>FYI
Ousmane Sembene arguably Africa's most renowned
film maker died yesterday in Dakar at the age of
84. Born in 1923 in the Casamance region of
Senegal, Sembene moved to Dakar, Senegal's
capital at age 15 where he performed odd jobs
that included brick-laying. Born to a fishing
family young Sembene had an aversion for the
trade as he was often sea-sick on fishing
trips. Despite little formal education, young
Sembene was an avid reader of comic books, which
in the end launched his writing and cinema career
(s). In all, he produced about 14 films all of
which are now classics, "Black Girl," Xala,"
"Samori" "Faat Kine," "Ceddo," "Mandabi" to name
a few. Among his most important books was,
"God's Bits of Wood," a collection of short
stories that inspired me as a young student of literature.
Sembene will be remembered for his unflinching
commitment to Africa and for having been one of
its most eloquent voices and sons. He will be
remembered most for his strident anti-colonial/
imperialist stance expresses in his films and
scathing critiques of Africa's petty-bourgeois/
post-independence leadership. As an activist, he
was often at odds with President Senghore, Senegal's founding president.
Yall na la souff sede (Wolof) (Rest in Peace).
Abdoulaye
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> SEMBENE
>
> The Great Light has travelled
> to Cassamance on a wave;
> rebuking
> chuckling with the Atlantic.
>
>We must hear him
>see a smoke
>each time foams laugh
>rage
>humour
>hope;
>and we see calls for our freedom
>in shouts from a camera.
>
>by
>okello oculi
>
>
>
>
>
>--- Toyin Falola <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> >
> >
> >
> > Ousmane Sembčne, 84, Dies; Led Cinema's Advance in
> > Africa
> > By A. O. SCOTT, New York Times
> >
> > June 11, 2007
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Ousmane Sembčne, the Senegalese filmmaker and
> > writer who was a crucial figure in Africa's
> > postcolonial cultural awakening, has died at his
> > home in Dakar, Senegal. His family, which
> > announced his death on Sunday, said Mr. Sembčne
> > had been ill since December. He was 84.
> >
> > Widely seen as the father of African cinema, Mr.
> > Sembčne took up filmmaking in the 1960s, in part
> > because he believed that film could reach a wider
> > and more diverse African audience than
> > literature. "Black Girl" (1965), his debut
> > feature, is commonly referred to as the first
> > African film. Combining realistic narrative
> > techniques with elements of traditional African
> > storytelling, it tells of a young woman named
> > Diouana who commits suicide after traveling to
> > Europe with her French employers.
> >
> > Diouana's identity crisis foretold some of the
> > central themes of Mr. Sembčne's later work - he
> > directed 10 features and numerous shorts - and of
> > the nascent African cinema more generally. The
> > tensions between tradition and modernity and
> > between newly independent African nations and
> > their erstwhile colonial masters are sources of
> > drama and comedy in his films, which are
> > nonetheless focused on the lives of ordinary
> > people, frequently women.
> >
> > "Xala" (1974), which many critics consider his
> > finest film, takes a humorous look at polygamy,
> > traditional African medicine and the contrasts
> > between urban and rural life. Neither mocking nor
> > nostalgic in its treatment of traditions, it is
> > as much driven by the personalities of its
> > characters as by its ideas about African life. At
> > the same time, the characters' foibles are
> > clearly symbols of political and social
> > dysfunction.
> >
> > A similar logic obtains in later films like
> > "Guelwaar" (1993) and "Faat-Kiné" (2001). Writing
> > about the latter movie in The New York Times,
> > Elvis Mitchell noted that some of its scenes
> > could have been "whipped up into a tempest of
> > tear-jerking" but that Mr. Sembčne's "trademark
> > empathy" and sense of detail served as antidotes
> > to melodrama. Even when he addressed painful and
> > controversial subjects - as in "Moolaadé" (2004)
> > which chronicles a middle-aged woman's campaign
> > to halt the practice of female genital cutting in
> > her village - Mr. Sembčne tempered moral fervor
> > with warmth and humor.
> >
> > Ousmane Sembčne was born on Jan. 1, 1923, in the
> > Casamance region of southern Senegal. He left
> > school at 14 and moved to Dakar. There and in
> > France, he worked as a fisherman and an auto
> > mechanic, among other jobs, before being drafted
> > by the French Army in World War II. His
> > experiences as a dockworker in Marseilles formed
> > the basis of one of his novels, "The Black
> > Docker."
> >
> > He studied film at Gorky Studio in Moscow,
> > turning to the medium because, as he put it in
> > 2005, "everything can be filmed and transported
> > to the most remote village in Africa." After
> > making three short films, he submitted the script
> > for "Black Girl" to the Film Bureau of the French
> > Ministry of Cooperation, an agency set up by the
> > government of Charles de Gaulle to assist African
> > filmmakers. The script was rejected, and while
> > Mr. Sembčne was able to complete the film
> > independently, some of his later films would run
> > into trouble with both French and Senegalese
> > authorities. "Mandabi" ("The Money Order," 1968),
> > was attacked in Africa for its portrayal of
> > political corruption and economic devastation,
> > and "Emitai" (1972) was suppressed in France for
> > five years because of its harsh depiction of
> > colonialism.
> >
> > "He could criticize Africa, he could criticize
> > racism and he could criticize colonialism," said
> > Manthia Diawara, professor of comparative
> > literature and Africana studies at New York
> > University, in a telephone interview on Sunday.
> > "He never spared anybody."
> >
> > In spite of occasional controversy, Mr. Sembčne's
> > mastery and originality were celebrated both in
> > Africa, where he served as an inspiration for
> > later filmmakers, and internationally. He won
> > prizes at the Venice Film Festival in 1968 (for
> > "Mandabi") and 1988 (for "Camp de Thiaroye"), and
> > at Cannes in 2004 (for "Moolaadé"). He was a
> > founder, in 1969 of FESPACO, the biennial
> > festival of film and television held in
> > Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
> >
> > Cheick Oumar Sissoko, a fellow filmmaker and the
> > Malian minister of culture, said that with Mr.
> > Sembčne's death, "African cinema has lost one of
> > its lighthouses."
> >
> > Mr. Diawara added: "He really is the most
> > important African filmmaker. The one that all
> > subsequent filmmakers have to be measured
> > against."
> >
> >
> >
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