Concerning Violence

director: Göran Hugo Olsson

original title: Concerning Violence

country: Sweden, United States, Denmark, Finland

year: 2014

running time: 85 min.

synopsis

Frantz Fanon (1925–1961) was an influential political thinker whose opinions influenced the anti-colonialist movement in Africa, especially in Algeria, where he worked as a psychiatrist during the war for independence from France. The title of the Swedish filmmaker’s documentary refers to the first chapter of Fanon’s celebrated – and in its day, banned in France – book The Wretched of the Earth, which defended the rights of colonized Africans. Found footage from the French-Algerian War, shocking in places, features commentary by American singer Lauren Hill, who recites passages from Fanon’s book, whose topics and ideas are still relevant to the current situation even today.

DETAIL:
“Fanon did not stop at thinking colonization but wanted to do something about it. He gave his time and skill to the healing of those who suffered from violence.”

biography

Swedish documentary filmmaker Göran Hugo Olsson has long been involved with the issues of post-colonialism, racism and violence. He became more widely known three years ago for his film Black Power (The Black Power Mixtape 1967–1975, 2011), which examined the African-American civil rights movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s from the point of view of Swedish journalists. The film won awards at a number of festivals including Sundance. Concerning Violence is his third feature-length film.

more about film

director:	Göran Hugo Olsson
producer:	Annika Rogell, Tobias Janson
editing:	Göran Hugo Olsson

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