For the uninitiated, Samba Gadjigo and Jason Silverman’s Sembene! offers a valuable entry into the canon of African cinema and its founding father: the late, great Senegalese pioneer Ousmane Sembene. Forgoing the liveliness of Alex Gibney’s Finding Fela!, Sembene! finds its own rhythm: part-retrospective, part-academic study in the spirit of the director’s work.
The film opens with a critical quote from its subject: “If Africans don’t tell their own stories, than Africa will soon disappear.” Focusing on the public intellectual that Sembene was, the film eventually loses a kind of flavor it could have had, relying not upon the urban images of Dakar (as seen in his film Faat Kine and Borom Sarret), but the images he was known for in his portrait of more rural spaces in his films Guelwaar and his final picture Moolaade.
The picture is co-directed by a person from the western...
The film opens with a critical quote from its subject: “If Africans don’t tell their own stories, than Africa will soon disappear.” Focusing on the public intellectual that Sembene was, the film eventually loses a kind of flavor it could have had, relying not upon the urban images of Dakar (as seen in his film Faat Kine and Borom Sarret), but the images he was known for in his portrait of more rural spaces in his films Guelwaar and his final picture Moolaade.
The picture is co-directed by a person from the western...
- 11/10/2015
- by John Fink
- The Film Stage
A reminder for our New York readers... You'll notice several titles that have been discussed here on S&A, as well as names of talent, including Ousmane Sembène, who's being celebrated at the festival this year, with 2 of his films screening, as well as a documentary on him. Perfect timing, since I've revived our Filmmaker Series, starting with the films of Ousmane Sembène! Opening Night launches with the rarely-screened Guelwaar from Sembène. This year's festival also includes the U.S. Premiere of Dolce Vita Africana, about legendary Malian photographer Malick Sidibe, as well as the buzzed-about films Death for Sale, Burn it up Djassa and Nairobi Half Life from the new wave of...
- 4/2/2013
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
A reminder for our New York readers... This one is right at home for me, so obviously, as I do every year, we'll be covering it! You'll notice several titles that have been discussed here on S&A, as well as names of talent, including Ousmane Sembène, who's being celebrated at the festival this year, with 2 of his films screening, as well as a documentary on him. Perfect timing, since I've revived our Filmmaker Series, starting with the films of Ousmane Sembène! Opening Night launches with the rarely-screened Guelwaar from Sembène. This year's festival also includes the U.S. Premiere of Dolce Vita Africana, about legendary Malian photographer Malick Sidibe, as well as the...
- 3/28/2013
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
To celebrate Africa Express rolling out across the UK, here's a guide to 10 classic films to have come from the continent
Africa played no part in the invention of cinema. For decades, in Tarzan movies, it was the subject of fake Hollywood fantasies. And yet, when Africans made films about themselves, the results were astonishing. There are scores of great African movies. Here are 10 of the best:
Cairo Station (Egypt, 1958)
If Alfred Hitchcock had been Egyptian and bisexual, and had himself played Norman Bates, Psycho might have been something like this. Sweaty, musical, melodramatic and political, Cairo Station stars ballsy writer-director Youssef Chahine as a homicidal newspaper seller in Cairo's vast railway station. In the 1950s, movies such as Rebel without a Cause and All That Heaven Allows were about repression as a ticking time bomb, but Chahine's film about sexual desire with no outlet was one of the biggest cinematic bombs of the decade.
Africa played no part in the invention of cinema. For decades, in Tarzan movies, it was the subject of fake Hollywood fantasies. And yet, when Africans made films about themselves, the results were astonishing. There are scores of great African movies. Here are 10 of the best:
Cairo Station (Egypt, 1958)
If Alfred Hitchcock had been Egyptian and bisexual, and had himself played Norman Bates, Psycho might have been something like this. Sweaty, musical, melodramatic and political, Cairo Station stars ballsy writer-director Youssef Chahine as a homicidal newspaper seller in Cairo's vast railway station. In the 1950s, movies such as Rebel without a Cause and All That Heaven Allows were about repression as a ticking time bomb, but Chahine's film about sexual desire with no outlet was one of the biggest cinematic bombs of the decade.
- 9/3/2012
- by Mark Cousins
- The Guardian - Film News
Just a reminder, for those who may have missed this post earlier in the week… you’ve got a few more days to watch the film if you haven’t already.
Piggy-backing Kj’s movie club idea, I thought it’d be worthwhile to start what we could call a “Filmmakers series;” essentially, we pick a filmmaker of African descent, watch all their films in succession, and discuss on this blog.
It’ll be a weekly thing – meaning, at the start of each new week (Monday), a film from the selected filmmaker’s oeuvre will be assigned, and we all would then have a week to watch it; the following week, I’ll share my thoughts on the film, and we’ll discuss it collectively. Hopefully, many of you participate. It’s kind of useless if it’s just me yacking on in a post. It’s supposed to be...
Piggy-backing Kj’s movie club idea, I thought it’d be worthwhile to start what we could call a “Filmmakers series;” essentially, we pick a filmmaker of African descent, watch all their films in succession, and discuss on this blog.
It’ll be a weekly thing – meaning, at the start of each new week (Monday), a film from the selected filmmaker’s oeuvre will be assigned, and we all would then have a week to watch it; the following week, I’ll share my thoughts on the film, and we’ll discuss it collectively. Hopefully, many of you participate. It’s kind of useless if it’s just me yacking on in a post. It’s supposed to be...
- 7/23/2010
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
By Michael Atkinson
The seminal will behind everything that matters about sub-Saharan African cinema, and at the same time the world's most guileless filmmaker, Ousmane Sembene was virtually a one-man continental film culture for 40 years, establishing the cinematic syntax and priorities for an entire section of mankind, and its relationship with movies. From the first mini-feature, "Borom Sarret" (1964) to the last, vibrant, polemical film "Moolaadé" (2004), Sembene's work aches with sociopolitical austerity . as an artist, he's virtually style-free, almost unprofessional, but possessed of a voice as clear and uncomplicated as sunlight. Primal, unsophisticated experiences, the films are simple but never simplistic, lowbrow but unsensational, fastidiously realistic and yet unconcerned with sustaining illusion. His filmography is more or less divided between cool, undramatic autopsies on post-colonial norms and folly (1966's "Black Girl," 1968's "Mandabi," 1974's "Xala") and demi-epics of colonial horror (1971's Emitai, 1977's "Ceddo," 1987's "Camp de Thiaroye"). The slow burn,...
The seminal will behind everything that matters about sub-Saharan African cinema, and at the same time the world's most guileless filmmaker, Ousmane Sembene was virtually a one-man continental film culture for 40 years, establishing the cinematic syntax and priorities for an entire section of mankind, and its relationship with movies. From the first mini-feature, "Borom Sarret" (1964) to the last, vibrant, polemical film "Moolaadé" (2004), Sembene's work aches with sociopolitical austerity . as an artist, he's virtually style-free, almost unprofessional, but possessed of a voice as clear and uncomplicated as sunlight. Primal, unsophisticated experiences, the films are simple but never simplistic, lowbrow but unsensational, fastidiously realistic and yet unconcerned with sustaining illusion. His filmography is more or less divided between cool, undramatic autopsies on post-colonial norms and folly (1966's "Black Girl," 1968's "Mandabi," 1974's "Xala") and demi-epics of colonial horror (1971's Emitai, 1977's "Ceddo," 1987's "Camp de Thiaroye"). The slow burn,...
- 3/25/2008
- by Michael Atkinson
- ifc.com
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.