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City of London

The Woman with the Knife + New Territories (spectacle is king) + Introduction with Keith Shiri

Sunday 16th August 2026

As part of the Barbican’s acclaimed Project a Black Planet film season, this special screening brings together a landmark work of African cinema with a powerful contemporary moving-image installation, exploring how artists have challenged colonial narratives through bold visual storytelling. Introduced by internationally respected African film curator Keith Shiri, the programme examines the relationship between spectacle, representation and resistance across more than half a century of filmmaking.

 

The afternoon centres on The Woman with the Knife (La Femme au couteau), the groundbreaking 1969 feature by Ivorian filmmaker Timité Bassori. Widely regarded as one of the most innovative works to emerge from post-independence African cinema, the film combines dreamlike imagery, symbolism and psychological drama to explore the lasting effects of colonialism on identity, power and personal freedom. Rejecting conventional storytelling, Bassori creates a visually striking meditation on liberation and the emotional complexities of a newly independent Africa.

Screening alongside the classic feature is New Territories (spectacle is king) (2025), a new work by British artist and filmmaker Rhea Storr. Through experimental imagery and contemporary visual culture, Storr examines how spectacle continues to influence the ways Black lives, identities and histories are represented in the media. By placing her work alongside Bassori’s pioneering film, the programme creates a fascinating dialogue between two generations of filmmakers who use cinema to question accepted narratives and challenge audiences to see familiar subjects from new perspectives.

Together, the films demonstrate how cinema has long been a space for artistic experimentation, political reflection and cultural resistance. Although created more than fifty years apart, both works explore how images shape public understanding and reveal the ways visual language can both reinforce and disrupt systems of power. Their pairing highlights the continuing relevance of African and diasporic filmmaking in conversations about race, memory, representation and post-colonial identity.

The screening is introduced by Keith Shiri, one of the world’s leading specialists in African cinema. As Lead Curator of Film Africa, London’s largest annual African film festival, and a long-standing programmer for international festivals including the BFI London Film Festival, Venice Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival, Shiri brings decades of expertise to this exploration of African filmmaking and its global significance. His introduction offers valuable historical context for both films and their place within the wider story of Pan-African cinema.

Part of the Barbican’s Project a Black Planet season, which features more than fifty exhibitions, screenings, performances and public events celebrating the history and continuing influence of Pan-Africanism, this unique programme offers audiences the opportunity to experience one of African cinema’s most influential works alongside an important contemporary commission. It is an essential event for anyone interested in Black history, world cinema, contemporary art and the enduring power of film to challenge, inspire and reimagine the world around us.

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