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Screening the Sahara

—
A woman passes a group of men on a bicycle in a desert village.

Challenging the perception of the Sahara as a place of emptiness & isolation, looking to the regions’ storytellers to recognise it as a plentiful site of pluralism & exchange in the African continent.

Across three screenings in September, the desert is depicted as central to contemporary geopolitics and environmental shifts, unifying the West and East of the continent. In the face of its political and artistic marginalisation, this season shares compelling and topical stories, from the Maghreb to the Horn of Africa.

Ciné-Sahra is a project dedicated to sharing films from the breadth of the Saharan region, exploring the often obscured space as a site of social, environmental and narrative pluralism through contemporary, archival, and artists’ film.

Curators

Emma Bouraba is a film programmer based in London whose research interest lies at the intersection of politically engaged documentaries and the experimental form.

Abiba Coulibaly is a film curator with a background in critical geography, interested in the intersection of ethics and aesthetics.

Programme Notes

While the season eschews a romanticised or Orientalist imagining of the Sahara desert, it leans into its indigenous mythology and folklore, as well as its austere realities, sharing rare narrative, documentary and docu-fiction work from across 4 decades. The first screening, featuring films by the regions’ most prominent filmmakers, establishes the geohistories of the region interrupted by colonialism and expanded by diaspora. 

The second turns to sites of encounter and transit, capturing the endless highways and bustling crossroads, with narratives centring the female perspective and a hidden gem from the Sudan Film Unit; while the third and final film weaves ancient Islamic folklore with Andalusian inflections producing a fable of haunting resonance regarding contemporary migration and a restless generation’s coming of age. 

Events

Cinemas

Location
Barbican Cinema 1 is located within the main Barbican building on Level -2. Head to Level G and walk towards the Lakeside Terrace where you’ll find stairs and lifts to take you down to the venue floor.   

Address
Barbican Centre
Silk Street, London
EC2Y 8DS

Public transport
The Barbican is widely accessible by bus, tube, train and by foot or bicycle. Plan your journey and find more route information in ‘Your Visit’ or book your car parking space in advance.