This event is hosted by UCL’s Sarah Parker Remond Centre, the Social Research Institute, the Migration Research Unit, and the Arts and Humanities Faculty.

This event will take place in-person. Please see here for information on Accessibility.

A film by Rob Lemkin, featuring Femi Nylander. Music by Tunde Jegede and Sunara Begum with panel discussion including Nigérien diaspora representatives, the filmmakers and, by zoom, contributors from Niger.

‘A people’s history of colonialism in the form of an epic journey.’

The London Premiere of the Hausa Dub (with English subtitles).

British Nigerian activist Femi Nylander brings attention to the forgotten victims of colonial atrocity in a new film, ‘African Apocalypse’, from award-winning director Rob Lemkin.

Armed with a copy of Joseph Conrad’s controversial classic Heart of Darkness (1899), Nylander goes in search of the legacy of colonial horror in West Africa and unearths its shocking reality. ‘African Apocalypse’ follows the trail of a 19th-century French colonial military commander who burned his way across the continent. Tens of thousands were massacred in the name of imperial domination. With communities devastated by a century-old atrocity now speaking out for the first time, Nylander begins to question his own sense of responsibility.

Raising questions about racism, colonial histories and ongoing legacies, ‘African Apocalypse’ speaks to the movements for decolonisation and Black Lives Matter. Read more about the film here.

Watch the trailer here in Hausa and in English.

Fresh from a successful release of the film in cinemas and on TV in West Africa, this screening will be the London premiere of the 2022 version in Hausa (with English subtitles) produced by the filmmakers in partnership with Arewa 24 Television in Kano, Nigeria.

Following the screening there will be a panel discussion with the filmmakers Rob Lemkin and Femi Nylander and Abdelkader Mossi, secretary of the Collectif des Nigériens de la Diaspora and from Niger, one of the film’s participants Amina Weira. One other panellist TBC.

Read reviews of the film here:

“Startling” **** – The Guardian

“Necessary & well-timed” ***** – The British BlackList

“Harrowing but hugely important” ***** – Daily Express

“Intimate and immersive” ***** – Reviews Hub

“A chilling yet stunning confrontation of Europe’s colonial amnesia” – David Lammy MP

Read about the UK premiere in Bristol https://migration.bristol.ac.uk/2022/11/01/african-apocalypse-the-imperial-violence-behind-todays-migration/