African cinema
Encyclopedia
The term African cinema refers to the film production in Africa
, following formal independence
. Some of the countries in North Africa
(such as the cinema of Egypt
, for example) developed a national film industry much earlier and are related to West Asian cinema. Often, African Cinema also includes directors from among the African diaspora
.
and The African Queen, and various adaptations of H. Rider Haggard
's 1885 novel titled King Solomon's Mines
. In the mid-1930s, the Bantu Educational Kinema Experiment
was carried out in order to educate the Bantu peoples.
In the French colonies Africans were, by law, not permitted to make films of their own. This ban was known as the "Laval Decree". In 1955, however, Paulin Soumanou Vieyra
- originally from Benin, but educated in Senegal - along with his colleagues from Le Group Africain du Cinema, shot a short film in Paris by the name of Afrique Sur Seine (1955). Vieyra was trained in filmmaking at the prestigious Institut des Hautes Etudes Cinematographique (IDHEC) in Paris, and in spite of the ban on filmmaking in Africa, was granted permission to make a film in France. Afrique Sur Seine explores the difficulties of being an African in France during the 1950s and is considered to be the first film directed by a black African.
Before independence, only a few anti-colonial films were produced. Examples include Les statues meurent aussi by Chris Marker
and Alain Resnais
about European robbery of African art (which was banned by the French for 10 years) and Afrique 50 by René Vauthier about anti-colonial riots in Côte d'Ivoire
and in Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso
).
Also doing film work in Africa during this time was the French Ethnographic filmmaker, Jean Rouch
. Rouch's work has been controversial amongst both French and African audiences. With films like Jaguar (1955), Les maitres fous
(1955), Moi, un noir
(1958), and La pyramide humaine (1959), Rouch made documentaries that were not explicitly anti-colonial, but which challenged many received notions about colonial Africa and gave a new voice to Africans through film. Although Rouch has been accused by Ousmane Sembene
- and others - as being someone who looks at Africans "as if they are insects," Rouch was an important figure in the early development of African film and was the first person to work with several Africans who would go on to have important careers in African cinema (Oumarou Ganda
, Safi Faye
, and Moustapha Alassane
, to name a few).
Because most of the films prior to independence were egregiously racist in nature, African filmmakers of the independence era - like Ousmane Sembene
and Oumarou Ganda
, amongst others - saw filmmaking as an important political tool for rectifying the erroneous image of Africans put forward by Western filmmakers and for reclaiming the image of Africa for Africans.
's La Noire de... also known as Black Girl. It showed the despair of an African woman who has to work as a maid in France. The writer Sembène had turned to cinema to reach a wider audience. He is still considered to be the 'father' of African Cinema. Sembène's native country Senegal
continued to be the most important place of African film production for more than a decade.
With the of the African film festival FESPACO in Burkina Faso
in 1969, African film created its own forum. FESPACO now takes place every two years in alternation with the film festival Carthago in (Tunisia
).
The Federation of African Filmmakers (FEPACI) was formed in 1969 in order to focus attention on the promotion of African film industries in terms of production, distribution and exhibition. From its inception, FEPACI was seen as a critical partner organization to the OAU, now the AU. FEPACI looks at the role of film in the politico-economic and cultural development of African states and the continent as a whole.
Med Hondo
's Soleil O
, shot in 1969, was immediately recognized. No less politically engaged than Sembène, he chose a more controversial filmic language to show what it means to be a stranger in France with the 'wrong' skin colour.
tastes of western audiences
Many films of the 1990s, e.g. Quartier Mozart by Jean-Pierre Bekolo (Cameroon 1992), are situated in the globalized African metropolis.
A first African Film Summit took place in South Africa in 2006. It was followed by FEPACI 9th Congress.
Nollywood, a colloquial term for Nigerian Cinema, is a growing and commercially viable industry.
in 1975.
The filmmakers start by recalling the neocolonial
condition of African societies. "The situation contemporary African societies live in is one in which they are dominated on several levels: politically, economically and culturally." African filmmakers stressed their solidarity with progressive filmmakers in other parts of the world. African cinema is often seen a part of Third Cinema
.
Some African filmmakers, for example Ousmane Sembène, try to give back African history to African people by remembering the resistance to European and Islamic domination.
The role of the African filmmaker is often compared to traditional Griot
s. Like them their task is to express and reflect communal experiences. Patterns of African oral literature often recur in African films. African film has also been influenced by traditions from other continents such as Italian neorealism
, Brazilian Cinema Novo
and the theatre of Bertolt Brecht
.
was the first African woman film director to gain international recognition.
In 1972, Sarah Maldoror
had shot her film Sambizanga about the 1961-1974 war
in Angola
. Surviving African women of this war are the subject of the Documentary
Les oubliées (The forgotten), made by Anne-Laure Folly twenty years later.
In 2008, Manouchka Kelly Labouba became the first woman to direct a fictional film in the history of Gabon
. Her short film, Le Divorce, addresses the clash between modern and traditional values
and its impact on a young Gabonese couple’s attempt to divorce.
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, following formal independence
Decolonization of Africa
The decolonization of Africa followed World War II as colonized peoples agitated for independence and colonial powers withdrew their administrators from Africa.-Background:...
. Some of the countries in North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
(such as the cinema of Egypt
Cinema of Egypt
The cinema of Egypt refers to the flourishing Egyptian Arabic-language film industry based in Cairo, the capital of Egypt. Since 1976, Cairo has held the annual Cairo International Film Festival, which has been accredited by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations. There is also...
, for example) developed a national film industry much earlier and are related to West Asian cinema. Often, African Cinema also includes directors from among the African diaspora
African diaspora
The African diaspora was the movement of Africans and their descendants to places throughout the world—predominantly to the Americas also to Europe, the Middle East and other places around the globe...
.
Film during the colonial era
During the colonial era, Africa was represented exclusively by Western filmmakers. The continent was portrayed as an exotic land without history or culture. Examples of this kind of cinema abound and include jungle epics such as TarzanTarzan
Tarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungles by the Mangani "great apes"; he later experiences civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer...
and The African Queen, and various adaptations of H. Rider Haggard
H. Rider Haggard
Sir Henry Rider Haggard, KBE was an English writer of adventure novels set in exotic locations, predominantly Africa, and a founder of the Lost World literary genre. He was also involved in agricultural reform around the British Empire...
's 1885 novel titled King Solomon's Mines
King Solomon's Mines
King Solomon's Mines is a popular novel by the Victorian adventure writer and fabulist Sir H. Rider Haggard. It tells of a search of an unexplored region of Africa by a group of adventurers led by Allan Quatermain for the missing brother of one of the party...
. In the mid-1930s, the Bantu Educational Kinema Experiment
Bantu Educational Kinema Experiment
The Bantu Educational Kinema Experiment was a project of the International Missionary Council in coordination with the Carnegie Corporation of New York and British colonial governments of Tanganyika, Kenya, Uganda, Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland in the mid-1930s...
was carried out in order to educate the Bantu peoples.
In the French colonies Africans were, by law, not permitted to make films of their own. This ban was known as the "Laval Decree". In 1955, however, Paulin Soumanou Vieyra
Paulin Soumanou Vieyra
Paulin Soumanou Vieyra was a Beninese/Senegalese film director and historian. As he lived in Senegal after age ten, he is more associated to that nation. In 1955 in Paris he shot the first Francophone African film, Afrique sur Seine...
- originally from Benin, but educated in Senegal - along with his colleagues from Le Group Africain du Cinema, shot a short film in Paris by the name of Afrique Sur Seine (1955). Vieyra was trained in filmmaking at the prestigious Institut des Hautes Etudes Cinematographique (IDHEC) in Paris, and in spite of the ban on filmmaking in Africa, was granted permission to make a film in France. Afrique Sur Seine explores the difficulties of being an African in France during the 1950s and is considered to be the first film directed by a black African.
Before independence, only a few anti-colonial films were produced. Examples include Les statues meurent aussi by Chris Marker
Chris Marker
Chris Marker is a French writer, photographer, documentary film director, multimedia artist and film essayist. His best known films are La jetée , A Grin Without a Cat , Sans Soleil and AK , an essay film on the Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa...
and Alain Resnais
Alain Resnais
Alain Resnais is a French film director whose career has extended over more than six decades. After training as a film editor in the mid-1940s, he went on to direct a number of short films which included Nuit et Brouillard , an influential documentary about the Nazi concentration camps.He began...
about European robbery of African art (which was banned by the French for 10 years) and Afrique 50 by René Vauthier about anti-colonial riots in Côte d'Ivoire
Côte d'Ivoire
The Republic of Côte d'Ivoire or Ivory Coast is a country in West Africa. It has an area of , and borders the countries Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana; its southern boundary is along the Gulf of Guinea. The country's population was 15,366,672 in 1998 and was estimated to be...
and in Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso – also known by its short-form name Burkina – is a landlocked country in west Africa. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d'Ivoire to the southwest.Its size is with an estimated...
).
Also doing film work in Africa during this time was the French Ethnographic filmmaker, Jean Rouch
Jean Rouch
Jean Rouch was a French filmmaker and anthropologist.He is considered to be one of the founders of the cinéma vérité in France, which shared the aesthetics of the direct cinema spearheaded by Richard Leacock, D.A. Pennebaker and Albert and David Maysles...
. Rouch's work has been controversial amongst both French and African audiences. With films like Jaguar (1955), Les maitres fous
Les Maîtres Fous
Les maîtres fous is a short film directed by Jean Rouch, a well-known French film director and ethnologist. It is a docufiction, his first ethnofiction, genre of which he is considered to be the creator.-Historical background:...
(1955), Moi, un noir
Moi, un noir
Moi, un noir is a 1958 French ethnofiction film directed by Jean Rouch. The film is set in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. It won the 1958 Louis Delluc Prize....
(1958), and La pyramide humaine (1959), Rouch made documentaries that were not explicitly anti-colonial, but which challenged many received notions about colonial Africa and gave a new voice to Africans through film. Although Rouch has been accused by Ousmane Sembene
Ousmane Sembène
Ousmane Sembène , often credited in the French style as Sembène Ousmane in articles and reference works, was a Senegalese film director, producer and writer...
- and others - as being someone who looks at Africans "as if they are insects," Rouch was an important figure in the early development of African film and was the first person to work with several Africans who would go on to have important careers in African cinema (Oumarou Ganda
Oumarou Ganda
Oumarou Ganda was a Nigerien director and actor who brought African cinema to international attention in the 1960s and 1970s.- Life :...
, Safi Faye
Safi Faye
Safi Faye is a Senegalese film director and ethnologist. She was the first Sub-Saharan African woman to direct a commercially distributed feature film. She has directed several documentary and fiction films focussing on rural life in Senegal.-Early life and education:Safi Faye was born in 1943 in...
, and Moustapha Alassane
Moustapha Alassane
-Biography:Born in 1942 in N’Dougou , Moustapha Alassane graduated in mechanics. However, in the Rouch IRSH in Niamey he learns the cinematographic technique and becomes one of its main researchers...
, to name a few).
Because most of the films prior to independence were egregiously racist in nature, African filmmakers of the independence era - like Ousmane Sembene
Ousmane Sembène
Ousmane Sembène , often credited in the French style as Sembène Ousmane in articles and reference works, was a Senegalese film director, producer and writer...
and Oumarou Ganda
Oumarou Ganda
Oumarou Ganda was a Nigerien director and actor who brought African cinema to international attention in the 1960s and 1970s.- Life :...
, amongst others - saw filmmaking as an important political tool for rectifying the erroneous image of Africans put forward by Western filmmakers and for reclaiming the image of Africa for Africans.
1960s and 1970s
The first African film to win international recognition was Ousmane SembèneOusmane Sembène
Ousmane Sembène , often credited in the French style as Sembène Ousmane in articles and reference works, was a Senegalese film director, producer and writer...
's La Noire de... also known as Black Girl. It showed the despair of an African woman who has to work as a maid in France. The writer Sembène had turned to cinema to reach a wider audience. He is still considered to be the 'father' of African Cinema. Sembène's native country Senegal
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
continued to be the most important place of African film production for more than a decade.
With the of the African film festival FESPACO in Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso – also known by its short-form name Burkina – is a landlocked country in west Africa. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d'Ivoire to the southwest.Its size is with an estimated...
in 1969, African film created its own forum. FESPACO now takes place every two years in alternation with the film festival Carthago in (Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
).
The Federation of African Filmmakers (FEPACI) was formed in 1969 in order to focus attention on the promotion of African film industries in terms of production, distribution and exhibition. From its inception, FEPACI was seen as a critical partner organization to the OAU, now the AU. FEPACI looks at the role of film in the politico-economic and cultural development of African states and the continent as a whole.
Med Hondo
Med Hondo
Med Hondo is a Mauritanian film director, producer, screenwriter, actor and voice actor. He emigrated to France in 1959 and began to work in film during the 1960s. He received critical acclaim for his 1967 directorial début Soleil O.-Biography:Hondo was born in 1936 in Ain Oul Beri Mathar in the...
's Soleil O
Soleil O
Soleil O is a 1967 French/Mauritanian drama film directed by Med Hondo.-Synopsis:An African immigrant to France struggles to find work, facing racism and discrimination.-Cast:*Yane Barry as White Girl*Bernard Fresson as Friend...
, shot in 1969, was immediately recognized. No less politically engaged than Sembène, he chose a more controversial filmic language to show what it means to be a stranger in France with the 'wrong' skin colour.
1980s and beyond
Souleymane Cissé's Yeelen (Mali 1987) and Cheick Oumar Sissoko's Guimba (Mali 1995) were well received in the west. Some critics criticized the filmmakers for adapting to the exoticExoticism
Exoticism is a trend in art and design, influenced by some ethnic groups or civilizations since the late 19th-century. In music exoticism is a genre in which the rhythms, melodies, or instrumentation are designed to evoke the atmosphere of far-off lands or ancient times Exoticism (from 'exotic')...
tastes of western audiences
Many films of the 1990s, e.g. Quartier Mozart by Jean-Pierre Bekolo (Cameroon 1992), are situated in the globalized African metropolis.
A first African Film Summit took place in South Africa in 2006. It was followed by FEPACI 9th Congress.
Nollywood, a colloquial term for Nigerian Cinema, is a growing and commercially viable industry.
Themes
African cinema focuses on social and political themes rather than any commercial interests, and is an exploration of the conflicts between the traditional past and modern times. The political approach of African film makers is clearly evident in the Charte du cinéaste africain (Charta of the African cinéaste) which the union of African film makers FEPACI adopted in AlgiersAlgiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...
in 1975.
The filmmakers start by recalling the neocolonial
Neocolonialism
Neocolonialism is the practice of using capitalism, globalization, and cultural forces to control a country in lieu of direct military or political control...
condition of African societies. "The situation contemporary African societies live in is one in which they are dominated on several levels: politically, economically and culturally." African filmmakers stressed their solidarity with progressive filmmakers in other parts of the world. African cinema is often seen a part of Third Cinema
Third Cinema
Third Cinema is a Latin American film movement that started in the 1960s-70s which decries neocolonialism, the capitalist system, and the Hollywood model of cinema as mere entertainment to make money...
.
Some African filmmakers, for example Ousmane Sembène, try to give back African history to African people by remembering the resistance to European and Islamic domination.
The role of the African filmmaker is often compared to traditional Griot
Griot
A griot or jeli is a West African storyteller. The griot delivers history as a poet, praise singer, and wandering musician. The griot is a repository of oral tradition. As such, they are sometimes also called bards...
s. Like them their task is to express and reflect communal experiences. Patterns of African oral literature often recur in African films. African film has also been influenced by traditions from other continents such as Italian neorealism
Italian neorealism
Italian neorealism is a style of film characterized by stories set amongst the poor and working class, filmed on location, frequently using nonprofessional actors...
, Brazilian Cinema Novo
Cinema Novo
Cinema Novo was practised by Brazilian filmmakers in the 1950s and 1960s. In Portugal, Novo Cinema flourished after the 1960s, where it lasted, inspired by Italian Neo-Realism and the French movement of the New wave, the direct cinema techniques, and by the ideals the Carnation Revolution up to...
and the theatre of Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
.
Women directors
Ethnologist and filmmaker Safi FayeSafi Faye
Safi Faye is a Senegalese film director and ethnologist. She was the first Sub-Saharan African woman to direct a commercially distributed feature film. She has directed several documentary and fiction films focussing on rural life in Senegal.-Early life and education:Safi Faye was born in 1943 in...
was the first African woman film director to gain international recognition.
In 1972, Sarah Maldoror
Sarah Maldoror
Sarah Maldoror, born Sarah Ducados in Gers, France, is a French film director.Maldoror choose her artist's name in remembrance of The Songs of Maldoror by Lautréamont. She attended a drama school in Paris. Together with her companion Mário Pinto de Andrade she received a scholarship and studied...
had shot her film Sambizanga about the 1961-1974 war
Portuguese Colonial War
The Portuguese Colonial War , also known in Portugal as the Overseas War or in the former colonies as the War of liberation , was fought between Portugal's military and the emerging nationalist movements in Portugal's African colonies between 1961 and 1974, when the Portuguese regime was...
in Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
. Surviving African women of this war are the subject of the Documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
Les oubliées (The forgotten), made by Anne-Laure Folly twenty years later.
In 2008, Manouchka Kelly Labouba became the first woman to direct a fictional film in the history of Gabon
Gabon
Gabon , officially the Gabonese Republic is a state in west central Africa sharing borders with Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, and with the Republic of the Congo curving around the east and south. The Gulf of Guinea, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean is to the west...
. Her short film, Le Divorce, addresses the clash between modern and traditional values
Traditional values
Traditional values refer to those beliefs, moral codes, and mores that are passed down from generation to generation within a culture, subculture or community.-Summary:Since the late 1970s in the U.S., the term "traditional values" has become synonymous...
and its impact on a young Gabonese couple’s attempt to divorce.
Directors by country
- Burkina Faso: Idrissa OuedraogoIdrissa OuedraogoIdrissa Ouedraogo is a film director from Burkina Faso. He is best known for his films Yaaba and Tilaï.-Biography:...
, Gaston KaboréGaston KaboréGaston Kaboré is a Burkinabé film director and an important figure in Burkina Faso's film industry. He has won awards for his films Wend Kuuni and Buud Yam.-Biography:Kaboré was born in 1951 in Bobo-Dioulasso in Upper Volta....
, Dani KouyatéDani KouyatéDani Kouyaté is a film director and griot from Burkina Faso, which BBC describes as "Africa's most important film-making country".-Biography:...
, Fanta Régina NacroFanta Régina NacroFanta Régina Nacro is a film director from Burkina Faso. She received her first degree in audiovisual science and techniques from INAFEC in 1986 and also earned a Master’s Degree in Film and Audiovisual Studies at the Sorbonne....
, Pierre Yameogo - Cameroon: Jean-Pierre BekoloJean-Pierre Bekolo-Education:* Studied physics at University of Yaounde* Institut national de l'audiovisuel INA in France, under Christian Metz.-Awards and Features:* 1993 - British Film Institute award , for Quartier Mozart....
, Jean-Pierre Dikongué PipaJean-Pierre Dikongué PipaJean-Pierre Dikongué Pipa is a Cameroonian film director and writer. He produced Cameroon's first full-length feature film, Muna-Moto, in 1975... - Chad: Issa Serge CoeloIssa Serge CoeloIssa Serge Coelo is a Chadian film director. Born in Biltine, Chad, he studied history in Paris and film at the Ecole Supérieure de Réalisation Audiovisuelle . He then worked as a cameraman at Métropole Télévision, France 3, TV5MONDE and CFI before creating the 1994 short film Un taxi pour Aouzou...
, Mahamat Saleh HarounMahamat Saleh HarounMahamat-Saleh Haroun is a film director from Chad who has lived in France since 1982. He made his first feature film, Bye Bye Africa, in 1999. His second feature, Abouna, won best cinematography award at FESPACO, while his third, Daratt, won the Grand Special Jury Prize at the 63rd Venice... - Côte d'Ivoire: Desiré EcaréDesiré EcaréDésiré Ecaré was born on April 15, 1939 in Treicheville, Ivory Coast. He directed the seminal film Faces of Women in 1985 which went on to win the FIPRESCI Prize at Cannes Film Festival.-References:* *...
- Democratic Republic of the Congo: Zeka LaplaineZeka LaplaineZeka Laplaine , sometimes credited as José Laplaine, is a director and actor from Ilebo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The child of a Portuguese father and Congolese mother, he moved to Europe when he was 18. His 1996 short film Le Clandestin was featured at the 2010 Amakula International...
- Egypt: Salah Abu SeifSalah Abu SeifSalah Abu Seif was one of the most famous Egyptian film directors. He is considered to be the godfather of the realistic cinema in Egypt...
, Youssef ChahineYoussef ChahineYoussef Chahine was an Egyptian film director active in the Egyptian film industry since 1950. He was credited with launching the career of actor Omar Sharif...
, Yousry NasrallahYousry NasrallahYousry Nasrallah is an Egyptian film director.Nasrallah was born to a Coptic Christian family in Cairo. He graduated in economics and political science at Cairo University. Following, he worked as a film critic and directing assistant in Beirut from 1978 to 1982...
, Ezzel Dine ZulficarEzzel Dine ZulficarEzzel Dine Zulficar was an Egyptian film director, screenwriter, actor, and producer.- Career :Zulficar was born in Cairo, Egypt. As a child, Zulficar was a prodigy. He received a scholarship and studied astronomy. He loved reading, which is what had helped him succeed. He graduated from the...
, Sherif ArafaSherif ArafaSherif Arafa is an Egyptian director, writer and producer. He was born on December 25, 1960 and graduated from the Higher Institute of Cinema in 1982...
, Khaled YoussefKhaled YoussefKhaled Youssef , is an Egyptian director and film writer. His films are noted for their use of improvisation and a realistic cinéma vérité style. Khaled Youssef, who has established a solid reputation as a successful filmmaker who does not shy away from controversial issues such as rape, political...
, Marwan HamedMarwan HamedMarwan Hamed is a young Egyptian film director who is the son of author Wahid Hamed and journalist Zeinab Sweidan. His debut was a short film entitled Li Li followed by a major feature film entitled The Yacoubian Building based on a novel by Alaa Al Aswany and starring Adel Imam.He has taken part...
, Mohamed KhanMohamed KhanMohamed Hamed Hassan Khan is an Egyptian-Pakistani film director, screenwriter and actor.-Biography:Born on October 26, 1942 to an Egyptian mother and a Pakistani father, He completed his high school in Egypt, then traveled to England where studied at the London School of Film Technique Mohamed...
, Shady Abdel Salam, Khairy BesharaKhairy BesharaKhairy Beshara is an Egyptian film director active in the Egyptian film industry since the 1970s. He is considered one of the Egyptian directors who re-defined Realism in Egyptian cinema in the 1980s. In a recent book published by Bibliotheca Alexandrina in 2007 about the most important 100 films...
, Samir SeifSamir SeifFor the martial artist, see Samir Seif .Samir Seif born to a Coptic Christian family in Cairo, Egypt, is a prominent Egyptian film director active in the Egyptian film industry also in TV.- Filmography :... - Ethiopia: Haile GerimaHaile GerimaHaile Gerima is an Ethiopian filmmaker, who resides in the United States. He is a leading member of the L.A. Rebellion film movement, also known as the Los Angeles School of Black Filmmakers. His films have received wide international acclaim. Gerima has also been an influential film professor at...
- Gabon: Imunga IvangaImunga IvangaImunga Ivanga: is a Gabonese filmmaker.He was born in 1967 in Libreville, Gabon. He studied at University of Libreville and has a masters in literature. Also, he speaks several languages like Mpongwe, French, English, Spanish and Italian. After a year studying film at the FEMIS in Paris, he...
- Ghana: Kwaw AnsahKwaw AnsahKwaw Ansah is an award-winning Ghanaian film-maker, whose work as writer, director or producer includes Love Brewed In An African Pot and Heritage Africa.His creative family includes:* Kofi Ansah - fashion designer...
, Leila DjansiLeila DjansiLeila Djansi is an American/Ghanaian filmmaker who started her film career in the Ghana film industry.-Personal Life:Leila Djansi was born Leila Afua Djansi on 17 July 1981. Her father was a pilot and her mother a Senior Nursing officer. She grew up in India and Ghana... - Guinea: Mohamed CamaraMohamed Camara (film director)Mohamed Camara is a Guinean film director and actor based in France. He studied at the Atelier Blanche Salant in Paris. He has explored controversial topics in his films such as incest , child suicide and homosexuality...
- Guinea-Bissau: Flora GomesFlora GomesFlora Gomes is a Bissau-Guinean film director. He was born in Cadique, Guinea-Bissau on 31 December, 1949 and after high school in Cuba, he decided to study film at the Cuban Film Institute in Havana....
- Kenya: Wanuri KahiuWanuri KahiuWanuri Kahiu is a Kenyan film director. She has received several awards and nominations for the films which she directed, including the awards for Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Picture at the African Movie Academy Awards in 2009.-Career:...
- Mali: Souleymane CisséSouleymane Cissé-Biography:Raised in a Muslim family, Souleymane Cissé was a passionate cinephile from childhood. He attended secondary school in Dakar, and returned to Mali in 1960 after national independence....
, Cheick Oumar SissokoCheick Oumar SissokoCheick Oumar Sissoko is a Malian film director and politician.-Biography:As a student in Paris, Cheick Oumar Sissoko obtained a DEA in African History and Sociology and a diploma in History and Cinema from the Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales...
, Abdoulaye AscofareAbdoulaye AscofaréAbdoulaye Ascofaré is a Malian poet and filmmaker.-Biography:Ascofaré was a radio host until 1978, at which point he became a teacher at the Institut National des Arts in Bamako...
, Adama DraboAdama DraboAdama Drabo was a Malian filmmaker and playwright.- Biography :Adama Drabo showed an interest in film since his childhood in the Malian capital of Bamako...
, Manthia DiawaraManthia DiawaraManthia Diawara is a Malian writer, filmmaker, cultural theorist, scholar, and art historian. Diawara holds the distinguished title of University Professor at New York University, where he is Director of the Institute of Afro-American Affairs.-Biography:... - Mauritania: Med HondoMed HondoMed Hondo is a Mauritanian film director, producer, screenwriter, actor and voice actor. He emigrated to France in 1959 and began to work in film during the 1960s. He received critical acclaim for his 1967 directorial début Soleil O.-Biography:Hondo was born in 1936 in Ain Oul Beri Mathar in the...
, Abderrahmane SissakoAbderrahmane SissakoAbderrahmane Sissako is an award-winning film director and producer who has often worked in Mali and France. Sissako is, along with Ousmane Sembène, Souleymane Cissé, Idrissa Ouedraogo and Djibril Diop Mambety, one of the few filmmakers from Sub-Saharan Africa to reach a measure of international... - Niger: Oumarou GandaOumarou GandaOumarou Ganda was a Nigerien director and actor who brought African cinema to international attention in the 1960s and 1970s.- Life :...
- Nigeria: Ola BalogunOla BalogunOla Balogun is a Nigerian filmmaker and scriptwriter. He also ventured into the Nigerian music industry in 2001. Balogun, who has been making films for over three decades, is part of the first generation of Nigerian filmmakers.-Biography:...
, Izu OjukwuIzu OjukwuIzu Ojukwu is a Nigerian film director and actor. In 2007 he won the African Movie Academy Award for Best Director for the film Sitanda, which received 9 nominations and won 5 awards at the 3rd African Movie Academy Awards, including Best Picture & Best Nigerian Film.-Selected Filmography :*White... - Rwanda: Eric KaberaEric KaberaEric Kabera is a Rwandan journalist, film-maker and founder and president of Rwanda Cinema Center.-Early life and career:Kabera, an ethnic Tutsi, was born in Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo...
- Senegal: Ousmane SembèneOusmane SembèneOusmane Sembène , often credited in the French style as Sembène Ousmane in articles and reference works, was a Senegalese film director, producer and writer...
, Djibril Diop MambétyDjibril Diop MambétyDjibril Diop Mambéty was a Senegalese film director, actor, orator, composer and poet. Though he made only a small number of films, they received international acclaim for their original and experimental cinematic technique and non-linear, unconventional narrative style. Born to a Muslim family...
, Safi FayeSafi FayeSafi Faye is a Senegalese film director and ethnologist. She was the first Sub-Saharan African woman to direct a commercially distributed feature film. She has directed several documentary and fiction films focussing on rural life in Senegal.-Early life and education:Safi Faye was born in 1943 in...
, Ben Diogaye BeyeBen Diogaye BeyeBen Diogaye Bèye is a Senegalese filmwriter, filmmaker, film producer and journalist. He was the co-director of nearly a dozen Senegalese films, including Touki Bouki with Djibril Diop Mambety, Baks with Momar Thiam, Sarah et Marjama with Axel Lohman, and the co-screenwriter of the latter...
, Mansour Sora WadeMansour Sora WadeMansour Sora Wade is a Senegalese film director of Lebou people ancestry. He studied at Paris 8 University and went on to direct the audiovisual archives for the Senegalese Ministry of Culture, a job he held from 1977 to 1985. He began making short films in 1983... - Sudan: Gadalla GubaraGadalla GubaraGadalla Gubara is a Sudanese filmmaker who has been making films since 1946. He is considered the first African filmmaker and has been a pioneer of African cinema...
- South Africa: Lionel NgakaneLionel NgakaneLionel Ngakane was a South African filmmaker.Ngakane was educated at Fort Hare University College and Wits University, and worked on Drum and Zonk magazines from 1948 to 1950. In 1950 he began his career in film as an assistant director and actor in the film version of Cry, the Beloved Country,...
, Gavin HoodGavin HoodGavin Hood is a South African filmmaker, screenwriter, producer and actor, best known for writing and directing the Academy Award-winning Foreign Language Film Tsotsi...
, Zola MasekoZola MasekoZola Maseko is a Swazi film director and screenwriter. He is noted for his documentary films related to xenophobia.-Biography:Maseko was born in exile in 1967. Educated in Swaziland and Tanzania, he joined Umkhonto We Sizwe, the armed sector of the African National Congress, in 1987... - Zimbabwe: M.K. Asante, Jr.
Films about African cinema
- Caméra d’Afrique, Director: Férid BoughedirFérid BoughedirFérid Boughedir is a Tunisian film director and screenwriter. He has directed five films since 1983. His film Caméra d'Afrique was screened at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival.-Filmography:* Caméra d'Afrique * Caméra arabe...
, Tunisia/France 1983 - Les Fespakistes, Directors: François Kotlarski, Eric Münch, Burkina Faso/France 2001
- This is NollywoodThis Is NollywoodThis Is Nollywood is a Nigerian documentary film by Franco Sacchi and Robert Caputo, detailing the Nigerian film industry, much along the same lines as the acclaimed 2007 documentary, Welcome to Nollywood, by Jamie Meltzer...
See also
- SomaliwoodSomaliwoodSomaliwood is an informal name for the Somali-language film industry that has developed in the diaspora community of Columbus, Ohio, centered around the Olol Films production company...
- African literatureAfrican literatureAfrican literature refers to literature of and from Africa. As George Joseph notes on the first page of his chapter on African literature in Understanding Contemporary Africa, while the European perception of literature generally refers to written letters, the African concept includes oral...
- List of African films
- Political cinemaPolitical cinemaPolitical cinema in the narrow sense of the term is a cinema which portrays current or historical events or social conditions in a partisan way in order to inform or to agitate the spectator...
- Third CinemaThird CinemaThird Cinema is a Latin American film movement that started in the 1960s-70s which decries neocolonialism, the capitalist system, and the Hollywood model of cinema as mere entertainment to make money...
- Women's cinemaWomen's cinemaThe term women's cinema usually refers to films made by women. Above all, it designates the work of women film directors and, to a lesser degree, the work of other women behind the camera such as cinematographers and screenwriters...
- World cinemaWorld cinemaWorld cinema is a term used primarily in English language speaking countries to refer to the films and film industries of non-English speaking countries. It is therefore often used interchangeably with the term foreign film...
- African Movie Academy Awards