Alpha Sow [Senegal]

What Africans are producing now in Africa is not "African Art".    It is art produced by people who consider themselves as partners in a world that they invent every instant.

Hassan Musa [Sudan]

Synopsis: Contemporary African Artists are facing a difficult task: the need to balance a powerful cultural heritage with the parameters of modern individual creation.   African Art is often the victim of pre-existing conceptions, remnants of colonialism, with its notions of "primitive" peoples.  For the Western world, this continent is largely a projection of dreams and desires for exoticism.  The world's "appreciation" of African dances, masks, music, results in expectations of "Africanity", and the denial of the right to modernity.  Using as a focus and starting point the 3rd Biennial of the Arts in Dakar, Senegal [Dak'Art 98], "Recalling the Future" explores how the many trained, professional modern visual artists from every country of Africa take their place in the worldwide evolution of artistic expression.

Godfried Donkor [Ghana]

Kacimi [Morocco]

Israel Moyo [Zimbabwe]

Producer and Director: Claudine Pommier: Founder and Executive Director of the Arts in Action Society [Canada]. As a visual artist, I had several opportunities to go to North and West Africa, work with local artists on the creation of murals, take part in workshops, and exhibit work.  I was invited to attend Dak'Art Biennial, Senegal, in 1992, 1996, 1998, and 2000.  In 1993, I organized and took part in a tour, sponsored by the Canadian Department of External Affairs, of 5 West African countries.  A film of this tour, "African Brushstrokes" [Temple Films Productions] has been shown many times on several TV channels.  All this gave me the privilege of becoming acquainted with contemporary African creativity, and made me want to show it outside of the African continent. "Recalling the Future" and the subsequent films, The Art of Viyé Diba, The Intelligent Hand and The Power of Art, Women's Voices in Africa, are the results of this desire. Executive Producer:  Cheikh Tidiane N'diaye: Director of SudProd Senvision in Dakar, Senegal Producer and director of many documentaries, the latest being a series on the democratization of Africa. Camera:  Adama N'diaye, Habib Ba Sound:  Lamine Fall Each has worked for many years for the Senegalese television, and for SudProd Senvision.

Editor:  Eddie O: Eddie has a long, impressive career in film in Paris [France] and Vancouver [Canada]. His editing talent helped make "Recalling the Future" a work of art.

Completion date: March 2000 Running time: 48 minutes Colour - Stereo Formats: BetacamSP, VHS or DVD French version title: "Mémoire du Futur/Art en Afrique Contemporaine" The film has been presented at the following venues: Broadcast media: BRAVO NewstyleArtsChannel - Canada [Editor's pick] Radio Canada [West Coast] ARTV - Canada TV5 - Afrique RTS1, Senegal Festivals: Festival "Vues d'Afrique", Montréal [Award] Namur International Film Festival, Belgium African Diaspora Film Festival, NewYork Les Rendez-vous du Cinéma, Vancouver The Kunstlerhaus, Vienna, Austria Dak'Art 2000 Arts Biennial, Senegal Karachi, Pakistan Black History Month, Vancouver Fribourg Film Festival, Switzerland Pennsylvania Film Festival Pan African Film Festival, Los Angeles Zanzibar Film Festival Other: Alliance Française, Vancouver, B.C. Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria Facing the Mirror seminar, Accra, Ghana Africa Awareness, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C.

Reviewed in:  : Art eJournal of the African World (2001) by professor Julie McGee, Bowdoin College, USA. To read a full copy of the review please click on the preceding link.  African Arts, autumn 2002, volume XXXV, number 3, page 80 by professor Joanna Grabski of Denison University.

Recalling the Future/Art in Contemporary Africa, and The Art of Viyé Diba, The Intelligent Hand, and The Power of Art, Women's Voices in Africa are available in both French and English versions [with appropriate subtitles] by contacting: Claudine Pommier Executive Director Arts in Action Society 5570 Blenheim Street Vancouver, B.C. Canada V6N 1P5 Phone:[604] 263-2058 Fax: [604] 263-2052 e.mail: Claudine Pommier

Bruce Onobrakpeya [Nigeria]