KORTFILMSPAKET:

Sembène: The Making of African Cinema, Manthia Diawara, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o 1994, 60 min, Senegal

This rich documentary follows the legendary Senagalese filmmaker Sembene Ousmane from the Pan African Film Festival in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso back to the streets of Dakar and his Galle Ceddo home at Yoff, overlooking the sea. Revisiting several locations of his films, Sembene Ousmane reminisces about his career and discusses his craft.

Black Girl, Sembene, 1966, 1h 5min, Senegal

The debut film from Ousmane Sembène – often called the father of African cinema – Black Girl is a groundbreaking drama from 1966. Diouana (M’Bissine Thérèse Diop) comes from a poor village outside Dakar and is desperately looking for a job. At the village square she is offered to go to France, to cook and clean for a rich white family. Diouana dreams about what her new life will offer, but it turns out to be far from what she had imagined. Black Girl is at once a sensitive human drama and political indictment of colonialism and racism. It is essential viewing.

Restored by Cineteca di Bologna/ L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, in association with the Sembène Estate, Institut National de l’Audiovisuel, INA, Eclair laboratories and the Centre National de Cinématographie. Restoration funded by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project.