Je ne Suis Pas Moi-MÊme

Synopsis: Shot in Cameroon and Brussels, the film examines the complex network surrounding the international market of African antiquities, and the contradictions in a European art market hungry for new tribal objects. Where do the African masks come from? What journey do these masks make before their unveiling in the windows of the biggest galleries or art collections in Europe? Who determines the economic and aesthetic value of these objects now that colonialism is supposedly dead? And then there’s a continent called Africa, in need of economic resources and therefore willing to sell its cultural heritage or, if need be, to fake it. The authenticity of the objects becomes blurred when the people that once adored them start to sell them.
Language: English
Country: Belgium
Year of release: 2009
Year of production: 2009
Subjects: Anthropology; Art; Business studies; Development studies
Keywords: antiquities; art - African; art collections; international trade; masks; museums; African culture; art - ethnic; art - tribal

Name: Royal Anthropological Institute
Contact: Susanne Hammacher (Film Officer)
Email: film@therai.org.uk
Web: https://www.therai.org.uk/film/film-sales External site opens in new window
Phone: 020 7387 0455
Fax: 020 7388 8817
Address: 50 Fitzroy Street
London
W1T 5BT
Notes: The Institute sells more than 250 anthropology and ethnology titles on video and DVD, including some produced by students and staff of the Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology. There is also a large library of internationally produced film and video productions from which items may be borrowed within the UK.

This record has been viewed 745 times.