A Riff on the Rif: In the Spirit of the Cinematheque Tangier

Cinema Rif, a refurbished 1938 movie theater located in the heart of Tangier, is part of a vibrant community-based project by artist Yto Barrada devoted to the history of world cinema. This series riffs on Rif programming by bringing favorites of Tangier audiences to the Walker Cinema, focusing on films made in Northern Africa or that tell the larger story of life in the African diaspora.

The films in this program were selected by Yto Barrada, scholars Joëlle Vitiello (Macalester College) and Charles Sugnet (University of Minnesota), and Walker film curator Sheryl Mousley.

Additional films from the Cinematheque Tangier play daily in the exhibition Album: Cinematheque Tangier, a project by Yto Barrada, along with a Scopitone music/film jukebox with songs made by North African immigrant workers in France in the 1960s. Screening in the Lecture Room in March is William Klein’s collaborative documentary on the 1969 Pan-African Cultural Festival of Algiers, which hosted everyone from anti-colonialist leader Amilcar Cabral to Afrocentric musician Archie Shepp to Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver. These discussions at the festival ultimately led to the establishment of Pan-African cinema institutions.