‘You Hide Me’ still packs hefty punch after 53 years

In 1970 when Ghanaian film director /producer Nii Kwate Owoo made his ‘You Hide Me’ documentary, little did he know that the 16-minute film would over half a century later, still be a vital asset in the crusade for the return of artworks pillaged from Africa during the colonial era.

After carving up Africa and sharing territories to themselves in the mid-19th century, nations like France, Portugal, Britain, Germany and Spain destroyed invaluable knowledge systems in thriving kingdoms such as  Benin, Ashanti, Cameroon and Dahomey. A massive extradition of artworks from those kingdoms to European centres then followed.

Seen as controversial and ahead of its time then, ‘You Hide Me’ concentrates on the stealing and stashing away in wooden boxes and plastic bags, of ancient and rare African art in the basement of the British Museum.

The film was liked by many progressive folks for reinforcing the already growing aversion towards Western art establishments and the role they played in the looting and hoarding of precious works of art from Africa and elsewhere.  

On the 50th anniversary of ‘You Hide Me’ in 2020, the June Givanni  Pan African Cinema Archive (JGPACA) in association with the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), Africa Centre in London, Africa Foundation for Development (AFFORD) and other partners, organised a series of webinars to commemorate the occasion.

The four webinars, among other things, touched on the need for more attention to be paid to the curating and teaching of African art and the value of Africa’s historical cultural knowledge for a better understanding of the issue of restitution. It also stressed  the necessity for  Africa-oriented  organisations to be more vocal in defending the future of African heritage.

The campaign for the return of African artistic treasures to the places they belonged gained some traction in recent years when  President Emmanuel Macron of France in 2021 announced steps he had taken toward honouring his 2017 promise to return some works from the Abomey Treasures collection which had been kept in Paris’ Quai Branly  Museum since 1897.

British and German museum authorities have also been reported to have agreed to return stolen artefacts to their rightful owners.

According to Nii Kwate, he owes a great deal of gratitude to June Givanni for spearheading the London webinar series to mark the ‘You Hide Me’   50th anniversary. The initiative sparked fresh international interest in the film and he wasn’t surprised when he got a call came from  German scholar, Prof Benedicte Savoy of the Technical University of Berlin.

She is an authority on the pillage of art treasures by colonizers. Her book, ‘Africa’s Struggle for its Art - History of a Postcolonial Defeat,’ contains a chapter dedicated to ‘You Hide Me.’

She invited Nii Kwate to show his film and lead a discussion on its content at the Archival Assembly #2  Festival held from June  8 to June 15 2023 in Berlin. The festival embraces screenings, a symposium, an exhibition and project presentations that highlight film archives as essential for the future of cinema.

“I had a useful interaction with the audience after my work was screened. Film is an extremely powerful medium of communication. It doesn’t matter when it was made. Once the content resonates with people, that product would always be cherished,”  says Nii Kwate.

As a final-year student at the London Film School in 1970, Nii Kwate was obliged to submit a short film as part of the requirements for graduation. Always an art enthusiast, he shot and presented something on three contemporary African artists in London then: Ibrahim Salahi from Sudan, Emmanuel Jegede from  Nigerian and  Dumile Feni from South Africa. 

He, however, felt that production didn’t accurately say what he wanted to express about African art. With the British Museum just around the corner from the London Film School, he took a walk there to find out what new inspiration could grab him. He was overwhelmed by the extent of African art he found there and immediately knew that was the subject to tackle.

Granted permission to film for a  day only from 9.00 am to 5.00 pm, he went in with a camera crew and managed to come away with a 16-minute final product that has been a compelling voice for Africa since 1970.

‘You Hide Me’ opens with an energetic call to arms in Ga. A minimalist score of African wind and percussion instruments are sprinkled over the visuals of art objects hidden in the underground vaults of the British Museum.

A section of the narration states: “How can the governments of independent African states explain to the generation now growing up that they cannot see their cultural heritage in their own countries…..We the people of Africa and of African descent demand  that our work of art which  embody our history, our civilization, our religion  and culture should be immediately and unconditionally returned to us!”

There are now requests from many places around the world to show the film which won the Best Short Documentary Film trophy at the Paris International Short Film Festival in 2020.

Ni Kwate’s immediate desire, however, is to have the film translated into African languages like Twi, Ga, Ewe, Dagbani, Hausa, Swahili, Zulu, Yoruba, Xhosa, Shona and Amharic for more non-English speaking Africans to catch the message in it.