For decades, Swiss traveller René Gardi (1909-2000) tried to explain the African continent and its inhabitants trough books, television programs and films, in a waxed poetic about the beautiful “savages” and the pre-modern era in which they apparently lived. This supposedly idyllic world became paradoxical. The documentary tells the story of the problematic image of Africa using materials from Gardi’s archive, whose ambivalent pictures reveals the image production as a form of colonialism.
African Mirror
2019
14 years
84 min.
Documentary
Switzerland
Africa, Switzerland, documentary
Colorido, P&B
Mischa Hedinger
Mischa Hedinger
Mischa Hedinger, Philipp Diettrich
Simon Baumann
ton und bild
Machinefabriek (Rutger Zuydervelt)
43