BAMAKO, Mali (Chatnewstv.com) — A new documentary by Malian filmmaker Ibrahima Sow examining the legacy of colonial exploitation and the demand for reparations will premiere Aug. 16 in Bamako, organizers said Friday.
The film, Reparations: The Colonial Debt, will be screened at a launch event in Mali’s capital before being broadcast on ORTM and Africable Television, according to Pan-African People’s Studios.
Weaving archival footage, expert testimony and contemporary analysis, the documentary highlights what Sow calls one of the continent’s most urgent conversations in 2025: the case for reparations from former colonial powers.
“We have a duty — not just a right, but a duty — to demand reparations,” said Dr. Fode Moussa Sidibé, a Malian researcher featured in the film.
The production includes perspectives from African scholars and public intellectuals such as Ivorian historian Gnaka Lagoke and Malian sociologist Aminata Dramane Traoré. Traoré pointed to the lingering consequences of European exploitation.
“One of the most frightening illustrations of colonialism is the fate of the Congo under Belgium,” she said, adding that the legacies of violence and extraction still shape African governance and economies.
Despite varied academic backgrounds, the film’s contributors share a unified message: reparations are essential for restoring historical justice and giving African nations equal footing in the global order. The film argues that reparations should be viewed not only as symbolic, but as tangible redress for centuries of extractive colonial policies.
The premiere comes amid a wider resurgence of debates on reparative justice across Africa, where governments and civil society groups have increasingly pressed Europe for recognition of past abuses and economic compensation.
