AFRICAN CINEMA
A Primer
AFRICAN CINEMA
 Nollywood vs. “Parallel” African Cinema
 i.e., Commercial vs. Art/Parallel Cinema (borrowing the term “parallel” from Indian
cinema)
 Nollywood:
 Nigerian commercial film industry
 Mostly Anglophone, with some indigenous languages used
 By far the biggest African film industry; Second-largest film industry in the world,
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after India, in terms of number of feature released (~200 per month)
Shot on video (at first, tape...now, direct to drives)
Distributed on video—no theatrical release, direct to home on disc
Films are shot quickly and cheaply
Content emphasizes supposedly “authentic” Nigerian issues, including the
intersection of indigenous cultural heritage elements such as witchcraft (juju) or
voodoo, and religion (Christianity and/or Islam)
See the documentaries Welcome to Nollywood (2007) and Nollywood Babylon (2008)
AFRICAN CINEMA
 “Parallel” African Cinema
 Anglophone:
 Colonial Office of the British Film Institute created the Bantu Educational
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Cinema Experiment in present-day Tanzania in 1935, with a goal of
educating Africans (e.g., Post Office, Savings Bank); ended in 1937
British set up the Colonial Film Unit in 1939 with branches across
Anglophone Africa; the immediate goal was to encourage African
participation in WWII, according to Jean Rouch
Spurred by a report to UNESCO by John Grierson, the CFU established a
film school in Gold Coast (Ghana) in 1949
CFU involvement in Africa ended around 1955, as British African colonies
achieved independence
Nigeria’s film industry was an indirect offshoot of this (e.g., the CFU left
behind 16mm film equipment)
AFRICAN CINEMA
 “Parallel” African Cinema
 Francophone:
 The Laval Decree of 1934 limited African involvement in films made by the
French in Africa (to limit subversive content)
 In the 1950’s, documentarist Jean Rouche’s work in Niger and Ivory Coast
demystified film for Africans
 Filmmaking was subsequently fostered by the French, via the French Ministry
of Cooperation (the cinema division was headed by Jean-Rene Debrix, who
described himself as a student of Abel Gance); the Cooperation operated
either as front-end producer, or as post-production distributor (e.g.,
Sembene’s La Noire de. . . ) of African films
 The Cooperation is viewed as a “neo-colonialist tool” by some historians
 Through the 1970s, 80% of African films were Francophone
 The real setup to these systems of film influence by Europeans was the imperialistic
“Scramble of Africa” in 1884; at a meeting in Berlin, European nations met to carve
up the continent of Africa (they had a “duty” to civilize Africans):
“PARALLEL” AFRICAN CINEMA
 Three Francophone nations will be examined:
 Senegal
 National monetary support, but no national cinema production
facilities
 Mali
 In 1961, the government set up a Centre Malien de Cinema for
the “political education of the citizen and the worker”; Joris
Ivens was invited to make an educational film
 Burkina Faso
 Substantial government support...a national cinema...with private
film companies springing up in the late 1990s
SENEGAL
 Ousmane Sembene (1923-2007)
 “The Father of African Film”
 Key films:
 La Noire de. . . (Black Girl) (1966)
 Turned down for pre-funding by the French Cooperation because
of its pseudo-slavery theme
 Faat Kiné (2000)
 Looks at the place of women in post-colonial Senegal
 Moolaadé (2004)
 Focus on female genital mutilation
SENEGAL
 Djibril Diop Mambéty (1945-1998)
 Worked experimentally, with non-linear narratives
 Key films:
 Touki Bouki (1973)
 A cowherd with a motorcycle and a student
attempt to go to Paris; extremely French New
Wave-y
 Hyènes (1992)
 An adaptation of Swiss playwright Friedrich
Dürrenmatt’s The Visit
MALI
 Manthia Diawara (1953- )
 Scholar and filmmaker, professor at NYU
 BOOK: African Cinema: Politics and Culture (1992)
 FILM: Sembene: The Making of African Cinema (1994)
MALI
 Souleymane Cissé (1940- )
 Yeelen (1987)—Warning!! Animal harmed.
 A 13th-century tale based on a
Bambara legend, an heroic quest
BURKINA FASO
 Idrissa Ouedraogo (1954- )
 Tilai (The Law) (1990)
 Intense tale of family conflict
 Lumiere & Company (segment) (1995)
BURKINA FASO
 Gaston Kabore (1951- )
 Zan Boko (1988)—Full film only…see beginning,
and 6:00 in, part 3
 The story of a simple farmer who resists, and then
must deal with, encroaching urbanization
 Lumiere & Company (segment) (1995)
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