Regarded as the “father of African cinema” amongst artists, critics and scholars, Ousmane Sembène began his career as an author and activist before turning to filmmaking two years prior to the release of Black Girl. Despite his long-time affinity for the construction of fictional narratives – and though this film most obviously follows the path of fiction – this seminal work in Sembène’s oeuvre comes to us, exactly 50 years later, as one of those curious features that blend history, reality and storytelling. The line between fiction and non-fiction as categories in and of themselves becomes blurred, and a new version of history is revealed – this time, crucially, from the voices of the colonized, rather than from their colonizers.
Sembène’s overtly political art subverts a world of Western, white, and largely male narratives, giving a distinct fuel to his creative fire. He once relayed his take on this unique position: “Filmmakers carry a mission and, more generally, the artist is the one who prepares a revolution, the one who incites it. I would go further. Even in the middle of a revolution, the true artist is the one who prepares the next revolution, he incites revolt: that is his necessary role, his possible glory, and also his limit. Through his work of analysis, clarification, unmasking and denunciation, the artist arouses in his people’s consciousness the clear conviction that revolution is necessary and possible.” Sembène’s artistic intentions paint him not only as an artist and filmmaker, but also as a historian with powerful social responsibilities. Black Girl, like the rest of his work in the late 20th century and early 21st century, brings visibility to a corner of the world that colonial domination has threatened to destroy, as well as to a female protagonist whose story would otherwise be clouded over by the forces of oppression.
https://vimeo.com/165498289
Black Girl
1966
dir. Ousmane Sembène
65 min.
A Special Engagement at the Brattle Theatre
Friday, 8/12 @ 3:00. 5:00, 7:00
Saturday, 8/13 @ 2:30, 4:00, 5:30, 7:00
Sunday, 8/14 @ 3:00, 5:00, 7:00
