In November 2022, the New York City Municipal Archives hosted two visitors from Mali as part of a United States State Department grant meant to aid the development of a Malian national film archive at the Centre National de la Cinématographie du Mali (CNCM). Written by the non-profit group XFR Collective, this grant funded Malian filmmaker Alassane Poudjougou and Professor Bouna Cherif Fofana of the CNCM’s trip to learn about archival standards in film and tape preservation by touring facilities in the City of New York, including Columbia University, the Museum of Modern Art and New York University. At the Municipal Archives, they cleaned, repaired and digitized some films they brought with them that featured post-colonial life in Mali in the 1960s and ‘70s. With thousands of films like these discovered in the 1990s by Professor Fofana, the Municipal Archives recognizes that sharing the lessons and processes that we have learned could help them preserve their historic record.

For generations, the Empire of Mali was the thriving, preeminent power in Western Africa and its most famous ruler was Mansa Musa in the 14th century, possibly the wealthiest man to ever live. But in 1672, weakened by internal divisions, the Malian Empire succumbed to invasion by the neighboring Bemana Empire, splitting Mali into smaller kingdoms. By the end of the 19th century, France had established a colonial government, forcibly relocating thousands in the hopes of turning the area into a cotton growing powerhouse to rival India.

The end of French colonial rule in 1960 brought freedom to the inhabitants of the new Republic of Mali, as well as new connections with the Soviet Union and the adoption of socialist policies under President Modibo Keïta. Keïta was overthrown in a military coup in 1968, when Lt. Moussa Traoré took over as head of a military dictatorship until calls for democracy in the 1990s grew strong enough to force reforms. The first peaceful transition took place in Mali in 2002 when Traoré was voted back into power after years of absence. Today, Mali is still wracked by the impact of colonialism and its legacy of division, with a civil war currently playing out between the north and south, nearly derailing this grant.

In the 1990s, Professor Bouna Cherif Fofana of the CNCM discovered over 2,000 films from the turbulent period of the 1960s and ‘70s, documenting the early years of post-colonial life in the Republic of Mali. However, the CNCM did not have the resources needed to preserve these films. Hearing of this situation, NYC-based artist Janet Goldner, members of the non-profit group XFR Collective (in which the author is a member) and Malian film maker Alassane Poudjougou worked together with Professor Fofana and the CNCM to apply for a U.S. State Department grant that would help them get started. Delayed by ongoing turmoil in Mali, Fofana and Poudjougou were finally able to visit the New York City Municipal Archives in November, 2022 to tour the facilities and receive essential training on moving image preservation.

This visit was only the first leg in a long journey to establish a national film archive of Mali. In the future, Poudjougou and Fofana hope to raise funds to create a climate-controlled storage facility and a digitization lab like the one at the NYC Municipal Archives center in Industry City. However, Mali is not a wealthy nation, with 80% of the country living on less than $5.50 per day and many working in gold mines owned by international conglomerates. An upcoming documentary from Alassane Poudjougou investigates the terrible conditions Malians work in while mining gold and the litany of broken promises that foreign corporate entities have made to Mali. A film archive of Mali would not only preserve the thousands of films Professor Fofana discovered, but also new productions of Malian filmmakers like Poudjougou that expose powerful entities continuing to abuse the people of Mali.

Since the end of French colonial rule, thousands of people from Mali have moved to New York City, home to the largest population of Malians living in the United States. Many came during the 1960s and ‘70s, escaping turmoil that some of Professor Fofana’s films may yet document. Even more came after the end of the Cold War in the 1990s when the films were first discovered. Over 20 years later, the Municipal Archives hopes that by fostering its relationship with the CNCM in Mali, we might help shed light on how the Republic of Mali came into being and how thousands of Malians also became New Yorkers.