Flânoirie: inscribing mobility through walking in Black German film
Lecture & Film “Black Atlantic Cinema”
Karina Griffith (Berlin)
A young university student searches for a room to let. An American GI searches for love between visiting record stores and gigging with his band.
Olingo and They Call It Love, respectively, are both black and white student films featuring wandering Black male protagonists in Germany. In her lecture, Karina Griffith introduces the termflânoire films, which she uses to describe works spearheaded by Black authors of German cinemas that refuse the stagnation of affects such as consternation (Betroffenheit) in exchange for active vibes. Flânoire filmsare characterized by their representations of unfettered Black mobility in Europe and a focus on respect rather than belonging.
Dr. Karina Griffith teaches in the Faculty of Architecture, Media and Design as Professor of Intersectional Visual and Media Theory at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK). She holds a PhD in Cinema Studies from the University of Toronto and a Masters in Feature Film from Goldsmiths College London. She has been part of the curatorial team of the Berlinale Film Festival section Forum Expanded sinc 2021, and she is one of 12 fellows selected for the 2025 VILA SUL residency program in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil.
Films: They Call It Love, King Ampaw, FRG 1972, Olingo, Emile Itolo, GDR 1966, 11 min.
