KEYNOTE 2025
HAUNTINGS: THE UNFINISHED BUSINESS OF COLONIALISM
JACQUELINE NSIAH | Cultural Anthropologist, Film Curator
THURSDAY, 08.05. | 6:30 pm
Votiv Kino, Gr. Saal
FREE ENTRY – TICKETS
Colonialism is not just history – it is a spectre that shapes the present and clouds the future of the people of Africa and the African diaspora. The plundering of African countries, cultures and knowledge systems did not end with independence. It continues in stolen artifacts locked away in Western museums, in languages lost, in histories rewritten and in identities fractured. People of African descent are haunted not only by what was taken from them, but also by the constant demand to fight for its return, to piece together ruptured narratives, to reclaim what is theirs.
Unlike the Sankofa principle that teaches us to look back in order to move forward, people of African descent are trapped in an endless cycle and forced to look back, not as an act of empowerment, but as a necessity for survival. Distorted memory or the struggle for restitution are among the hauntings from the past. And so Nsiah asks the questions: Is this confrontation with the past necessary? Or does this haunting itself become another form of colonial control that prevents imagining a future beyond what was stolen?
In this keynote she would like to argue that apart from the obvious, the physical, the past also manifests in the subconscious and in the DNA. Nsiah will also reflect on all of this based on the films presented in the programme. There might not be answers, but sometimes posing questions is also a form of seeking answers.
The keynote will be accompanied by a performance by Karine LaBel (Haiti) and Achmet M’baye (percussion, Senegal).
Keynote held in English.
BIOGRAPHY
Jacqueline Nsiah is a cultural anthropologist, freelance film curator, and programmer with nearly two decades of experience in the global film festival circuit. She holds an MA in Visual and Media Anthropology from the Free University of Berlin and a BA in African Studies and Politics from SOAS.
Nsiah has held key roles in numerous festivals, including Co-Director of the Cambridge African Film Festival, Producer of the Real-Life Documentary Film Festival in Accra, and Assistant Producer at the Rio International Film Festival. She has contributed to Berlinale’s Panorama section as Guest Manager, co-directed and curated the UHURU African Film Festival in Rio de Janeiro, and programmed for Film Africa London.
She has also served as Programme Director at the Africa Film Society in Ghana and worked as a project manager for an African film industry platform with the Goethe-Institut. Nsiah was part of the Berlinale-Forum selection committee for four editions, co-curated the special programme Fiktionsbescheinigung, and is currently a member of the Berlinale Competition selection committee. She also co-curates for the Africa Film Festival Cologne (AFFK) and curates for the streaming platform Cinelogue.
