Nationalist African Cinema

Legacy and Transformations

By (author) Sada Niang

Publication date:

21 February 2014

Length of book:

152 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

ISBN-13: 9780739149072

In the last decade, a certain discomfort, at times even impatience emerged among critics of African cinema. The onset of such uneasiness can be traced back to the demise of the liberationist discourse, to the questioning of the monolithic expression “African cinema”, and finally to the critical exploration of various forms of visual narratives developing at a fast speed on the continent. Nationalist African Cinema: Legacy and Transformations reexamines African cinema of the nationalist era within the context of contemporary major Euro-American film trends. It argues that the aesthetic diversification of African cinema can be traced as far back as the nationalist era.

Introduction
Chapter 1: The Fepaci, its genesis and its artistic legacies
Chapter 2: Neorealism and nationalist African cinema
Chapter 3: Nationalist African cinema, The Gangster and the Western
Chapter 4: Nationalist African cinema and the French New Wave
Chapter 5: The Challenge of Moustapha Alassane: Animation in nationalist African Cinema
Chapter 6: Mahama Johnson Traoré’s Lambaye (1972): Making the Case for Adaptation in Nationalist African cinema
Conclusion
Bibliography

Niang argues that between 1959 and 1973 African nationalist filmmaking, encapsulated in the shortsighted ideological prescriptions of FEPACI (Federation of African Filmmakers), was misguided. This cinema of revolt--Sembene Ousmane is the main figure--posited itself as the voice of the unschooled African masses as opposed to the colonial and the new elite proponents. Yet, argues Niang, the films modeled themselves on third cinema and Euro-American aesthetics. The author showcases how Italian neorealism, gangster and Western films, and the French New Wave (among other genres) influenced African filmmakers who grew up immersed in a B-movies urban youth culture. Because of the bleak reality experienced by the masses, this trend lost its relevance in favor of popular desire for entertainment in the 1980s. To capture the new impetus of entertainment, Niang argues for new critical paradigms away from the dualistic impositions of the earlier days. . . .Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty/professionals; general readers.