An intricate tapestry of images, voices, and sounds woven and attended to with great care, Trinh T. Minh-ha’s first film Reassemblage appears at a critical juncture in the evolution of what has been traditionally termed ‘ethnographic cinema’. Transposing segments of black screens, field recordings, voiceovers, and filmed observations of post-colonial Senegal—especially scenes of women’s work—in rhythmic sequences, Trinh employs repetition, non-synchronous sound, and forms of disruption to foreground and interrogate the very cinematic techniques that have sustained an anthropological gaze on non-Western cultures and the ways in which documentary films have represented and codified the Other. Her offscreen declaration at the beginning of the film—’I do not intend to speak about, just speak nearby’—has since become an important methodology for Trinh’s decades-long interrogation on cinematic constructs and on the critical positioning of the filmmaker/spectator.

The screening will be followed by a post-screening talk in English by Elmo Gonzaga, Associate Professor and Director, MA in Intercultural Studies, at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The talk will be moderated by M+ Curator of Moving Image, Chanel Kong.

Trinh T. Minh-ha (b. 1952, Vietnam) is a multiple award-winning filmmaker, critical theorist, and composer, and Distinguished Professor of the Graduate School at the University of California, Berkeley. Spanning across writing, moving image, musical composition, installation, and teaching, Trinh’s work deals with feminism, post-coloniality and cultural identity, especially with regards to questioning systems of knowledge and representation. Her work, which includes nine feature-length films and several multimedia installations, has been widely exhibited, including at the Musée du Quai Branly, the Guangzhou Triennial, the Whitney Biennial, and documenta.