Rediscovered world cinema classics by women filmmakers to screen in Sheffield
 
By Ryan Finnigan–Programming Assistant 26/09/2022 

Opening at Showroom Cinema on Friday 4 October, as part of Cinema Rediscovered On Tour, is Women’s Stories from the Global South (& To Whom They Belong). Curated by Mosa Mpetha (Black Cinema Project) with Darragh Amelia and Jesse Gerard (Ajabu Ajabu), the season features five recently rediscovered and restored works from the Global South that are written by and about women. 

The programme starts with a bang with the restoration of Sarah Maldoror’s Sambizanga, which will be introduced by season curator Mosa Mpetha. Initially released in 1972, the film is now back on the big screen in time for its 50th anniversary and has been championed by legendary Hollywood filmmaker Martin Scorsese (Goodfellas). Scorsese described the film as “a rare achievement” and “a remarkable work by a remarkable artist”. The restoration of Sambizanga was aided by Scorsese’s World Cinema Project, which helps to bring little-seen titles to audiences, often for the first time. 

A revolutionary film chronicling the awakening of Angola’s independence movement, Sambizanga has robust realism. It features a cast of non-professional actors, many involved in anti-colonial resistance. It is a landmark work of political cinema that honours the essential roles of women, with Maldoror remarking that “wars only work when women take part.” The film has often been compared to political cinema classics, including Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin and Gillo Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers, with Maldoror herself working as an assistant on the latter. These comparisons raise questions for cinemas and film audiences as to why films from the Global South and films written by or about women are often overlooked compared to better-known titles. 

Even when such films as Sambizanga are masterpieces, how can we address the global power imbalances that see films go largely undiscovered for decades? The work of Ajabu Ajabu and Black Cinema Project to interrogate these questions and return films to the big screen is vital to our understanding of film history. 

Four equally powerful and vital films round out the season with weekly screenings throughout October highlighting films from national cinemas that are often overlooked: Maangamizi: The Ancient One (Tanzania), Door to the Sky (Morocco), De Cierta Manera (Cuba) and Araya (Venezuela).  

Each film is a powerful work of vital filmmaking that demands to be seen in a cinema.  

Women’s Stories from the Global South (& To Whom They Belong) launches at Showroom Cinema on Friday 4 October. Tickets are on sale now. 

This article was first featured in the Sheffield Telegraph on Thursday 29 September 2022