For more than ten years, the “Lecture & Film” series has explored the work of a significant filmmaker or a specific thematic field over the course of two semesters. The current edition of “Lecture & Film” is dedicated to the theme “Black Atlantic Cinema.” 

“To see oneself through the eyes... of a nation that looks at one with contempt”: this is W.E.B. Du Bois’s formulation of “double consciousness,” the condition in which marginalized people live within societies shaped by oppression. Under the title Black Atlantic Cinema, the series centers on a cinematic practice that spans three continents and several centuries of history—deliberately moving beyond the boundaries of nation-state perspectives. Scholars, curators, and artists examine the many ways in which filmmakers respond to the challenges of life within “double consciousness,” from Africa to Brazil and the Caribbean to (post)colonial Europe.

8.5.2025, 20 Uhr

A young university student searches for a room to let. An American GI searches for love between visiting record shops and gigging with his band.

Olingo and They Call It Love, respectively, are both black and white student films featuring wandering Black male protagonists in Germany. In her lecture, Karina Griffith introduces the term flânoire films, which she uses to describe works spearheaded by Black authors of German cinemas that refuse the stagnation of affects such as consternation (Betroffenheit) in exchange for active vibes. Flânoire films are characterized by their representations of unfettered Black mobility in Europe and a focus on respect rather than belonging.

Dr. Karina Griffith teaches in the Faculty of Architecture, Media and Design as Professor of Intersectional Visual and Media Theory at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK). She holds a PhD in Cinema Studies from the University of Toronto and a Masters in Feature Film from Goldsmiths College London. She has been part of the curatorial team of the Berlinale Film Festival section Forum Expanded sinc 2021, and she is one of 12 fellows selected for the 2025 VILA SUL residency program in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil.

Films: They Call It Love, King Ampaw, BRD 1972.
            Olingo, Emile Itolo, DDR 1966, 11 min.

The event will take place at 8:00 pm at the DFF.

More Infos here.