Anti-Colonial Public Service? Swedish Television and the Funding of Sambizanga

Abstract: Drawing on new empirical research, this essay introduces the fact that Sambizanga (Sarah Maldoror, 1972) was cofinanced by Swedish public television (Sveriges Radio TV2), something that is not officially credited and not previously documented in research. The author reflects on the implications this kind of "shadow funding" could have for current scholarly debates on anti-colonial filmmaking and European "solidarity films" in the 1960s and 70s—and whether such funding should be seen as proof of a deeper commitment to radical politics or rather a symptom of colonial economic structures relating to film production and distribution between Europe and Africa. The discussion is made with reference to Maldoror's own analysis of the means of film production and distribution, in comments made during a screening tour she did in Sweden after finishing Sambizanga —a tour taken together with Ousmane Sembène and co-organized by the Swedish association FilmCentrum and The Pan-African Federation of Filmmakers (FEPACI).