Bantu Educational Kinema Experiment
Colonial-era educational film project for African audiences.
The Bantu Educational Kinema Experiment (BEKE) was a project of the International Missionary Council, coordinated with the Carnegie Corporation of New York and British colonial governments in Tanganyika, Kenya, Uganda, Northern Rhodesia, and Nyasaland during the mid-1930s. It produced educational films for black African audiences, using mobile cinemas to convey lessons on hygiene, cash crop cultivation, and cooperative marketing, as well as prestige films supporting British colonial rule. The project is notable for its early use of cinema as a tool for colonial education and for the survival of only three of its approximately 35 films.
- field
- Educational film production
- known_for
- Producing silent educational films for African audiences in the mid-1930s
- years_active
- 1935–1937
- key_leaders
- J. Merle Davis, George Chitty Latham, Major Leslie Allen Notcutt
- surviving_films
- 3 (held at British Film Institute Archives)
Lore & Background
The Bantu Educational Kinema Experiment was launched in the mid-1930s under the International Missionary Council, with funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and support from British colonial governments in East and Central Africa. The project was led by J. Merle Davis, director of the International Missionary Council's Department of Social and Industrial Research; George Chitty Latham, former head of Northern Rhodesia's Education Department; and Major Leslie Allen Notcutt, a former plantation manager in Kenya. Between 1935 and 1937, the team produced about 35 silent films on 16mm, which were shown via mobile cinemas to black ("bantu") populations.
Reader's Guide
The Bantu Educational Kinema Experiment represents an early, systematic attempt to use film for mass education in colonial Africa, though its productions were low-quality silent films with naive plots. The films typically featured a "wise guy" overcoming a "stupid guy," reinforcing stereotypical representations of Africa and Africans, with all production elements except some black actors being British. The project's significance lies in its role as a precursor to later educational cinema in Africa and its documentation of colonial attitudes toward African audiences. Only three of its films survive—"Veterinary Training of African Natives" (1936), "Tropical Hookworm" (1936), and "African Peasant Farms - the Kingolwira Experiment" (1936)—all held at the British Film Institute Archives. The experiment ended when the Carnegie grant expired in 1937, leaving a limited but historically important record of early colonial filmmaking.
Did You Know?
- The project produced about 35 films between 1935 and 1937.
- Only three BEKE films survive, all held at the British Film Institute Archives.
- The films were silent and used naive plots with a 'wise guy' and a 'stupid guy'.
- The project was led by J. Merle Davis, George Chitty Latham, and Major Leslie Allen Notcutt.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was the Bantu Educational Kinema Experiment?
BEKE was a mid-1930s colonial film project that used travelling cinemas to show silent educational and propaganda films to black African audiences across British East and Central Africa. It was organised by the International Missionary Council in partnership with the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the colonial administrations of Tanganyika, Kenya, Uganda, Northern Rhodesia, and Nyasaland.
Who were the key figures behind the Bantu Educational Kinema Experiment?
The project was led by J. Merle Davis, George Chitty Latham, and Major Leslie Allen Notcutt, who oversaw production, distribution, and the mobile cinema operations between 1935 and 1937.
What subjects did the Bantu Educational Kinema Experiment films cover?
The silent films taught practical lessons such as personal hygiene, cash-crop farming techniques, and cooperative marketing to rural audiences. A separate set of 'prestige' reels was also produced to showcase and legitimise British colonial authority in the region.
How long did the Bantu Educational Kinema Experiment operate and where?
BEKE ran from 1935 to 1937, touring mobile cinema units through the British protectorates and colonies of Tanganyika, Kenya, Uganda, Northern Rhodesia, and Nyasaland. Its roughly two-year window made it one of the earliest sustained attempts to use film as a mass-education tool in sub-Saharan Africa.
How many Bantu Educational Kinema Experiment films still exist today?
Only three films from the project have survived, and they are currently held in the archives of the British Film Institute. Their small number makes them rare primary sources for studying early colonial cinema and the intersection of missionary, corporate, and imperial interests in the 1930s.
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