I just discovered the trailer of a documentary I have been wanting to see for a long time*. You can watch it here. Fang: An Epic Journey, a film by Susan Vogel, recounts a Fang figure’s journey through a century of peril and adventure, and uses the film styles of each historical period to tell its story – a whole century of Western attitudes towards African culture packed into 8 minutes. A fantastic idea if you ask me. Much more information can be found in the illustrated dvd booklet, free to download here – which also features the notes of an interesting roundtable discussion on the subject.
* The DVD is still for sale here, but priced slightly above my budget.
ps the featured “Fang” figure is currently in the collection of the Yale University Art Gallery (info).