In the River Yurumangui in Pacific Colombia, its people still identify as 'cimarróns', or fugitives from slavery, in honor of their rebel ancestors. Today they are deliberately using this heritage to address the threats they face: environmental destruction, drug trafficking and armed conflict. These Pacific Black communities won the right to consider their lands ancestral in 1993 and became semi-autonomous within the Colombian State seven years later. However, they are not free people. They are exposed to a strong asymmetrical power struggle against legal and illegal forces.
Emma Christopher is a documentary maker and professor of the African diaspora based in Sydney, Australia. As a BCDSS fellow, she is currently doing research in Bonn and will be present at the screening.
Emma is the director, producer and researcher of We the Cimarróns and of They Are We (New York: Icarus Film, 2014), which won six Best Documentary Awards, featured widely in the media, and was chosen as the United Nations’ Remembrance of Slavery film 2015. It has screened in more than 70 countries around the world. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon described the film and Emma’s work as, ‘an inspiration; a victory over slavery’. Her books have won the Kay Daniels Prize and the Ernest Scott Prize, as well as her latest book being a Choice winner in 2019. She has been awarded several human rights awards for her work.
“We the Cimarróns”, documentary by Emma Christopher (Colombia/Australia 2021)
When: 30 June 2022
20:00 CET: film screening (Book your tickets here)
21:00 CET: post-screening talk (in the auditorium)
21:30 CET: reception at the cinema foyer (free of charge, open to all, please kindly register by emailing your name and, if you like, your position/institution)
Too complicated? You may also just come along on the day!
Where: Kino in der Brotfabrik, Kreuzstraße 16, 53225 Bonn (Beuel)
For any queries please contact: Cécile Jeblawei
More information on the whole film series "Who's Got the Power"
