Tarifa African Film Festival and the re-representation of Africa

Abstract

INTRODUCTION In our contemporary interconnected world, much of the information and knowledge communicated is through audiovisual works which constitute representations of the external reality. In these processes, Africa has oftentimes been described by European and Western images in which several misrepresentations have obscured the heterogeneity of the continent. African cinema is considered one of the main truly African audiovisual representations of a real perception of this misunderstood reality. However, when it comes to watching and learning about African cinema in our Western societies, apart from the relatively few academic studies on African media and audiovisual production, one mainly has access to these images through African film exhibition events such as African film or video showcases or during international film festivals in which African cinema is programmed. Among the latter, African film festivals have seen an important proliferation, especially in Europe and America throughout recent decades (Anthony, 2005; Ecrans d’Afrique, 1994). Amid this “boom” of African film events in Europe, the Festival de Cine Africano de Tarifa (FCAT – Tarifa African Film Festival), in Spain, constitutes an interesting case through which the meaning of “Africa” vis-a-vis our contemporary Western media culture can be explored. In this paper, I look at the birth, evolution and above all, the characteristics of this specialised film festival in order to explore how Africa is conceptualised and represented in Spain. The FCAT constitutes a growing cultural event that has opened up new spaces of knowing and understanding Africa in Spain. At the same time, in eight years, this film event has augmented its recognition and influence in its cultural sector: that of African film festivals and contemporary African cinema industries. The FCAT presents a singularity due to its location, since the geographical proximity of Tarifa to Africa makes it the closest European African film festival to the African continent. This has allowed Tarifa not only to stop representing a border town of geopolitical and cultural separation between Africa and Europe, but also to promote interculturalism as a dialogue-based socio-cultural model for our con-