History of African Cinemas

Abstract

The chapter examines chronologically the history of African cinema from 1896 to the present: colonial cinema and postcolonial African cinema. The history of African cinema is presented from the perspectives of the stereotypical representation of Indigenous people, the appropriation of cinema as an instrument for cultural and political liberation, and the new orientations of African cinema since the 1990s. The main goal of the chapter is to give the reader a comprehensive outline of African film history from the invention of the medium to the present. The case study on Sanders of the River exemplifies the use of cinema by the British empire as an instrument in its colonial project.