Zineb Sedira Presents…

15 Feb-9 Jun 2024

Overview

To accompany her exhibition Dreams Have No Titles, British French-Algerian artist Zineb Sedira has chosen a selection of key films that have inspired and influenced her practice.

This free daily screening programme reflects Sedira’s deep personal engagement with the history of activist cinema, particularly the productions made across France, Italy and Algeria following Algerian independence in 1962.

All films are screened in their original language with English subtitles. Visitors are welcome to enter Gallery 2 at any time during the screenings.

#ZinebSediraPresents

Film Programme

12.00 Salut les Cubains (1963, dir. Agnès Varda, 29 mins)

A photomontage featuring hundreds of images of Cuban society taken by Varda on her trip to the island following the 1959 revolution led by Fidel Castro.

13.30 The Battle of Algiers (1966, dir. Gillo Pontecorvo, 121 mins)

A legendary documentary-style reconstruction of the Algerian uprising against French colonial rule in the 1950s. Zineb Sedira’s set design inspired by the film appears in Dreams Have No Titles in Gallery 9.

Content note: Contains strong torture scenes and moderate violence.

16.00 The Pan-African Festival of Algiers (1969, dir. William Klein, 102 mins)

A collectively-produced film essay documenting the First Pan-African Cultural Festival in Algiers (the capital of Algeria) in July 1969, featuring political speeches, artistic performances and archival footage of anti-colonial struggles.

19.00 (Thursdays only) Les mains libres (1964, dir. Ennio Lorenzini, 56 mins)

A documentary featuring extraordinary colour imagery of the newly created Algerian state, this film was unseen for 57 years until a restored version initiated by Zineb Sedira was screened in 2022.