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Forum for Modern Language Studies Advance Access originally published online on August 27, 2009
Forum for Modern Language Studies 2009 45(4):441-454; doi:10.1093/fmls/cqp116
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© The Author (2009). Published by Oxford University Press for the Court of the University of St Andrews. All rights reserved. The University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland: No. SC013532.

This article appears in the following Forum for Modern Language Studies issue: SPECIAL ISSUE: Perspectives on Africa [View the issue table of contents]

Sub-Saharan African Cinema in the Context of FESPACO: Close-Ups on Francophone West Africa and Anglophone South Africa

Lizelle Bisschoff

School of Languages, Cultures and Religions
University of Stirling
Stirling FK9 4LA
United Kingdom

lizelle.bisschoff{at}stir.ac.uk

  Abstract

In the context of the biennial FESPACO film festival in Ouagadougou, this article gives overviews of the development of the film industries in francophone West Africa and anglophone South Africa, and of emerging trends and new directions. French support ensured that francophone countries were responsible for 80% of films made in Africa until the mid-1990s. Attempts to classify African film in terms of social realism, return to pre-colonial sources etc. ignore the variety of inspiration and technique, already in the founding work of Ousmane Sembene, and increasingly today. In South Africa, little radical black filmmaking developed during apartheid, but in the last fifteen years, with government support, there has been an explosion of activity. South African films have won major awards at FESPACO and elsewhere, although they still struggle to find an audience locally. The future may lie in a digital film industry of the kind pioneered in Nigeria ("Nollywood").

Key Words: African film • FESPACO • Sembene, Ousmane • Rouch, Jean • Kani, John • Maseko, Zola • Faye, Safi • Cissé, Souleymane • Hood, Gavin


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