Future Tense: Conversations at Manchester Museum
Future Tense: Conversations at Manchester Museum approaches the museum as a lively still life in a continuation of Nii-Kwate Owoo’s You Hide Me (1970) and Chris Marker’s Les Statues Meurent Aussi (1953). Using Manchester Museum as a local case study, the film traces the lingering presence of colonial violence at the heart of many museum collections across the United Kingdom. The current debate around the restitution and repatriation of looted objects comes into focus through the experiences of two individuals; Dr. Njabulo Chipangura, the museum’s Curator of Living Cultures; and Councillor Erinma Bell MBE, a community peace activist and Deputy Lieutenant for Greater Manchester.
Chipangura and Bell share their approaches to collaborative community work and their visions for decolonising the future of Manchester Museum’s Africa collection, which remains out of sight in the building’s basement stores. The film features a creative intervention by Manchester-born artist and poet Rochá Dawkins that ties together the museum’s past, present, and future.
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Ero SevanDirectorBLKNWS: Terms & Conditions
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Ero SevanProducerBLKNWS: Terms & Condirtions
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Rochá DawkinsWriter
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Njabulo ChipanguraParticipants
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Erinma BellParticipants
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Rochá DawkinsParticipants
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Ero SevanEditor
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Ero SevanCinematography
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Project Type:Documentary, Short, Student
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Genres:Documentary, Essay Film
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Runtime:22 minutes
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Completion Date:October 29, 2023
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Country of Origin:United Kingdom
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Country of Filming:United Kingdom
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Language:English
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Shooting Format:Digital
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Aspect Ratio:16:9
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:Yes
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Student Project:Yes - University of Manchester
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St.Mortiz Art Film Festival (SMAFF)Saint Moritz
Switzerland
September 14, 2024
Swiss Premiere
Official Selection -
RAM Film Festival (Roverto Archiologia Memoria)Roverto
Italy
Italian Premiere
Nuovi Sguardi Award (New Looks Award) -
Society for Visual Anthropology Film & Media Festival (SVAFMF)Tampa, Florida
United States
US debut
Official Selction -
Museum of Modern Art in PolandWarsaw
Poland
November 10, 2024
Polish Premiere -
World Cultures Film Festival: Madrid Audiovisual Anthropology Exhibition (MAAM) XMadrid
Spain
November 21, 2024
Spain Premiere
Student Award -
NIAMOS Radical Arts CentreHulme
United Kingdom
October 28, 2023 -
Black History Month: A Portrait of Kano Durbar at Manchester MuseumManchester
United Kingdom
November 15, 2023
UK debut -
Africa Day at Manchester MuseumManchester
United Kingdom
May 25, 2024 -
Watersprite Film FestivalCambridge
United Kingdom
March 7, 2025
2025 Social Impact Award Shortlist -
Berlin Kiez Film FestivalBerlin
Germany
German Premiere
Best Student Film
Ero Sevan (they/them) is an American artist with a studio background in drawing and painting. After receiving a B.F.A. with honours from the Roski School of Art and Design, they spent 10 years working in galleries, museums, and artist studios across Los Angeles to support projects from the Black and Indigenous Diaspora. They are best known as a senior contributing member of BLKNWS, an ongoing project by the American filmmaker Kahlil Joseph, and as a creative director for the American poet, artist, and scholar Robin Coste Lewis. Sevan received a Master of Arts with distinction in Visual Anthropology at The University of Manchester in 2023.