in Africa Trust.
Beti Ellerson is the founder and Director of the Centre for the Study and Research of African Women in Cinema.
Taghreed Elsanhouri is a Sudanese-born documentary filmmaker based in Britain.
Jihan El-Tahri is an author and documentary filmmaker. She lives in France.
Henriette Gunkel lectures in the department of Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths, University of London.
Katarina Hedren is a freelance writer and the co-programmer of the Johannesburg-based First Wednesday Film Club.
Ines Kappert is the editor of the opinion section of the taz, a Germany-wide newspaper.
Rumbi Katedza is a writer and filmmaker who lives in Zimbabwe.
Anita Khanna was born in India and studied in Great Britain. She is a producer and writer as well as the director of the Tri Continental Film Festival.
Arya Lalloo is an independent filmmaker based in Johannesburg.
Nobunye Levin is a filmmaker and lecturer in the Film and Television division of the School of Arts at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
Jyoti Mistry is a filmmaker and Associate Professor in the School of Arts at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
Isabel Noronha is a Mozambican documentary filmmaker.
Antje Schuhmann is a Senior Lecturer in the Political Studies Department and the Centre for Diversity Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
Christina von Braun is a filmmaker and Professor Emeritus of Cultural Theory anda representative of The Centre for Jewish Studies, Berlin-Brandenburg.
Katharina von Ruckteschell is the Director of the Sao Paulo Goethe- Institut and Regional Director for South America and a former Director for sub-Saharan Africa.
Djo Tunda wa Munga runs his own film production company, Suka Productions! in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Shannon Walsh is a filmmaker and Assistant Professor at the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong.
Dorothee Wenner is a freelance filmmaker, writer and film festival curator based in Berlin.
Content
Acknowledgements; List of illustrations; Foreword by Katharina von Ruckteschell, Goethe-Institut sub-Saharan Africa; Introduction - By way of context and content - Jyoti Mistry and Antje Schuhmann; African women in cinema: An overview - Beti Ellerson; 'I am a feminist only in secret' - Interview with Taghreed Elsanhouri and Christina von Braun by Ines Kappert; Staged authenticity: Femininity in photography and film - Christina von Braun; 'Power is in your own hands': Why Jihan El-Tahri does not like movements - Interview with Jihan El-Tahri by Jyoti Mistry and Antje Schuhmann; Aftermath - A focus on collective trauma - Interview with Djo Tunda wa Munga and Rumbi Katedza by Antje Schuhmann and Jyoti Mistry; Shooting violence and trauma: Traversing visual and social topographies in Zanele Muholi's work - Antje Schuhmann; Puk Nini - A filmic instruction in seduction: Exploring class and sexuality in gender relations - Antje Schuhmann and Jyoti Mistry; I am Saartjie Baartman - Nobunye Levin; Filmmaking at the margins of a community: On co-producing Elelwani - Jyoti Mistry; On collective practices: Jeppe on a Friday - Interview with Shannon Walsh and Arya Lalloo by Jyoti Mistry; 'Cinema of resistance' - Interview with Isabel Noronha by Max Annas and Henriette Gunkel; Dark and personal - Anita Khanna; 'Change? This might mean to shove a few men out' - Interview with Anita Khanna by Antje Schuhmann and Jyoti Mistry; Barakat means enough! - Katarina Hedren; 'Women, use the gaze to change reality' - Interview with Katarina Hedren by Antje Schuhmann and Jyoti Mistry; Post-colonial film collaboration and festival politics - Dorothee Wenner; Tsitsi Dangarembga: A manifesto - Interview with Tsitsi Dangarembga by Jyoti Mistry and Antje Schuhmann.