Minor Cinema and Conviviality: Túndé Kèlání’s Film Worlds in Comparison

Abstract

ABSTRACT Túndé Kèlání's films have mostly been analysed in relation to their social and cultural context of origin; they have hardly been made the object of larger comparisons with the work of non-African filmmakers. However, Kèlání's conscious and articulate intermixing of both local and international cultural and stylistic influences, the wide international circulation of his work, and its explicit autonomy in relation to commercial filmmaking (Nollywood in particular) suggest the possibility of comparing his work with that of filmmakers from other regions of the world who position themselves in relation to comparable socio-political contexts and confront similar artistic and political challenges. This is why, following Jean-François Bayart's call to ‘de-dramatize’ African case studies in order to bring to light their global relevance, this essay will compare Kèlání's work with that of the Southern Italian filmmaker Vittorio de Seta, whose life and work present some unexpected and thought-provoking parallels with those of Kèlání. This analysis ultimately shows that both filmmakers are intimately concerned with the creation of a convivial society, in which past and present can cohabit thanks to the affirmation of a philosophy of radical humanism.