African Cinema Research Articles

Queer African Cinemas, written by Lindsey B. Green-Simms

Queer African Cinemas, written by Lindsey B. Green-Simms

“Mining” the Film Archive: South Africa’s Mining Industry and Film Production

This paper examines the relationship of film production and the mining industry in the forty years of the Union of South Africa, before the National Party came to power in 1948 and established its system of apartheid. It argues that the mining industry used the new technology of film to promote its exploitative system of African migrant workers, mobilized to extract the maximum natural resources of precious metals at the greatest profit. In South Africa in this period, film production and cinema exhibition were controlled commercially by the African Films Trust through its production company, African Film Productions, and its exhibition arm, African Consolidated Theatres. In the face of the rise of trade unions and collective bargaining, the Chamber of Mines commissioned African Film Productions to make documentaries, including instructional, topical, and propaganda films, from the 1920s until the 1940s. These were intended to counter overseas public criticisms of working conditions, health and safety, and racial segregation of workers on the mines. The Chamber of Mines also commissioned films to recruit African migrant workers through its recruitment agencies, the Witwatersrand Native Labour Association and the Native Recruiting Corporation. These recruitment films were screened using mobile cinemas in villages throughout southern Africa. The film company made other publicity films, often co-produced with various South African government departments, to attract White settler immigration and investment by shareholders, and domestically aimed at allaying settlers’ anxieties about the growth of mass African labor systems. These films were exhibited in cinemas all over South Africa and overseas. Building on existing scholarship on the importance of cinema to the recruitment and regulation of African miners in southern Africa, particularly South Africa, this paper will excavate the intricate imbrication of filmmaking in the consolidation and expansion of mining during the first half of the twentieth century.

Queer Bodies in African Films (Gibson Ncube)

Queer Bodies in African Films (Gibson Ncube)

Digital Dissemination of African Films in China: A Case Study of the Bilibili Platform

Cultural communication is of great significance to countries in shaping their national image and enhancing their national soft power. However, due to the influence of African politics and economy, African films always face the situation of insufficient production capacity in the film industry, internationalization experience, and film professionals. As a result, its culture has been discounted in the process of dissemination. In particular, African films have for many years relied only on video and other channels of dissemination, making it difficult to compete with the production and wide dissemination of films from Europe and the United States. Therefore, African films have only accounted for 4% of the African film market share in their home countries.

Digital Dissemination of African Films in China: A Case Study of the Bilibili Platform

Cultural communication is of great significance to countries in shaping their national image and enhancing their national soft power. However, due to the influence of African politics and economy, African films always face the situation of insufficient production capacity in the film industry, internationalization experience, and film professionals. As a result, its culture has been discounted in the process of dissemination. In particular, African films have for many years relied only on video and other channels of dissemination, making it difficult to compete with the production and wide dissemination of films from Europe and the United States. Therefore, African films have only accounted for 4% of the African film market share in their home countries.

Pragmatic Strategies In The Representation Of Plus-Size Women In Nollywood Films: A Case Study Of Skinny Girl In Transit.

This study investigates the pragmatic strategies employed in Skinny Girl in Transit, a popular Nollywood web series, to examine how language reflects and challenges societal norms about body image. Focusing on conversational implicature, speech acts, and politeness theory, the analysis explores how the protagonist, Tiwa, a plus-size woman, navigates societal pressures concerning her weight and identity. The case study approach is utilized, selecting key scenes from the series where body image is discussed, either implicitly or explicitly. Through the application of pragmatic theories, the research reveals that while language in the series often reinforces societal expectations about slimness, it also provides a platform for resisting stereotypes. Characters use humor, indirect remarks, and polite strategies to address sensitive issues, creating a nuanced portrayal of plus-size women in Nollywood. The findings highlight how Skinny Girl in Transit both mirrors and critiques cultural attitudes toward body size, offering a more complex representation of plus-size women in Nigerian media. This study contributes to the fields of pragmatics, media representation, and African cinema by demonstrating the power of language in shaping cultural perceptions.

Playing Our Parts: An Ode to Selected Twentieth Century South African Newspaper Film Critics

The first part of this analysis discusses film critics as historians and historians as film scholars via an examination of texts, subtexts, and contexts. The article recalls the primary contributions of some prolific film critics, offering a personal testimonial to those who had significantly contributed to the teaching of film at universities or who had contributed to popular film discourse. An autobiographical historical overview explains how newspaper and magazine film critics shaped the author’s own analyses of twentieth century South African film, with special reference to Afrikaans movies framed by the insider-outsider genre. As an active member of the film industry since 1970, the author explains the significance of key contextual events. The study focuses on the metaphorical and subtextual elements where fictional characters engaging in discursive social struggles are studied as indicators of wider social roles in conflict. The second part examines questions of language, empirical observation, and subtextual analysis in metaphorical relation to the methods used by the film critics who informed the author’s theory of Afrikaans film narrative as a social metatext. The conclusions are two-fold: first, that academics who are also critic-practitioners constitute holistic value; and second, that journalists are actually theory-based intellectuals.

Cheapest Way to Europe: Illegal Migration and Women Objectification in African Film

This paper explores the dynamics of irregular migration and the objectification of women in Boris Lojkine’s film Hope, highlighting the increasing prominence of these themes in African films. Through an analysis grounded in Martha Nussbaum’s feminist perspectives on objectification, the article examines how the film director portrays the female body as a commodity. The paper posits that sexual objectification is a gendered phenomenon and that the objectified body is almost always the female body. The findings reveal a gendered survival strategy employed by migrants facing insurmountable challenges in their attempts to leave Africa. It concludes that the commodification of female migrants becomes an unavoidable consequence for those who successfully navigate the dangerous and unlawful routes to Europe.

Shaping the ‘Other’: Foucauldian Insights Into Feminine Resistance in ‘Timbuktu’

This exploration delves into the complex portrayal of feminine resistance in Abderrahmane Sissako's 2014 film "Timbuktu," framed within a Foucauldian perspective. Set against the backdrop of the jihadist occupation of Timbuktu, Mali, the film immerses viewers in a world where traditional village life collides with extremist ideologies, resulting in a complex interplay of power and resistance. The narrative unfolds with subtle undercurrents of oppression, as the occupying jihadists enforce their rigid interpretation of Sharia law on the local populace. Focusing on the character of Satima, the wife of the protagonist Kidane and Zabou, the shamanes, this analysis delves into different feminine resistance to conformity, driven either by honour or justice to challenge the oppressive norms imposed by the jihadists. Drawing inspiration from Michel Foucault's discourse on power and resistance, this exploration reveals a rather multidirectional/multidimensional nature of feminine resistance. Satima's refusal to comply with the sexual advances of Abdelkerim and Zabou’s enchantments and audacity vis-à-vis the jihadists provide insights into the transformative potential of marginalized voices. The film ultimately confronts the idea that some situations remain beyond an individual's control, echoing an Old Testament-like sense of fate. Through an extraordinary long-take shot that captures the aftermath, the film underscores the limitations of power, even for those who seek to shape the "Other." This article thus invites a deeper examination of "Timbuktu," and feminine empowerment and agency in African cinema, shedding light on how resistance surpasses the confines of oppression, offering a gripping narrative of resilience in the face of extremism.

Richard Green in South African Film: Forging Creative New Directions (Keyan G. Tomaselli and Richard Green)

Richard Green in South African Film: Forging Creative New Directions (Keyan G. Tomaselli and Richard Green)

아프리카가 꿈꾸는 미래- 아프로퓨처리즘 영화의 재현 양상에 대한 고찰

아프리카가 꿈꾸는 미래- 아프로퓨처리즘 영화의 재현 양상에 대한 고찰

Ousmane Sembene's Camp De Thiaroye in the Context of Anticolonial African Literature

Almost all of the countries on the African continent have been under the domination of European powers for a certain period of time throughout their history. As a result, many books have been written on the continent, adopting an anti-colonial rhetoric. Numerous authors have analyzed European colonialism and offered suggestions for getting rid of it. Senegalese Ousmane Sembene is an anti-colonial writer and director. In a way, his films can be considered as a version of anticolonial literature transferred to the movie screen. Sembene is an extremely important name for African cinema. He is the first person directed a feature film (La Noire de…, 1966) in Sub-Saharan Africa. His political stance has been a major factor in shaping the identity of the cinema not only of his country Senegal, but of the entire African continent. He has influenced a significant number of directors from the African continent and is very important in the context of political. His pan-Africanist personality and view of cinema as a tool of social transformation allow his films to be evaluated in the context of anticolonialist literature. Anticolonial themes are seen in Sembene's films both in terms of content and mode of production. The movie Camp de Thiaroye (1988) also has an important place in this context. In this film, he exhibited the ways in which colonialism produced symbolic and physical violence. He also revealed the stages of Africans gaining consciousness on their way to independence. In this study, Sembene's Camp de Thiaroye is analyzed in order to reveal the relationship between anticolonialist African literature and African cinema. As a result of the study, it was seen that Sembene produced a strong anticolonial discourse through his cinema and brought up many issues mentioned by the anticolonial literature.

Queer African Cinemas by Lindsey B. Green-Simms (review)

Queer African Cinemas by Lindsey B. Green-Simms (review)

Questions of identity and global visibility: French funding in Latin American and Maghrebi cinema

This article examines the relationship between French film funding and the regional cinemas of the Southern Cone of Latin America (Cono Sur) and the Maghreb. Since the 1980s, France has steadily increased its support of filmmakers in francophone regions, expanding its funding of organizations and financial aids like Fonds Sud (now Aide aux cinémas du monde) and Fonds Image de la Francophonie in order to promote francophone filmmaking throughout the world. In the cases of the Southern Cone (Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay) and the Maghreb (Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia), the opportunities provided by French funding and the interest in co-producing global cinema coincides with a rise in local productions within these regions. A French co-production status also promotes the global visibility of other national cinemas. Yet the discourse surrounding the types of narratives shown in French co-productions and the ways in which filmmakers are limited by funding stipulations highlights an ongoing issue that filmmakers from the Southern Cone and the Maghreb face when accepting France’s financial support. The combination of France’s global financing of films and the expanding interest in Southern Cone and North African cinema establishes a complex relationship around French funding institutions, francophone regions (as well as their relationships to the term “francophone”), and identity within an increasingly globalized film space. By examining the history and current state of these regions’ cinemas, as well as their relationships to France, this article analyzes the positive and negative effects of France’s history in financially shaping the national (and regional) cinemas of southern Latin America and the Maghreb, the current landscape of Southern Cone and North African filmmaking, and the possibilities for change in transnational filmmaking in the future.

The Role of Women in Contemporary African Cinema: A Case Study of Nigeria

This paper explores the role of women in Nigerian cinema and its broader implications for the African film industry. Through a comprehensive analysis of historical perspectives, evolving narratives, and the challenges and opportunities faced by women filmmakers, the study sheds light on the transformative impact of women’s contributions to Nigerian cinema. By examining the representation of African women’s stories and experiences in global cinema through Nigerian films, the paper highlights the power of storytelling to challenge stereotypes, foster cross-cultural understanding, and promote gender equality. Through initiatives for women’s empowerment and advocacy for social change, Nigerian cinema emerges as a catalyst for inclusive and equitable representation in the cinematic landscape.

Part II–(Re)imagining Cinematic Histories of Africa: African Women, Cinema, and the Tale of Kadidia Pâté

Abstract: "Le dit du cinéma africain" (The Tale of African Cinema), by the inimitable griothistorian Amadou Hampâté Bâ, is an extraordinary tale of Mali's early encounter with cinema, revealing an equally fascinating story of an early instance of an African woman and cinematic spectatorship. In his tale, he recounts in her own words, his mother Kadidia Pâté's first experience with cinema. This enchanting and edifying rendezvous with the moving image provides us not only with a unique introduction to the histories of African women's encounter with cinema but also to the trans-global nature of these cinematic experiences. As Toni Cade Bambara reminds us, as early as 1897, "operators for Lumière, Meliès, and Edison were presenting, in various countries, programs of flickers shot from all over the world." And in the case of Mali in this tale, movies imposed on the inhabitants who refused to look. This section relates her extraordinary story.

Richard Green in South African Film: Forging Creative New Directions, Keyan G. Tomaselli and Richard Green (2023)

Richard Green in South African Film: Forging Creative New Directions, Keyan G. Tomaselli and Richard Green (2023)

Embracing collaborations between festivals and higher education: A case study of the ‘Decolonising film festivals and curating African cinemas’ networking event at King’s College London

In recent years, there has been an increasing awareness of the social responsibility of Higher Education, encouraging knowledge exchange initiatives and impact. This often involves the collaboration with the industry, embracing a curatorial turn in the pedagogic approach. This self-reflexive case study shares the learning, challenges, and opportunities offered by the organisation of a networking event named ‘Decolonising Film Festivals and Curating African Cinemas.’ In so doing, it seeks to offer insights into one such forms of collaboration between Higher Education and the Industry. Through an analysis of the feedback by participants and the discussions at a round-table on decolonising, it highlights the horizontalism and distended environment of the experience, fostering a safe and fruitful discussion that engages in a call to action towards to sought change. In public facing events hosted at the university, the classroom becomes a brainstorming exercise in collaboration. The curatorial turn adopted through collaboration bridges theory and practice. Itlurifies voices in the learning and teaching experience, and collaboratively rehearses potential creative solutions to real life scenarios. It promotes social justice, engaging all participants in the process.

Sensing and self: a haptic ‘look’ at the aesthetics of women’s labour in contemporary Maghrebi and Maghrebi-French diasporic cinema

ABSTRACT This article expands on an ongoing dialogue about representations of female protagonists’ sensual and embodied experiences in Francophone North African cinema scholarship. It examines the dynamic cinematographic styles of contemporary Maghrebi French filmmakers Abdellatif Kechiche, Nadia El Fani, Leila Kilani and Houda Benyamina, asserting that they create a multisensory connection with the viewer that disrupts the underlying unequal power dynamic between film viewer and the Maghrebi woman’s body. This article places labour practices as the loci of analysis, as these examples of quotidian life represent a microcosm of protagonists’ participation in larger social and economic frameworks. First, it looks at the role of embodied labour in strengthening a protagonist’s connection to her community in Kechiche’s La Graine et le mulet/The Secret of the Grain (2007) and El Fani’s Bedwin Hacker (2003). Then, it turns to labour practices in Kilani’s Sur la planche/On the Edge (2011) and Benyamina’s Divines (2016) that isolate and disconnect the protagonist from her community and her body. This article concludes that it is the distinctly multisensory style used by all four directors that centres their protagonists’ physical, lived experiences while challenging the viewer not to merely watch them passively, but to engage in a dynamic, empathetic relationship with the body onscreen.

Queer African Cinemas by Lindsey B. Green-Simms (review)

Queer African Cinemas by Lindsey B. Green-Simms (review)