Image Restitution, Work-in-Progress Screening, University of Namibia, Ongwediva 9.10.2025

A work-in-progress version of IMAGE RESTITUTION was presented in northern Namibia at the University of Namibia, Ongwediva Campus. IMAGE RESTITUTION was shot mainly at the UNAM Main Campus in Windhoek. Prior to the screening, there was a formal presentation by leading figures in the University. The following discussion touched on the context in which Namibia – the Forgotten Colony was made and the precise political conditions in Germany in the 1970s which allowed (and even motivated) a film like this to get made in the first place. Audience members wondered whether the making of IMAGE RESTITUTION had received any opposition from either the German or Namibian governments.

Audience members also considered the change from the two German titles (Wer fürchtet sich vorm schwarzen Mann and Wenn Sie mich finden, werde ich nicht weinen) to the English one and what might have motivated such a profound alteration, suggesting a difference in emotion being invoked and a difference in how the film might be perceived as a result. Additionally, audience members were impressed by how well the university students in the film expressed themselves in English, highlighting Namibia's regional linguistic differences.