Film: Beyond Keïta’s Frame

Seydou Keïta, the premier studio photographer of 20th-century Africa, recorded Mali’s evolution from the late 1940s to early 1960s with his camera. Delve deeper into the country’s and diaspora’s stories with this expansive film series, presented in partnership with African Film Festival and in tandem with Seydou Keïta: A Tactile Lens.

Featuring cinema classics from Mali and beyond, the series expands narratives introduced in Keïta’s iconic portraits. Explore themes of self-fashioning and adornment, faith and family, cosmopolitanism and the mythology of colonialism, the euphoria of the Pan-African independence movement, and the development of postcolonial identity.

Scroll down to see upcoming events in this series. Nothing on deck? Check out our other films.