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Photo courtesy of the Cinémathèque marocaine.

Schedule of the Symposium of the 2026 FIAF Congress

"Reimagining African and Arab Film Memory: Methodologies, Collaborations, Restitutions, and Dialogues"

Monday 27, Tuesday 28, and Wednesday (morning) 29 April 2026

Cinémathèque marocaine, Rabat, Morocco

The text of the Call for Papers can be found HERE.


MONDAY 27 APRIL 2026

9:00 - Opening of the 2026 Symposium

  • Narjiss NEJJAR (Director, Cinémathèque marocaine), Peter BAGROV (President, FIAF)

9:15 - Opening Remarks

  • Symposium Scientific Committee [30’]

09:45 - Session 1: Keynote

  • Aboubakar SANOGO: FIAF in Africa, Africa at FIAF: A Historical Perspective [25’]

+ 5 minutes discussion.

10.15: Coffee Break

10:45 - Session 2: Strategies for Recovery and Consolidation of African and Arab film Heritage

  • Léonce TIRA & Bassirou ZOUNDI: La Cinémathèque africaine de Ouagadougou: 35 ans de mémoire cinématographique d’un continent [15’]
  • Bright JOSHUA: Resource Efficient Digitization: The Malawi 16mm Film Project [15’]
  • Tamara MAATOUK:  Mapping Film Heritage in Egypt [15’]
  • Rebecca OHENE-ASAH: Digitizing Memory: Preserving Ghana’s Video Film Heritage Through the Central Film Library Project [15’]
  • Nabil DJEDOUANI: Les Archives Numériques du Cinéma Algérien [15’]

+ 30 minutes discussion.

12.30 Lunch

14:00 - Session 3: Making Restitution Possible: Inventing Methods and Frameworks

  • Mohanad ALYACOUBI: Recovered Images: A Gaze of Restitution - A research presentation on inventories, transcripts and kinships [15’]
  • Erica CARTER; Dan HODGKINSON; Jim Fara AWINDOR: Restitution as a transnational collaborative project: Addressing archival displacement in projects from Sudan, Egypt, and Ghana [30’]
  • Tiago BAPTISTA; Domingos MAGALHÃES; José ZITHA: The conservation of the African film heritage in Angola and Mozambique: International collaboration in a post-colonial context [30’]

+ 30 minutes discussion.

15.45: Coffee break

16:15 - Session 4: Challenges and Opportunities Facing African Film Heritage

  • Masego MMUTLE: From Analogue to Digital: Public Funding, Workforce Support, and the Transformation of the Film Archives [15’]
  • Ali NUHU: Reclaiming Nigeria's Audiovisual Heritage Through Archives, Memory and Preservation [15’]
  • Francis G. MWANGI: The State of Films Archives Future in the Era of Artificial Intelligence (AI): A Case Study of the Kenya National Archives [15’]
  • Sandra MUSHID: Présentation de la Cinémathèque Congolaise Grand Tambour [15’]
  • Samuel CHABIKWA; Kudakwashe MAVINGIRE: Accessing the Cinematographic Collection at the National Archives of Zimbabwe: Challenges and Opportunities [15’]
  • Salamatou HAMA MAIGA: Préservation des archives cinématographiques et audiovisuelles au Niger : un vrai défi à relever [15’]

+ 30 minutes discussion.

18:15 - End of the first day of the Symposium

18:15 - 18.45 - FIAF Award presentation

 

TUESDAY 28 APRIL 2026

9:00 - Session 5: Keynote

Dr. Mahdi AMRI: Quand les écrans s’éteignent: histoire de la fermeture des salles de cinéma au Maroc (1960–2025) et ses effets sur la mémoire cinématographique africaine et arabe [25’]

+ 5 minutes discussion.

9:30 - Session 6: Archiving Despite Everything: Resilience and Rebuilding

  • Maïmouna DIOUF: Archiver malgré la fragilité : enjeux et pratiques au sein de la Direction de la Cinématographie et de l’Audiovisuel du Sénégal [15’]
  • Wareth KWAISH; Brice AMOUROUX: Rebuilding a National Film Memory: The Iraqi Cinematheque Project [15’]
  • ABDULCADIR Ahmed: The Situation of the Somali Archives [15’]

+ 15 minutes discussion.

10.30: Coffee Break

11:00 Session 7: Transferring and Exchanging Knowledge in Film Preservation | Part I

  • Bassirou ZOUNDI; Marc TRILLE: A la Cinémathèque africaine de Ouagadougou, un esprit de partage pour sauvegarder le patrimoine, former les jeunes professionnels et préserver l’identité des peuples [20’]
  • Anne GANT; Giovanna FOSSATI; Tamer EL SAID: Re-Mastered: From Restoration to Restitution | A Transnational Model for Film Preservation [30’]

+ 40 minutes discussion.

12.30 Lunch

14:00 Session 8: Transferring and Exchanging Knowledge in Film Preservation | Part II

  • Moha BOUTAHIR: Film Studies in Moroccan Universities: Absent Archives and Missing Voices [15’]
  • Kudirat Ajoke AYOOLA; Vinzenz HEDIGER; Nancy KING: Knowledge in Exchange: Lessons from a Transcontinental Film Heritage Partnership [30’]

+ 30 minutes discussion.

15:15 - 15:30 Short Break

15:30 Session 9: Making Restitution Possible | Part II: Reparation and Dissemination Practices

  • Franck LOIRET: Projet de sauvegarde d’un fonds de films palestiniens [15’]
  • Farah Clémentine DRAMANI-ISSIFOU: Réparer le visible: repenser la mémoire cinématographique africaine et les enjeux contemporains de restitution à partir de la Cinémathèque Afrique de l'Institut Français [15’]

+ 20 minutes discussion.

16:20 – 16:50 Coffee Break

16:50 Session 10: Fostering Awareness, Creating Communities

  • Filipa CÉSAR; Marinho PINA; Raquel SCHEFER: African Anti-Colonial Archives: Circulations, Practices, Agropoetics of Liberation [30’]
  • Damilola LEMOMU; Phoebe Beckett CHINGONO; Benjin: Building a Pan-African Screen Heritage: Regional Engagement, Community Audiences, and Archival Training for Youth [30’]  

+ 30 minutes discussion.

18:20 End of the Second day of the Symposium

18:20 – 18:30 Congress Group Photo

 

WEDNESDAY, 29 APRIL 2026

9:00 Session 11: Reconstitution of Memory, Heritage and Identity

  • Zulay RIASCOS ZAPATA: Muestra Afro: Afro-descendant identities and audiovisual representations in Colombia (co-authored with Luis Felipe RAGUA) [20’] 
  • Kudirat Ajoke AYOOLA; Judith OPUKU-BOATENG; Akporherhe Justina OMOJEVWE: Building Transcontinental Memory Networks: Strengthening West African Archival Collaborations for Shared Film Heritage Preservation [30’]
  • Anaïs FARINE, Chantal PARTAMIAN, Mathilde ROUXEL: The George Nasser Restoration Project [30’]

+ 30 minutes discussion.

10:50 Coffee Break

11:20 Session 12: Dialogues with Practices

  • Touda BOUANANI: Pratiques alternatives de conservation des archives du cinéma au Maroc: Préservation, réhabilitation, accessibilité [15’]
  • Klára TRSKOVÁ: Film Programming from the Semi-Periphery: Archival Translation and the Mediation of African and Arab Political Film Heritage in Eastern Europe [15’]
  • Didi CHEEKA: How Can an Archive of Lost Films Contribute to Film History and Archival Practice? [15’]
  • Jihan EL-TAHRI: Relinking the Chain of Memory: A talk on archival use in film and Artworks [15’]

+ 40 minutes discussion.

13:00: End of the Symposium