Une feuille dans le vent – J.-M.Teno .Les Films du Raphia
Contemporary African Film : Resistance ?
Convenor : Thackway Melissa (RIAM-FMSH/INALCO)
Mercredi 8 juillet, 14h, Sorbonne salle D 622
http://www.ecas2015.fr/fr/tous-les-panels
Born with Independence in the Sixties, and strongly marked by this historical context, filmmaking in sub-Saharan Africa has long been associated with notions of resistance.
As a medium of representation, cinema was identified by Africa’s first filmmakers as an ideal tool to challenge existing misrepresentations of the continent and its peoples, decolonize mentalities, and participate in the construction of post-colonial identities and nations. The setting up of bodies such as the Pan-African Federation of Filmmakers (FEPACI) in 1969, whose 1975 Algiers Charter insisted on African cinema’s role in raising social awareness, clearly reinforced a collective, politically-committed approach to filmmaking.
Some fifty years on, are notions of cinematic protest and resistance still prevalent, or indeed relevant? What forms do they take today both in terms of aesthetics and genre? What impact has the development of endogenous video industries such as Nollywood had on the question? Does the increasing place of the individual in today’s films preclude the collective? Does film still reflect the socio-political?
Focusing on recent evolutions and continuities in sub-Saharan and African diaspora filmmaking, this panel will examine and assess contemporary filmmaking, its forms and agendas.
Papers :
- Anjali Prabhu (Wellesley College) : “Resistance in African Cinema, or Révolution du langage cinématographique”
- Daniela Ricci (Université Paris 3): “Forms of Resistance in the Contemporary African Films”
- Okome Onookome (University of Alberta): “Transnational Nollywood”
- Sada Niang (University of Victoria): “Generic intrusions in African cinemas”.