In recent years, filmmakers around the world have increasingly taken on the role of researcher to interrogate the legacies of colonial and postcolonial violence and memory through fragmented archives, self-reflexive explorations in form and genre, and aesthetic experimentation.
Film and Scholarship: A Research-Creation Workshop explores these contemporary practices, emphasizing the role of collaboration and archival engagement in processes of cinematic research creation and film as a mode of knowledge production.
DATE: Monday, January 12, 2026
TIME: 9:30 AM - 2:00 PM (lunch will be provided)
LOCATION: Collaborative Digital Research Space (MN 3230)
Interested in participating? Join us for a high-energy day of film, discussion, and collaboration! Submit your registration request here. Please note that space is limited - priority will be given to graduate and upper-level graduate students in relevant courses / those who present an ongoing research project that reflects workshop priorities. Faculty interested in attending should contact Alison MacAulay (alisonc.macaulay@mail.utoronto.ca).
This interactive workshop will serve as a vibrant forum for intellectual and cultural exchange among scholars and film practitioners, as well as training in cutting-edge research methodologies for students. See exclusive clips and hear from acclaimed filmmakers from Kenya, Namibia, and Congo/France on the role of research in their work and their creative process. Filmmaker presentations will be followed by a roundtable discussion with University of Toronto scholars from across disciplines working in digital humanities, aesthetic practice, and creative history. Workshop participants will then engage in an open discussion on wider debates around the ethics, possibilities, and challenges of research creation and collaboration. Finally, student participants will have the opportunity to receive individualized, practical advice on interdisciplinary, collaborative, and creative practices.
Featured guests:
ALAIN KASSANDA
Born in Kinshasa, Alain Kassanda left the DRC for France at the age of 11. After studying communication, Kassanda became the programmer of an art house cinema for five years before moving to Ibadan, in southwestern Nigeria, from 2015 to 2019.
There he directed Trouble Sleep (2020), a medium-length film centered on the road, depicted from the perspectives of a taxi driver and a tax collector. The film received the Golden Dove for best film at the Dok Leipzig festival in 2020 and the special mention of the jury at the Visions du Réel festival. His debut feature film, Colette and Justin (2022), intertwines his family history and the history of the decolonization of the Congo. Colette and Justin was awarded the 2023 African Studies Association award for Best Film. His most recent film is Coconut Head Generation (2023).
PERIVI KATJAVIVI
Perivi John Katjavivi is a Namibian filmmaker whose work has garnered international acclaim for its innovative exploration of African history, identity, and storytelling. His feature films have premiered at major festivals such as the Berlinale, Rotterdam, and Busan. His most recent film, Under the Hanging Tree (2023), blends elements of film noir and mysticism and won two major awards at the 2024 Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA), including Best Editing and the Michael Anyiam Osigwe Award for Best Film by an African Living Abroad.
Katjavivi holds a BA in Cinema from Columbia College Hollywood and an MA in African Cinema from the University of Cape Town, where his research focused on how Namibian film can reshape post-colonial narratives. He is currently a PhD candidate in History at the University of the Western Cape.
Outside of directing and producing, Katjavivi is the founder of the Return to the Source Film Lab—a Pan-African workshop and residency program that merges film education with the investigation of sites tied to colonial history and trauma. Funded by the Mastercard Enablement Fund through the Berlinale, the Goethe Institute and the Namibia Film Commission, it blends oral history, archival research, and practical filmmaking.
ZIPPY KIMUNDU
Zippy Kimundu is an award-winning Kenyan Filmmaker who has been working in the global industry for nearly two decades. She holds a Masters in Fine Arts from New York University and has worked globally in over 20 countries. She co-directed a short Documentary, a fork, a spoon & a KNIGHT with renowned Director Mira Nair, and was the Assistant Editor on the Disney Film Queen of Katwe. Her award-winning feature documentary Our Land, Our Freedom (2023) had its world Premiere at IDFA/Sheffield, and her latest feature Widow Champion (2025) premiered at Hotdocs/Tribeca.
KImundu also serves as the Creative Lead at https://www.terracekilifi.com; a film educator at https://www.illtellyoumystory.com; and founder of www.afrofilmsinternational.com, a creative collective working to ignite socio-political consciousness and action, across continents.
Featured scholars:
Kass Banning: Cinema Studies Institute (UTSG)
Lawrence Switzky: Department of English & Drama (UTM)
Elizabeth Wijaya: Cinema Studies Institute (UTSG) and Department of Visual Studies (UTM)
This workshop is part of a larger film series, “What Remains: Reclaiming Memories, Materialities, and Embodied Histories in African Cinema,” running from January 9-16, 2026 and is co-presented by the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and the Cinema Studies Institute at the University of Toronto. Please see the series programme page!
Questions? Contact Alison MacAulay (alisonc.macaulay@mail.utoronto.ca).
Sponsored by:
