The film series Shared Histories – Collaboration in Ethnographic Film will take place from 25 to 28 September 2025 in the traditional cinema hall of the Ethnological Museum of the National Museums in Berlin on the Dahlem research campus. The event marks the restart of the film programme in Dahlem after a break of several years and is dedicated to transcultural collaboration in the history of ethnographic film.
Image avobe: Filmstill aus „Uksuum Cauyai – The Drums of Winter“ (1988) © Documentary Educational Resources
The exhibition will show 16 films from the years 1914 to 2022, including Berlin premieres, digitally restored works and analogue film prints. They shed light on forms of cooperation between filmmakers, indigenous communities, archives and academics. The selection reflects the development of perspectives and power relations in ethnographic film and emphasises the relevance of continuous, transcultural collaboration for a decolonial practice.
The films will be presented in their original version with English subtitles and accompanied by introductions and discussions with filmmakers, protagonists, film scholars and ethnologists. The programme will be complemented by lectures on the film archive of the Ethnological Museum and on film restoration. An international panel discussion will round off the supporting programme.
The aim of the film series is to further develop the Dahlem research campus as a lively place of exchange and discursive debate. The film archive of the Ethnological Museum will be presented to the public for the first time. The event is intended as a prelude to new forms of multi-perspective, transcultural collaboration in museums and archives.
It will be accompanied by a richly illustrated English-language publication with 13 essays by international authors from the fields of film, ethnology, criticism and science.
The series, which is funded by the Capital Cultural Fund, is curated by Regina Knapp, curator for visual anthropology at the Ethnological Museum and the Museum of Asian Art of the National Museums in Berlin, and Louise von Plessen, freelance curator and author.
WHEN?
Opening: Thursday, 25 September 2025
Event dates: Thursday, 25 to Sunday, 28 September 2025
Film screenings, lectures and discussions daily in the cinema auditorium
WHERE?
Forschungscampus Dahlem
Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Lansstraße 8, 14195 Berlin
