Totems and Taboos

Dec 7, 2018

0h 54m

★ 7.0

Recalling Belgium's brutal colonial history

Overview

In Brussels, Belgium, the Royal Museum of Central Africa is undertaking a radical renovation, both physical and ethical, to show with sincerity, crudeness and open-mindedness the reality of the atrocities perpetrated against the inhabitants of the Belgian colonies in Africa, still haunted and traumatized by the ghost of King Leopold II of Belgium, a racist and genocidal tyrant.

Genres

Documentary

History

Production Companies

Simple Productions

ARTE GEIE

VRT

Totems and Taboos Trailers

Cast

No Cast found.

Words are loaded with meaning. Certain ones conjure joyful memories and others remind us of less happy times. For Nenda Neururer, the word 'oachkatzlschwoaf' invokes a range of emotions. The German word is very hard to pronounce and is synonymous with the Austrian state of Tyrol where locals tease outsiders by asking them to pronounce it. Despite growing up in Tyrol, Nenda Neururer often felt like an outsider when confronted with this word. But when she moved to London she grew nostalgic for it and it became her little secret. Found in Translation is a series made as part of the In The Mix project, in partnership with BBC Studios TalentWorks, Black Creators Matter and the Barbican.

7.2

Escape from Pretoria

Mar 6, 2020

South Africa, 1978. Tim Jenkin and Stephen Lee, two white political activists from the African National Congress imprisoned by the apartheid regime, put a plan in motion to escape from the infamous Pretoria Prison.

6.5

Dahomey

Sep 11, 2024

Thousands of royal artifacts of Dahomey, a West African kingdom, were taken by French colonists in the 19th century for collection and display in Paris. Centuries later, a fraction returned to their home in modern-day Benin. This dramatized documentary follows the journey of 26 of the treasures as told by cultural art historians, embattled university students, and one of the repatriated statues himself.

6.0

Judge Horton and the Scottsboro Boys

Apr 22, 1976

In 1930s Alabama, nine young black men are accused of raping two white women. The judge in the case, unlike the rest of the town, comes to believe that the boys are innocent and, against all advice from his friends and family, sets them free, which turns the entire community against him.

0.0

Black Power Salute

Jul 9, 2008

A film about one of the most iconic images of the 20th century, the moment when the radical spirit of the 1960s upstaged the greatest sporting event in the world. Two men made a courageous gesture that reverberated around the world, and changed their lives forever. This film is about Tommie Smith and John Carlos' protest at the 1968 Olympics.

6.5

Son of the South

Feb 5, 2021

In civil rights era Montgomery, Alabama, Klansman's grandson Bob Zellner must choose which side of history to be on during the Movement. Defying his family and white Southern norms, he fought against social injustice, repression and violence to change the world around him

0.0

Killing America

Apr 2, 2024

A 38 minute documentary that investigates why antisemitism exploded in Bay Area High Schools after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7. This comes after years of anti-Asian hate and anti-white hate.

6.8

Statues Also Die

May 1, 1953

Commissioned by the journal Présence Africaine, this short documentary examines how African art is devalued and alienated through colonial and museum contexts. Beginning with the question of why African works are confined to ethnographic displays while Greek or Egyptian art is celebrated, the film became a landmark of anti-colonial cinema and was banned in France for eight years.

0.0

The Gordon Affair

Dec 7, 2021

As a small liberal arts college on the North Shore, Gordon College has not been without its issues. Budget cuts in 2019 resulted in the downsizing of several departments which impacted students' college career. In 2020 during the heat of the pandemic, racial tensions rise after hate crimes are committed on campus. This is the story of the class of 2022.

7.8

The Rape of Recy Taylor

May 30, 2019

Recy Taylor, a 24-year-old black mother and sharecropper, was gang raped by six white boys in 1944 Alabama. Common in Jim Crow South, few women spoke up in fear for their lives. Not Recy Taylor, who bravely identified her rapists. The NAACP sent its chief rape investigator Rosa Parks, who rallied support and triggered an unprecedented outcry for justice. The film exposes a legacy of physical abuse of black women and reveals Rosa Parks’ intimate role in Recy Taylor’s story.

6.5

Marquis de Wavrin, from the Manor to the Jungle

Oct 25, 2017

A documentary that invites us to discover the strange path led by the explorer-ethnographer Marquis de Wavrin who, in the 1920s and 1930s, made ethnographic films in several countries of Latin America.

7.5

When We Were Kings

Oct 25, 1996

It's 1974. Muhammad Ali is 32 and thought by many to be past his prime. George Foreman is ten years younger and the heavyweight champion of the world. Promoter Don King wants to make a name for himself and offers both fighters five million dollars apiece to fight one another, and when they accept, King has only to come up with the money. He finds a willing backer in Mobutu Sese Suko, the dictator of Zaire, and the "Rumble in the Jungle" is set, including a musical festival featuring some of America's top black performers, like James Brown and B.B. King.

0.0

Stolen Ground

Jan 1, 1993

In US society, people of East Asian heritage are often perceived through an obscuring lens of ethnic and cultural stereotypes. In STOLEN GROUND, six Asian-American men talk about their experience of the highly racialized United States, and consider how racism has affected their lives and those of their family members.

6.8

The Tracker

Aug 8, 2002

Somewhere in Australia in the early 20th century outback, an Aboriginal man is accused of murdering a white woman. Three white men are on a mission to capture him with the help of an experienced Indigenous man.

6.0

FC Roma

Sep 16, 2016

A team of Romany football players try to overcome prejudice in this Czech documentary.

0.0

The Musicians' Green Book: An Enduring Legacy

Nov 26, 2022

Stories and music of Black artists who relied on an underground travel guide to navigate the injustices of racial segregation while on the road. The Negro Travelers’ Green Book was a directory of lodgings, restaurants, and entertainment venues where African Americans were welcomed. Features performances and interviews with vocalists, musicians, activists, historians, and others.

7.3

Till

Oct 14, 2022

The true story of Mamie Till Mobley’s relentless pursuit of justice for her 14 year old son, Emmett Till, who, in 1955, was lynched while visiting his cousins in Mississippi.

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0.0

Intervention: Stories From the Inside

Jun 21, 2009

On June 21 2007, the Howard Federal Government launched an intervention into Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory. It was one of the most dramatic policy shifts in the history of Aboriginal affairs. Relentless media attention focuses on ideological arguments for and against the Intervention, while the voices of those affected by the policy are rarely heard. For this film more than 40 Alice Springs town camp residents were interviewed in depth over the course of eight months to find out the answer to the question - is it working?

0.0

Who Will Burry The Dead?

May 14, 2016

This documentary offers a deep, candid, and historical look at the Christian experience of America's largest and best-known tribes: the Dakota and Lakota. Its exploration into Native American history also takes a hard and detailed look at President Ulysses S. Grant's Peace Policy of 1873, which was, in effect, a "convert to Episcopalianism or starve" edict put forth by the American government in direct violation of its Constitution. The devastation it had on the values of the people affected were dramatic and extremely long-lasting. Grant's policy was finally ended over 100 years later by the Freedom of American Indian Religions Act in 1978. Interlaced with extraordinarily candid interviews, this documentary presents an insider's perspective of how the Dakota and Lakota were estranged from their religious beliefs and their long-standing traditions.

7.9

Titanic: The Digital Resurrection

Apr 12, 2025

Using cutting-edge scanning technology and state-of-the-art CGI, a team of experts creates the first high-resolution 3D digital twin of the Titanic wreck. Through a groundbreaking immersive investigation, they uncover the ship’s final moments, shedding light on the acts of heroism and cowardice aboard—and revealing the true story behind the sinking of the “unsinkable” ship.