Filming the Prolonged Pain of Colonial Violence

German rule in Tanzania (then known as Tanganyika) lasted from the 1880s to 1918. It was established swiftly with the introduction of cash crops like sisal and cotton, infrastructure including roads, railways and ports built to transport goods, and mining of gold found in the Lake Victoria region. Tanzania was crucial to the German empire because of the economic benefits Tanzania provided from its natural resources. To extract these resources, German rule became violently repressive. They forcibly introduced the hut tax, a per-household taxation system that was payable through money, crops or labour. Not only did this fortify their cash-centred economy, it also led to forced labour of households who could not afford the tax. To enforce this system, the German colonists replaced native leaders with their agents to the great displeasure of the natives. Tanzania not only experienced great economic and labour exploitation resulting from these policies, it also experienced drastic shifts in its social fabric. For instance, the cash-centred colonial economy usurped their trade customs, and with men forced away from their homes to work, women had to take on more roles to keep communities intact. Their indigenous way of life, and therefore their quality of life was incredibly compromised by German rule.