April 21, 2015

Ousmane Sembéne was a Senegalese dockworker and self-taught filmmaker who would become the storyteller for a new Africa. Considered the ‘father of African cinema,’ Sembéne’s genuinely African film aesthetic continues to inform cinematic practice both in Africa and around the world. Director Samba Gadjigo’s new documentary SEMBÉNE! premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The film tells the true story of a man who transformed himself into a spokesperson for the marginalized, chronicling Sembéne’s deep involvement in radical movements in 1960s Africa and the emancipating films he created for the African people. Gadjigo, Sembéne’s official biographer, will visit Westphal for a screening and discussion of Sembéne’s acclaimed film, BLACK GIRL, on Thursday, April 30.  

The free screening of BLACK GIRL (Noire de … La, 1966) will take place at 3:30pm in University Crossings, room 30 (15 N. 32nd Street). BLACK GIRL addresses post-colonial identity in its narrative of a Senegalese woman who immigrates to France to work for a wealthy French couple. Sembéne was among the first filmmakers to "indigenize" cinema, forgoing Hollywood-style moviemaking for African narrative structures and aesthetics. Through his own production company he worked independently of the European system that continues to dictate filmmaking practice in Africa today.

For more information about the film screening please contact Professor Karin Kelly at kpk23@drexel.edu.