Films by Nassirou Saliou

Germany, France, Togo 2023, 96 min
by Jürgen Ellinghaus

Shortly before the First World War, the German 'Africa explorer' and film director Hans Schomburgk embarked on an unprecedented film expedition to West Africa to shoot adventure and documentary films in the exotic setting in the north of the then German colony of Togo. To this day, his films remain virtually unknown in Africa. Guided by the report of the actress Meg Gehrts, we travel more than a century later with a mobile cinema to original locations of Schomburgk's film adventures. Together with Togolese viewers, we question the film images regarding their historical background and the effects of colonialism. What do they reveal, what do they conceal about Togoland, which at the time was praised as the 'model colony' of the German Empire? And how will we have to deal with colonial film footage in the future?Original languages: Ife, French, Tem, Mina, Bassar, Kabiyé, Anufo, Dagbani, sign language (ASL), Konkomba. Available with German, English, French narration and Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Arabic subtitles.

Germany, Togo, France 2021, 56 min
by Jürgen Ellinghaus

Every year the War Cemetery Memorial of Wahala / Chra in Togo (West Africa) hosts the 11th November Remembrance Day Ceremony in memory of the First World War and of the African colonial soldiers who died here in August 1914. The first German surrender in WWI was signed in Togo, on the soil of the Reich's cherished “model colony”, shortly after the Battle of Chra. It marked the end of German “Togoland”. But Wahala's history and its name point to another painful past. Wahala / Chra: a place where the voice of the ancients resonates with present day pictures...

Germany, France 2017, 13 min
by Jürgen Ellinghaus

From 1884 to 1914, "Togoland", a small belt of land between the British Gold Coast Colony and French-dominated Dahomey was part of the German overseas empire. "Togoland" - 100 years later: fragments of a colonial legacy marked by wars and violence...