African Philosophies Inspire a New Kind of Film Festival in Manchester

A film festival called See My World is coming to Manchester, England, on 21 November. It will be held at the Contact theatre on Oxford Road and will run from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. The festival celebrates independent filmmakers from the African diaspora — people of African heritage living across northern England. It draws inspiration from African philosophies that look at how lessons from the past can shape the future.

See My World is not just a one-day event. It is part of a year-round programme that promotes pan-African arts, culture, and community events. The people behind it want to build on the legacy of the 1945 Pan-African Congress, which was held in Manchester. That historic meeting brought together leaders of independence movements from across Africa and the African diaspora, all sharing a vision of freedom and self-determination.

Tunde Adekoya is the CEO and artistic director of See My World. He said the festival takes ideas from a wide range of pan-African thinkers. Two writers who inspired the event are Kenyan authors John Mbiti and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o. Both men spent their lives arguing that African ways of thinking were just as valuable as any other, and that communities must reclaim their own history and culture.

John Mbiti was a theologian, meaning he studied religion, and he looked for common ground between African spiritual beliefs and Christianity. He also wrote about a concept called 'Sasa na Zamani,' which is the idea that the past shapes everything happening now and in the future. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o had a different point of view — he was a Marxist who believed that colonial powers used language as a weapon. He even stopped writing in English and switched to Gikuyu, a Bantu language spoken mainly in Kenya, to prove that African languages deserved respect.

Adekoya explained how these ideas connect to the festival. 'John Mbiti explores the philosophy and spiritual understandings of time through the concept of Sasa na Zamani — in which the past informs everything that happens moving forward,' he said. For the organisers, looking back at history is not about staying in the past — it is a tool for moving forward.

The festival will screen films submitted by outside filmmakers as well as documentaries made by See My World itself. Films can be up to 30 minutes long and cover any genre, and filmmakers are not charged any fees to have their work shown. This is already different from many traditional film festivals, which can be expensive for independent creators to enter.

Two of See My World's own documentaries will be featured at the event. The first, Homage, is described as a 'cinematic love letter to dance' and uses portraits of living artists alongside old archival footage from Manchester. It tells a story about joy, loss, migration, and resistance. The second film, Poetic Justice, explores how pan-African thinking and Manchester's poetry scene have spoken to each other across many decades.

Adekoya also explained why See My World is designed to look different from a typical film festival. 'The idea is that we would go against the norm of how film festivals are, because when we think about decolonisation, we think about how structures have been created to alienate and exclude communities,' he said. The day will include exhibitions, performances, discussions, Q&A sessions with directors, and workshops. The goal is to make film and storytelling feel open and welcoming to everyone.

The organisers believe that ideas from thinkers like Mbiti have helped them see their own place in the world more clearly. 'As works from thinkers like John Mbiti have come into our sphere, they have really emboldened us to think differently about our place in the world and what we do,' Adekoya said. See My World hopes that everyone who attends — not just filmmakers — leaves the festival feeling the same way.