Journal of Film Preservation - FIAF

for images of others that they did not create. This is not their intellectual
property. This will assist filmmakers and documentarians from developing
countries to rise to the challenge and compete intellectually with their
counterparts across the world. This will assist repatriation.
Introspection by the developing world is very important. How wisely are
they using their natural resources in order to benefit the majority of their
citizens? How are they fast-tracking the creation of a large pool of well-todo
intelligentsia in their countries? What plans are in place for moving their
people rapidly through Maslow’s theory of hierarchy of needs, in order for
its peoples to reach the top need [creativity and self-actualization]? Only
then will repatriation be a compelling and necessary need that requires
strategic and focused implementation. Conditions in many countries in
the developing world still do not intellectually and economically favour
repatriation yet, as we still have very little infrastructure or the financial
wherewithal to sustain the accumulation and presence of this heritage.
For example, in South Africa today, there is a lot of indigenous and
traditional contemporary music authentic to indigenous spaces, and little
of it is being recorded. So far the trend has been that most of what is
recorded has been appropriated by private corporations, who inherently
copyright this heritage and exploit it for private commercial gain.
Rural women and men are known for their unique and rare indigenous
fashion designs, architecture, arts and crafts, and illustrative colour schemes
and design fusions. Several magazines and books on Africa have made
extensive recordings of a varied range of indigenous fashion, architectural
designs, and artefacts – indigenous works that have over time inspired
leading world fashion creators and innovators. While these professionals
may sometimes give due credit to where their inspirations are coming
from, they too extract this intellectual property, and brand and label it,
habitually infringing on others’ intellectual property without any regulation
or compulsion. Repatriation starts in the recognition of who we are and
what we have, and what we need to historicize by investing in written and
filmic recordings for posterity.
Nations of the world are all makers of history – some record it, while
others don’t. At the end of the day, for all of us to evolve beyond where
we are now, we need to progress as humanity, with better values and a
better understanding of who we all are. None of us know what the next
millennium holds for humanity, but knowing the secrets of the past from
every corner of the world will guide us to make better decisions about our
collective future. The end-game should be one in which repatriation is just
a word in a dictionary but requires no implementation, as by then hopefully
humanity should have overcome its difficulties and become a world with
low levels of inequality.
Repatriation is not only about the return of heritage – it is also about
the return of the mind that was colonized and made to assimilate. We
must bring the African mind back to its original birthplace, and make it
adequately equipped to manage the physical repatriation of its heritage.
The body is present in Africa, and so should the mind be.
13 Journal of Film Preservation / 85 / 2011