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
This event has received essential funding from:
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: Les archives de Georges Nasser: un projet de conservation collectif [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.
