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This open access book investigates how flows of knowledge that arise from the African continent travel and are transformed through new contexts of presentation and engagement in new locations. Through case studies on Africa-themed film festivals in Africa, Europe and the Americas, the book explores potential methods of catalyzing a transnational flow from inception to end that involves attention to process, rather than studying festivals as static cultural products with discrete and isolated categories of programming, presentation, documentation, and networking. The chapters probe how festivals interact with place and location and create journeys of discovery in translating and contextualizing films for specific populations and audiences. The book also focuses on how dialogue is created in a festival-knowledge forum that respects the living nature of cultural heritage as it is received from its original context, presented during film festivals, and passed on to future generations for safeguarding.
List of contents
Chapter 1: Introduction: African Film Festivals and Transnational Flows of Living Cultural Heritage.- Chapter 2: On FESPACO Mythology.- Chapter 3: Curating Africa in Contemporary Film Festivals in Senegal: An Analysis of the Constellation of Collaborations.- Chapter 4: Journeys of Discovery: The Case of the New York Forum of Amazigh Film (NYFAF).- Chapter 5: Virtualization of the New York Forum of Amazigh Film (NYFAF) During and Post- COVID-19: the Scramble To Remain the Same .- Chapter 6: From Africa to London to the World: Film Africa s Leading Role in the Circulation of African Cinemas.- Chapter 7: African Film Festivals: A Transnational Programming Intervention and Tales of the Accidental City as a Case Study.- Chapter 8: Act in Your Location, think with the World : Constructing Audience Afterlives at Three North American-based African Film Festivals.
About the author
Sheila Petty is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and Professor Emerita of Film Studies at the University of Regina, Canada. She has written extensively on cultural heritage in sub-Saharan African, North African and Amazigh cinemas. Her most recent book is Habiba Djahnine: Memory Bearer (2025).
Summary
This open access book investigates how flows of knowledge that arise from the African continent travel and are transformed through new contexts of presentation and engagement in new locations. Through case studies on Africa-themed film festivals in Africa, Europe and the Americas, the book explores potential methods of catalyzing a “transnational flow” from inception to end that involves attention to process, rather than studying festivals as static cultural products with discrete and isolated categories of programming, presentation, documentation, and networking. The chapters probe how festivals interact with place and location and create journeys of discovery in translating and contextualizing films for specific populations and audiences. The book also focuses on how dialogue is created in a festival-knowledge forum that respects the living nature of cultural heritage as it is received from its original context, presented during film festivals, and passed on to future generations for safeguarding.
