You are invited to the Preview of Foreword to Guns for Banta - a solo exhibition by Mathieu Kleyebe Abonnenc, on Friday 25 February, 6-9pm. Image: Still from the shoot of Sarah Maldoror's film Guns for Banta (1970). Courtesy Suzanne Lipinska Foreword to Guns for Banta is the first UK solo exhibition by Paris-based artist Mathieu Kleyebe Abonnenc, following his two-month residency at Gasworks.   Abonnenc examines the power of images, but also their absence, in the construction and understanding of the revolutionary movements pushing for the decolonisation of Africa. Using the films and fragmented memories of Sarah Maldoror - a pioneering yet little known French filmmaker of Guadeloupean origin - Abonnenc juxtaposes archival images and texts to reflect upon the afterlife of the militant image.   The exhibition at Gasworks focuses on Maldoror's lost film Guns for Banta (1970), shot in Guinea-Bissau and subsequently confiscated by the Algerian army, who had initially financed it to be used as a propaganda tool. To this day the reels have not been returned and all that remains are some photographs and memories.   As a retrospective foreword to an absent film, Abonnenc's work tells the story of his search for Guns for Banta and explores the figures of the militant, the filmmaker and the photographer, examining their respective functions in the making of a revolution.   The exhibition continues until 17 April.  RELATED EVENTS:     WEDNESDAY 23 FEBRUARY, 8PM AN EVENING WITH SARAH MALDOROR  Ciné Lumière is screening Monagambéee (1969) and Sambizanga (1972) by Sarah Maldoror, a pioneering filmmaker whose films are closely linked to the liberation struggles in lusophone Africa during the 1960s and 1970s. Working with militants as actors in semi-fictional plots, the films capture the sociological landscape of the liberation struggles in Angola. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Sarah Maldoror led by Mathieu Klebeye Abonnenc. Read more   LOCATION: Institut Français Ciné Lumière, 17 Queensberry Place, London SW7 2DT BOOKING: Entry fee £7/5 concessions. Booking is essential as places are limited: visit www.institut-francais.org.uk/book or call 020 7073 1350. SPECIAL OFFER TO GASWORKS MAILING LIST SUBSCRIBERS! Call the box office on 020 7073 1350, quote "Gasworks" and buy up to 4 tickets for £5 each (£2 off the full price). Offer applies only to phone bookings and ends Sunday 20 February.     SATURDAY 26 FEBRUARY, 3-6PM THE RUSSIAN CONNECTION A round-table discussion about the cinematographic training of Sarah Maldoror and her African peers in Soviet Russia. As well as tracing stylistic connections, speakers will address ideas around training and learning - or skills exchange - between Africa and the Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s, and the impetus behind the Soviet Union's investment in African cinema. Speakers include: Kodwo Eshun, writer, theorist and filmmaker; Jeremy Hicks, senior lecturer at the University of London's School of Languages, Linguistics and Film; and Ros Gray, lecturer in Critical Studies at the Department of Art, Goldsmiths. This event has been co-curated by Basia Lewandowska Cummings. LOCATION: Gasworks, 155 Vauxhall Street, London SE11 5RH BOOKING: Free entry. To book a place, email booking@gasworks.org.uk   LAST FRIDAYS LAUNCH       This exhibition preview at Gasworks is part of the launch of South London Art Map Last Fridays - a late night opening of over 90 galleries in South London on the last Friday of every month.     Combine your visit to Gasworks with the neighbouring Beaconsfield and join us there for an afterparty:   6.30-8PM MARK DEAN: A BEGINNING OF THE END One of the last chances to see the current exhibition. The artist will lead an exhibition tour at 7.30pm. 8-11PM BANKSIDE LAST FRIDAYS AFTERPARTY Artist Mark Dean plays some of his favourite disks. All Last Fridays visitors welcome!   See this map for walking directions from Gasworks to Beaconsfield.   VISITOR INFO | CONTACT DETAILS  |  FACEBOOK  |  TWITTER