Barbican film festival examines pan-Africanism through classic and contemporary works

The Barbican has opened a three-month film programme exploring pan-Africanism's history and contradictions.

• The programme, part of the Project a Black Planet exhibition, opened with William Klein's documentary of the 1969 Pan-African Cultural Festival.
• Curator Matthew Barrington said the selection aims to show how pan-Africanism "manifests in the way of people and how they interact."
• Abiba Coulibaly, curator of the Ambiguous Encounters strand, said the festival aims "to sit with all of the discomfort and contradictions within" pan-Africanism.
• Kodwo Eshun said pan-Africanism "wasn't a dream, it was a threat," citing the assassination of Patrice Lumumba.