The Making of African Cinema : Ousmane Sembene

Manthia Diawara and Ngugi Wa Thiong'o met Ousmane Sembene before his death. And this movie is a precious acount of the man who was called the « father of african cinema ». Visiting the places where he shot some of his most importants movies, they let him talk about many things. What is cinema, links between cinema and litterature, the rôle of african cinema.

The dialogue is often politic, and the purpuse is clear : the realisators, both americans, want to find out something about their roots, and Sembene is a providential guide, one foot on each side of the world. The culture of Africa lives in him with the Western culture. They are eager to hear him, and so we are : more than a documentary or a long interview, we feel like being invited to a meeting with him.

Sembene : « I'm suspicious with the new humanitarism. White people have lied us three times. First, after emptying America of its inhabitants, because they need us, they came to christianise us. Much later in 1920, they came to pacify us. In 1960, they left, and they left nothing but chaos. And now, in 1993, they came and tell us they are here to brung us democraty. What will be the next invention ? Any African should know this, the Whites lied us three times... ».

But beyond these consideration, the link is quickly made with cinema : « I, personnaly, prefer litterature. But litterature is a luxury good. I came to cinema to continue my quest of activism. Cinema is a myth that can be shared with the audience ». What touches us in Sembene's cinema is maybe : activism is the first step, but his movies try to reach the universality of the myth.

Sembène Ousmane : The making of African cinema

Documentary by Manthia Diawara, Ngugi Wa Thiong'o, USA.

60''

1993