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Togoland Projections
Directed by Jürgen Ellinghaus
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Shortly before the First World War, the film director Hans Schomburgk embarked with actress Meg Gehrts on a film expedition to West Africa to shoot adventure films in the then German colony of Togo. Virtually unknown in Togo, the films are a fascinating and disturbing document from the height of Germany’s colonial rule in Africa.

More than a century later, Jürgen Ellinghaus sets out to examine this dark legacy, retracing Schomburgk’s journey in order to show the films in front of Togolese audiences for the first time. Discussions follow public screenings as audience members reflect on the historical context of these images, prompting spirited debates about tradition, stereotypes, and the distorting effects of the colonial gaze. Even as Schomburgk sought to portray an idealized version of village life and perpetuate the myth of Togo as Germany’s “model colony,” this fantasy strains under his own images of forced labor, humiliation, and imperial arrogance.

Interspersing these conversations among Togolese citizens with extensive archival footage, including excerpts from Gehrts’s 1913 travel diary, Togoland Projections explores this painful history from the perspective of its independent present.

“Engaging... This absorbing time-travel history lesson should have connoisseur appeal in film festival and academic circles.” —The Film Verdict

“A valuable lesson of race relations and exploitation of native Africans. This film could be shown to high school through college students to show the effects of colonialism on an African nation and the racist views endured in the early 20th century.” —Educational Media Reviews Online

DOK Leipzig 2023
Nordic Film Days Lübeck 2023

96 minutes / Color/B&W
English; French / English subtitles
Closed Captioned
Release: 2023
Copyright: 2023

For individual consumers (home video)

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For colleges, universities, government agencies, hospitals and corporations

This DVD is sold with a license for institutional use and Public Performance rights.

Subject areas:
Africa, Cultural Anthropology, Anthropology, Film History, World History, Germany

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