Event

Unfinished Business: Unseen Films, Unheard Stories
A Film Series curated by Robert Cargni, Film Programmer, for Penn Cinema & Media Studies.

"Distribution circuits and exhibition venues and platforms substantially limit our access to the films we can watch. As a film programmer, my aspiration has always been that of recuperating part of the heterogeneous richness of world cinemas and local film cultures and to make them available to audiences interested in expanding the breadth and diversity of their film experience. As part of this always unfinished business of cultural recovery, I would like to present to you a group of virtually unseen films that tackle some of the most pressing questions of our times: migration, social marginalization, gender inequality, racial discrimination, and the systematic impoverishment of the Global South. This film series offers you the opportunity to expand your familiarity with diasporic filmmaking, women’s cinema, contemporary film cultures in Latin American and the Caribbean, as well as with filmmakers operating at the peripheries of the American and European film industries." (Robert Cargni)
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The Nine Muses
John Akomfrah, UK, 2010, 92 mins, in English

John Akomfrah is a hugely respected artist and filmmaker, whose works are characterized by their investigations into memory, post-colonialism, temporality, and aesthetics and often explores the experiences of migrant diasporas globally. Akomfrah was a founding member of the influential Black Audio Film Collective, which started in London in 1982 alongside the artists David Lawson and Lina Gopaul, who he still collaborates with today. (Lisson Gallery)

Structured as an allegorical fable and loosely inspired by existential science fiction, The Nine Muses is a stylized, unusual and idiosyncratic retelling of the history of mass migration to post-war Britain through the suggestive lens of Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey. Divided into nine overlapping musical chapters and mixing a vast array of archival material, The Nine Muses is a tone poem about journeys, migration, and memory. A virtuoso exercise in montage and sound, this film is a feast for the eyes, the ears, and the mind.

The film will be introduced by Nora Alter, Professor of Film and Media Arts at Temple University.
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Robert E. Cargni is formerly the film programmer and gallerist for Film @ International House Philadelphia. Robert has also curated film programming for the University of Pennsylvania Museum, as well as numerous international film festivals across the United States and Canada.