The Stuart Hall Project
by John Akomfrah
Oct. 2, 5 and 9 at 6pm at the el Hamra Theatre
Wednesday, 05 october - 6:00 PM
Sunday, 09 october - 6:00 PM
Théâtre El Hamra
Director: John Akomfrah
Production: David Lawson for Smoking Dogs Films, Lina Gopaul for Smoking Dogs Films
Cinematography: Dewald Aukema
Editing: Nse Asuquo
Sound: Trevor Mathison
Music: Trevor Mathison
Screenplay: John Akomfrah
Screening copy: Smoking Dogs Films
David Lawson and Lina Gopaul for Smoking Dogs Films
Video
This portrait of the left-wing intellectual Stuart Hall, one of the founders of cultural studies, was released a year before his death. For 50 years he had been an important voice in public debate, and he also made many educational programs for television.
Hall provided access to his personal archive. Because we hear his voice almost constantly throughout the film, he appears to assume the director’s role himself. In reality, it’s John Akomfrah who takes us on a kaleidoscopic journey through both the history of the 20th century and Hall’s ideas.
Tracks by his hero Miles Davis, combined with footage of the historical events that Hall refers to, give the film a loosely chronological structure. We see the independence of Hall’s home country of Jamaica, the Hungarian Revolution and the Vietnam War, as well as the rise of the civil rights movement, youth culture and neoliberalism under Margaret Thatcher.
