Cinema of Niger
Encyclopedia
The cinema in Niger grew from ethnographic documentaries in the colonial period to become one of the most active national film cultures in Francophone Africa. Filmmakers such as Oumarou Ganda
, Moustapha Alassane
, Mahamane Bakabé, Inoussa Ousseini and Moustapha Diop have had their work featured around the world. The Niamey African Film Meeting (rencontres du cinéma africain de Niamey
RECAN) is one of the premier film events of the continent. Unlike neighboring Nigeria
, with its thriving Hausa
- and English
-language film industry (see Nollywood), most Nigerien films are made in French
and Francophone countries have been their major market, while action and light entertainment films from Nigeria or dubbed western films, fill most Nigerien theaters.
, a French ethnographic filmmaker, is generally considered the father of Nigerien film. Despite arriving as a colonialist in 1941, Rouch remained in Niger after independence, and mentored a generation of Nigerien filmmakers and actors, including Damouré Zika
and Oumarou Ganda
.
By 1950, Rouch had made the first films set in Niger with "au pays des mages noirs" (1947), in 1948 " l'initiation à la danse des possédés" and "Les magiciens de Wanzarbé" in 1949.
Still, many of the ethnographic films produced in the colonial era by Jean Rouch and others were rejected by African film makers because in their view they distorted African realities.
During the 1950s, Rouch began to produce longer, narrative films. In 1954 he filmed Damouré Zika in "Jaguar", as a young Songhai man traveling for work to the Gold Coast
. Filmed as a silent ethnographic piece, Zika helped re-edit the film into a feature length movie which stood somewhere between documentary and fiction, and provided dialog and commentary for a 1969 release. In 1957 Rouch directed in Cote d'Ivoire "Moi un noir" with the young Nigerian filmmaker Oumarou Ganda, who had recently returned from French military service in Indochina
. Ganda went on to become the first great Nigerien film director and actor. By the early 1970s, Rouch, with cast, crew, and cowriting from his Nigerien collaborators, was producing full length dramatic films in Niger, such as Petit à petit ("Little by Little" : 1971) and Cocorico Monsieur Poulet ("Cocka-doodle-doo Mr. Chicken": 1974).
shot to fame with his animated short films
, most notably Aouré, F.V.V.A, Toula ou le genie des eaux, Samba Le Grand, Kokoa (la lutte) and Le Retour de l'Aventurier (1966). Also in 1966 his mort de Gandji won the "prix de dessin" at the first Festival mondial des Arts nègres in Dakar
. In 1960 Oumarou Ganda's Zarma language
Cabascabo (about his service in Indochina) became the first African selection at the Cannes Film Festival
, and went on to win the Grand Jury Prize at the Moscow Film Festival the same year. Ganda was one of the dominating figures of early African cinema, demonstrated by his awards at the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou
(FESPACO), a festival he and other Nigeriens helped to found, and which has become the premier festival on the continent. Ganda's Le Wazzou polygame
won the first prize (Étalon de Yennenga) at the 3rd FESPACO (1972), while he won the "Congratulations of the Jury" at the 4th (1973), and his Saïtane won a "Special mention" at the 5th (1976). FESPACO now presents an "Oumarou Ganda Prize", given for the best first film.
And Ganda was not alone. In 1979 Gatta Abdourahamne won the «caméra d'or» at FESPACO for the film Gossi. The same year, he won the Screenwriters award for la case at the UNESCO festival in Nairobi
Kenya
. Other Nigerien directors gaining international recognition included Djingarey Maïga, Mamane Bakabé, Inoussa Ousseini and Moustapha Diop.
In 1994, Nigerien Producer-Director Ousmane IIbo Mahamane founded The Niamey African Film Meeting (rencontres du cinéma africain de Niamey
RECAN) as a biennial festival without prizes and a center for film making and film studies. In 2006, RECAN, presented some 70 films in Niamey. It's 2005 features included "Tuwo yayi magana", the first film by the Tarbiyya- Niamey film group. Based on a novel by Abdou Ouma, it is presented in Hausa.
Other contemporary Nigerien film figures include the actress Zalika Souley who won the "insignes du mérite culturel" at the 1990 Carthage Film Festival
and the director Rahmatou Keita.
Oumarou Ganda
Oumarou Ganda was a Nigerien director and actor who brought African cinema to international attention in the 1960s and 1970s.- Life :...
, 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...
, Mahamane Bakabé, Inoussa Ousseini and Moustapha Diop have had their work featured around the world. The Niamey African Film Meeting (rencontres du cinéma africain de Niamey
Niamey
-Population:While Niamey's population has grown steadily since independence, the droughts of the early 1970s and 1980s, along with the economic crisis of the early 1980s, have propelled an exodus of rural inhabitants to Niger's largest city...
RECAN) is one of the premier film events of the continent. Unlike neighboring Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
, with its thriving Hausa
Hausa language
Hausa is the Chadic language with the largest number of speakers, spoken as a first language by about 25 million people, and as a second language by about 18 million more, an approximate total of 43 million people...
- and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
-language film industry (see Nollywood), most Nigerien films are made in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and Francophone countries have been their major market, while action and light entertainment films from Nigeria or dubbed western films, fill most Nigerien theaters.
Colonial beginnings
Nigerien cinema first appeared in the colonial period. Jean RouchJean 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...
, a French ethnographic filmmaker, is generally considered the father of Nigerien film. Despite arriving as a colonialist in 1941, Rouch remained in Niger after independence, and mentored a generation of Nigerien filmmakers and actors, including Damouré Zika
Damouré Zika
Damouré Zika was a Nigerien traditional healer, broadcaster, and film actor. Coming from a long line of traditional healers in the Sorko ethnic group of western Niger, Zika appeared in many of the films of French director Jean Rouch, becoming one of Niger's first actors...
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 :...
.
By 1950, Rouch had made the first films set in Niger with "au pays des mages noirs" (1947), in 1948 " l'initiation à la danse des possédés" and "Les magiciens de Wanzarbé" in 1949.
Still, many of the ethnographic films produced in the colonial era by Jean Rouch and others were rejected by African film makers because in their view they distorted African realities.
During the 1950s, Rouch began to produce longer, narrative films. In 1954 he filmed Damouré Zika in "Jaguar", as a young Songhai man traveling for work to the Gold Coast
Gold Coast (British colony)
The Gold Coast was a British colony on the Gulf of Guinea in west Africa that became the independent nation of Ghana in 1957.-Overview:The first Europeans to arrive at the coast were the Portuguese in 1471. They encountered a variety of African kingdoms, some of which controlled substantial...
. Filmed as a silent ethnographic piece, Zika helped re-edit the film into a feature length movie which stood somewhere between documentary and fiction, and provided dialog and commentary for a 1969 release. In 1957 Rouch directed in Cote d'Ivoire "Moi un noir" with the young Nigerian filmmaker Oumarou Ganda, who had recently returned from French military service in Indochina
Indochina
The Indochinese peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. It lies roughly southwest of China, and east of India. The name has its origins in the French, Indochine, as a combination of the names of "China" and "India", and was adopted when French colonizers in Vietnam began expanding their territory...
. Ganda went on to become the first great Nigerien film director and actor. By the early 1970s, Rouch, with cast, crew, and cowriting from his Nigerien collaborators, was producing full length dramatic films in Niger, such as Petit à petit ("Little by Little" : 1971) and Cocorico Monsieur Poulet ("Cocka-doodle-doo Mr. Chicken": 1974).
1960s and 1970s: a golden age of Nigerien film
In the 1960s, Moustapha AlassaneMoustapha 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...
shot to fame with his animated short films
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
, most notably Aouré, F.V.V.A, Toula ou le genie des eaux, Samba Le Grand, Kokoa (la lutte) and Le Retour de l'Aventurier (1966). Also in 1966 his mort de Gandji won the "prix de dessin" at the first Festival mondial des Arts nègres in Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...
. In 1960 Oumarou Ganda's Zarma language
Zarma language
Zarma is a member of the Songhay languages...
Cabascabo (about his service in Indochina) became the first African selection at the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
, and went on to win the Grand Jury Prize at the Moscow Film Festival the same year. Ganda was one of the dominating figures of early African cinema, demonstrated by his awards at the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou
Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou
The Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou is the largest African film festival, held biennially in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The festival is the biggest regular cultural event on the African continent and it mostly focuses on the African film and African filmmakers...
(FESPACO), a festival he and other Nigeriens helped to found, and which has become the premier festival on the continent. Ganda's Le Wazzou polygame
Le Wazzou polygame
Le Wazzou polygame is a 1971 Nigerien/French film about polygamy directed by and starring Oumarou Ganda. It was produced by Argos Films in France...
won the first prize (Étalon de Yennenga) at the 3rd FESPACO (1972), while he won the "Congratulations of the Jury" at the 4th (1973), and his Saïtane won a "Special mention" at the 5th (1976). FESPACO now presents an "Oumarou Ganda Prize", given for the best first film.
And Ganda was not alone. In 1979 Gatta Abdourahamne won the «caméra d'or» at FESPACO for the film Gossi. The same year, he won the Screenwriters award for la case at the UNESCO festival in Nairobi
Nairobi
Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...
Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
. Other Nigerien directors gaining international recognition included Djingarey Maïga, Mamane Bakabé, Inoussa Ousseini and Moustapha Diop.
Decline and growth
Since the 1980s, Nigerien cinema has faded, in part due to weakening state sector financing, and in part due to the growth of lighter action and romance films, especially the Hausa language film industry of neighboring Nigeria. Niger cinema had tended toward French style art films, and in one of the world's poorest nations, public funding could no longer be justified.In 1994, Nigerien Producer-Director Ousmane IIbo Mahamane founded The Niamey African Film Meeting (rencontres du cinéma africain de Niamey
Niamey
-Population:While Niamey's population has grown steadily since independence, the droughts of the early 1970s and 1980s, along with the economic crisis of the early 1980s, have propelled an exodus of rural inhabitants to Niger's largest city...
RECAN) as a biennial festival without prizes and a center for film making and film studies. In 2006, RECAN, presented some 70 films in Niamey. It's 2005 features included "Tuwo yayi magana", the first film by the Tarbiyya- Niamey film group. Based on a novel by Abdou Ouma, it is presented in Hausa.
Other contemporary Nigerien film figures include the actress Zalika Souley who won the "insignes du mérite culturel" at the 1990 Carthage Film Festival
Carthage Film Festival
The Carthage Film Festival is a biannual October film festival hosted by the government of Tunisia. It alternates with the Damascus International Film Festival....
and the director Rahmatou Keita.
External links
- Nigerdiaspora.com: Nigerien Cinema.
- Niger film at the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
- IMDB: Jean Rouch
- IMDB: Oumarou Ganda
- The Centre Culturel Oumarou Ganda, Niamey.
- BBC.co.uk: Fespaco's first winner in 1972: Le Wazzou Polygame from Niger.
- Cambridge African film festival 2004: Early African Cinema.
- Paris CinéMômes. Moustapha Alassane, pionnier du cinéma africain.
- Documentary Filmmaker Jean Rouch. Moustapha Alassane, Une légende vivante du cinéma nigérien. Mamane Sani Abandé. Clap Noir, 2007. Rétrospective du cinéma au Niger: Hommage aux pionniers. Jean-Baptiste Dossou-Yovo. Clap Noir, 18 February 2004. Vers la résurrection du cinéma nigérien. Moctar Mamane Sani. Clap Noir, 2003. Al'lèèssi, une actrice africaine. François Bergeron. Clap Noir, 2003.
- Al’leessi...An African Actress. A film by Rahmatou Keita. Niger, 2004, 69 minutes. Women Make Movies .com.
- Al’leessi…An African Actress. Reviewed by Oksana Dykyj. Educational Media Reviews Online, 2 March 2006. "Fils à papa", l'avènement d'un feuilleton made in Niger. M.S. Abandé Moctar. 17 September 2004. Clap Noir, 2004. Cinéma nigérien, les prémices d'un nouveau départ se dessinent. Candide Etienne. Clap Noir. 14 February 2004. Djingareye Maïga : L’artiste n’est pas un politicien ! Achille Kouawo, Clap Noir, 2005. Jean Rouch immortalisé à Niamey . Mamane Sani Abandé Moctar, Clap Noir, 2006. Hommage au grand sorcier: Baptême du Centre Culturel Franco Nigérien Jean Rouch. Mamane Sani Abandé Moctar, Clap Noir, 2006.