Daniel Biltereyst (CIMS)

Benoît Henriet (VUB)

Funded by

Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO)

Presentation

Four-year research project: 01/01/2025 - 31/12/2028

This research project will analyze the political, socio-cultural, and industrial dimensions of colonial film censorship in the Belgian Congo (1917–1960). The existing body of literature tends to overlook an analysis of the censored content itself, prompting this project to focus on films deemed “problematic” and subsequently censored by the commission. Alongside archival documents and newsreels, a structural analysis of these sources will demonstrate that: a) censorship was not merely a tool for exerting power but also an articulation of colonial anxieties, and b) censorship practices and ideologies were significantly influenced by contemporary geopolitical shifts, such as the rise of nationalism, growing pressures for decolonization, and Cold War dynamics.