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West Indies: The Fugitive Slaves of Liberty

Screenings Thurs., June 11, 7 p.m.
person solluting - Med Hondo from West Indies: Fugitive Slaves of Liberty
Med Hondo, West Indies: Fugitive Slaves of Liberty (film still), 1979, courtesy of Janus Films/Med Hondo
When
Thurs., June 11, 2026, 7–10 p.m.
Where
Art Theater
Tickets
Tickets available April 2026

A film by Med Hondo

West Indies: The Fugitive Slaves of Liberty (Mauritania, Algeria) unfolds almost entirely on a single set shaped like a ship, which stands in for a slave vessel, plantation, and later a modern industrial complex. The film follows the history of Caribbean people from their violent capture in Africa to their forced labour under French colonial rule. Enslaved characters toil, resist, and survive while overseers and colonial administrators enforce discipline. As time shifts, new generations appear: factory workers, migrants, and bureaucrats who discover that independence has not freed them—colonial power has simply changed form. Throughout, musical numbers, satirical speeches, and choreographed scenes reveal the continuity between slavery, economic exploitation, and cultural domination. Workers organise, protest, and challenge the system, while elites preach order and assimilation. The film ends in upheaval, leaving liberation unresolved but showing the enduring spirit of resistance among those trapped within the machinery of empire.

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Carnegie Museum of Art Film Series

The 2026 Carnegie Museum of Art Film Series gathers films that harness the power of visual poetry to honor and celebrate the human spirit under pressure. Across histories marked by colonialism and imperialism, and within the quiet or collective gestures of defiance amid political turmoil, these works illuminate stories of resistance and endurance. The narratives on screen, as well as the stories behind the making of these films, affirm community, interconnectedness, and resistance. Resisting political determinism. Resisting cynicism and moral compromise. Resisting intellectual sloth and civic inaction. Resisting fear. Each film interweaves striking imagery with profound social insight, revealing how individuals and communities navigate oppression, upheaval, and transformation. Through their lyrical language, these films not only document struggle, but also celebrate the resilience, creativity, and hope that continue to surface even in the most challenging circumstances.

For the 2026 Film Series, Kigali-based filmmaker and artist Kivu Ruhorahoza programs 7 monthly screenings in tandem with the 59th Carnegie International, taking as his prompt the exhibition’s approach to expansive ways of being in practice with art, and its support of artists across geographies whose works actively configure social life and collective experiences. Identifying “resistance, community, and interconnectedness” as through lines, Ruhorahoza presents a selection of films that offer pathways through the complexities of histories and contemporary circumstances.