A former dockworker who rose to become a founding figure of African cinema and one of the greatest postwar filmmakers of any continent, Ousmane Sembène lived a life as dramatic as any of his characters’. Coming of age when all of Africa dreamed of independence from colonial rule, Sembène channeled the hopes and struggles of an entire continent into his novels and films. This documentary, co-helmed by his colleague and biographer, Samba Gadjigo, unveils the brilliance and complexities of an artist who fought to give Africans a voice and a way to be seen.