Ousmane Sembène: Pioneer of African Cinema

10/7/06 to 10/26/06

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The Camp at Thiaroye
- Thursday, October 26 19:30
At the close of WWII, Senegalese troops are held in a Dakar transit camp that is little better than the concentration camps some of them have just braved. A "powerful indictment of colonialism . . . shows WWII's effects on shaping the future of Africa."-Variety
Guelwaar
- Saturday, October 21 18:30
When the body of a murdered political activist goes missing from the morgue, his family's attempts to retrieve it nearly escalate into a holy war. "A work of wry sophistication."-N.Y. Times
Faat-Kine
- Saturday, October 21 20:45
The first in Sembène's series on "everyday heroes" (Moolaadé is the second) centers on the quick-witted proprietress of a Dakar gas station. "A rich comedy of manners that gives a feeling of hope about Africa's future."-Film Comment
Emitaï
- Friday, October 20 18:30
Named for the God of Thunder, a story about the awakening of national consciousness, in the clash between French colonists and the Diola tribe in the closing days of WWII. "Told with great sensitivity and restraint."-S.F. Chronicle
Moolaadé
- Friday, October 20 20:35
Universally acclaimed, Sembène's recent film portrays a mother's courage in protecting the next generation of women from the terrible tradition of female genital mutilation. "A masterpiece of political filmmaking."-N.Y. Times
Xala
- Saturday, October 14 20:15
An aging, affluent businessman about to marry his third wife is struck with the curse of xala (impotence) in "one of the most sophisticated works of the African cinema-at once both comic satire and a deadly accurate polemic against the black bourgeoisie of Dakar."-Albert Johnson
Ceddo
- Friday, October 13 20:15
In the guise of a political thriller set in the 18th century, Ceddo takes on taboo subjects-Islamic influence in Senegal, African support for the slave trade, the status of women-becoming a reflection on all forms of colonialism in Africa. "Like a contemporary Euripides, Sembène has created a form of public, primal art."-Village Voice
Black Girl
- Saturday, October 7 6:30 PM
Her postcolonial hopes dashed, a young Senegalese woman is led to a dramatic act of resistance in Black Girl, considered Africa's first dramatic feature. With Borom Sarret, a poignant, politically charged essay on a cart driver in the poorer sections of Dakar.
Mandabi
- Saturday, October 7 20:15
A comic fable about a middle-aged man whose life changes when he receives a money order from Paris. "Sembène's approach is spare, laconic, slightly ironic, and never patronizing."-N.Y. Times

Ousmane Sembène: Pioneer of African Cinema

10/7/06 to 10/26/06

"Sembène is an African Molière."-Jack Kroll, Newsweek

Often referred to as the “pioneer” or “dean” of African cinema, Senegalese director Ousmane Sembène (b. 1923) gained international recognition in 1966, when he was awarded the Jean Vigo Prize at Cannes for Black Girl. His films have influenced several generations of African filmmakers and allowed viewers in many parts of the world to gain greater insight into Senegalese culture. Known as a talented novelist before he turned his attention to filmmaking at age forty, Sembène was motivated to make films in order to reach a wider audience in African countries, where high illiteracy rates prevented his books from receiving broad circulation.

Sembène's cinema is about Senegal coming into its own as a nation; it addresses the growing pains associated with political independence. A number of his films deal with French colonial domination and its legacy (...

"Sembène is an African Molière."-Jack Kroll, Newsweek

Often referred to as the “pioneer” or “dean” of African cinema, Senegalese director Ousmane Sembène (b. 1923) gained international recognition in 1966, when he was awarded the Jean Vigo Prize at Cannes for Black Girl. His films have influenced several generations of African filmmakers and allowed viewers in many parts of the world to gain greater insight into Senegalese culture. Known as a talented novelist before he turned his attention to filmmaking at age forty, Sembène was motivated to make films in order to reach a wider audience in African countries, where high illiteracy rates prevented his books from receiving broad circulation.

Sembène's cinema is about Senegal coming into its own as a nation; it addresses the growing pains associated with political independence. A number of his films deal with French colonial domination and its legacy (Black Girl, Emitaï, The Camp at Thiaroye) or the historical influence of Islam and Christianity on the region (Ceddo, Guelwaar). Others offer social commentaries on contemporary Senegalese life and explore tensions between African traditions and values inherited from the West (Mandabi, Xala, Faat-Kine). Over the years, certain films have been censored or banned temporarily by the Senegalese government (Xala, Ceddo) for being too critical of the government or of Islam, the country's primary religious group. Shaped by the school of Soviet social realism (he studied at the Gorki Studios), his cinema remains deeply rooted in social concerns that transcend style and genre.

Susan Oxtoby
Senior Film Curator

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We are grateful to the Center for African Studies at UC Berkeley and the Museum of the African Diaspora for their support in the presentation of this series.

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