Manchester Festival Draws on African Philosophy for Film Lineup

What is See My World and when does it take place?

See My World is a day-long festival dedicated to independent creators from the African diaspora in the north of England, scheduled for Nov. 21 at the Contact theatre in Manchester, according to The Guardian. The event is part of a year-round program that showcases pan-African arts, culture and events, the Guardian reports.

CEO and artistic director Tunde Adekoya described the day's offerings in terms that center original production over imported programming. "It's a day dedicated to pan-African and global majority films from the north of England with exclusive premieres of documentaries we've been working on, which weave together expressions of liberation," Adekoya told the Guardian.

Which African philosophers shaped the festival's approach?

Adekoya said the festival draws on the works of two Kenyan writers: John Mbiti, an Anglican theologian who died in 2019, and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, author of the 1986 book "Decolonising the Mind," who died last year, the Guardian reports. Both writers rejected the colonial premise that African thought was inferior, stressed the importance of community, and treated the recovery of African ways of knowing as central to self-understanding, according to the Guardian's account of their work.

The two thinkers diverged sharply on method. Mbiti looked for common ground between African religions and Christianity. Ngũgĩ, a Marxist, argued that colonialism was a project of cultural and economic conquest and that European powers treated language as their sharpest instrument of control, the Guardian reports. Ngũgĩ abandoned English for Gikuyu, a Bantu language spoken mainly in Kenya, and criticized the role missionary Christianity played in colonial rule, according to the Guardian.

How does the festival connect to Manchester's Pan-African history?

Organizers frame the event as a continuation of a local legacy rather than a one-off program. See My World's lineup reflects what the Guardian describes as a determination among Manchester creatives and activists to build on the 1945 Pan-African Congress held in the city, which connected figures from postwar independence movements around a shared vision of liberation. The festival follows last year's commemorations marking the congress's 80th anniversary, the Guardian reports.

That timing matters to how the festival is being positioned. Rather than treating pan-African thought as historical reference material, organizers describe the festival as an attempt to apply philosophical frameworks developed decades ago to current film, poetry and dance work being produced in the north of England now.

What will audiences actually see at the Contact theatre?

The Guardian reports the day will include film screenings, poetry and dance, with exclusive premieres of documentaries produced through See My World's own pipeline. One image released alongside the Guardian's report shows Daniel Oyegade on the shoot for "Homage," identified as a See My World production, photographed by Omar Balaa. The Guardian's reporting does not list a full program or ticketing details beyond the date and venue.

Why are organizers emphasizing philosophy rather than just film?

Adekoya's framing, as relayed by the Guardian, treats the philosophical sourcing as the organizing principle of the festival rather than a marketing gloss. By naming Mbiti and Ngũgĩ specifically, and by noting their disagreement over whether religious syncretism or language politics should anchor African self-understanding, the festival signals that it intends to present a range of pan-African thought rather than a single ideological line. The Guardian's account notes the festival sits inside a broader push by Manchester-based creatives and activists to keep the 1945 congress's legacy active in current cultural programming, rather than confined to anniversary events.

The Guardian identifies its report as part of an ongoing series, Cotton Capital, which covers Manchester's historical links to transatlantic slavery and its present-day reckonings. The See My World festival report was written by Chris Osuh, the paper's community affairs correspondent, and published Nov. 8.

No additional dates for See My World's year-round programming beyond the Nov. 21 festival are specified in the available reporting.