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Film Screening: An Opera of the World by Manthia Diawara

Manthia Diawara, An Opera of the World, 2016
Tuesday, February 13, 2018 - 5:30pm
Digital Arts Research Center (DARC) 108
Presented by: 
Institute of the Arts and Sciences

In An Opera of the World, Malian filmmaker Manthia Diawara reflects upon the refugee crisis and the relationship between Europe and Africa. The film revolves around a performance of Bintou Were, a Sahel Opera in Bamako, around which Diawara builds a story about migration, interweaving interviews with documentary and archival footage. An Opera of the World first premiered at dOCUMENTA 14 in Kassel, Germany. 

Film Screening: An Opera of the World 
February 13, 2018
5:30 -6:45 pm
Digital Arts Research Center (DARC) 108

This event is FREE and open to the public. Parking is available in the Performing Arts lot (pay at the pay station).​

The screening will be followed at 7 p.m. by Traction: Art Talk with Manthia Diawara.

Manthia Diawara is a celebrated filmmaker and cultural theorist. He collaborated with author Ngûgî wa Thiong’o in making the documentary Sembène: The Making of African Cinema (1994), and has directed numourous films, including Rouch In Reverse (1995); In Search of Africa (1997); Bamako Sigi-Kan (2003); Who’s Afraid of Ngugi? (2006); and Negritude: A Dialogue Between Wole Soyinka and Senghor (2015). His most recent film, An Opera of the World (2016) premiered at dOCUMENTA 14.

Diawara has also published widely on the topic of film and literature of the Black Diaspora. He is the author of Black-American Cinema: Aesthetics and Spectatorship (1993), African Cinema: Politics and Culture (1992), and In Search of Africa (1998). Dr. Diawara is Director of NYU’s Institute of Afro-American Affairs and Director of the Africana Studies Program. A native of Mali, he received his education in France and later traveled to the United States for his university studies. He has taught at the University of California at Santa Barbara and the University of Pennsylvania.