Ousmane Sembene the 'Father Of African Cinema'


Ousmane Sembene


Guest Speaker - John Guess


HOUSTON MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURE & 14 PEWS
joins the biggest community screening in history!
Award-winning documentary SEMBENE! 

talk-back led by John Guess (CEO of HMAAC)
 
WHY THIS SCREENING IS HISTORICAL:The Normandy Cinema is partnering with more than 50 institutions across Africa to share the story of Ousmane Sembene, the “father of African cinema,” who spent decades shaping a meaningful, visionary cinema for a newly independent Africa. Through the “Sembene Across Africa project, a three-day event, schools, museums, cultural centers and NGOs are presenting  free public screenings, house parties and free streaming of the award-winning documentary film SEMBENE! The documentary, created by Sembene’s biographer,  premiered in competition at the Sundance and Cannes film festivals, has screened throughout the world, and was included in seven best-of-2015 lists, including a top-ten-of-2015 notice from New York magazine.
 
ABOUT DOCUMENTARY: Sembene! is a look at the life and career of Ousman Sembene, the first sub-Saharan African to direct feature films. The movie is co-directed and narrated by Samba Gadjigo, an American based professor from Senegal who ended up becoming one of Sembene's closest confidantes. As a result of their closeness, the movie ends being as much about their friendship as it is about the man himself, but that is not a bad thing. This approach gives Sembene a humanity that is often absent from documentaries about directors. Gadjigo also present a well rounded picture of the man and does not shy from some of his qualities that lost him some friends and followers. Judicious use of film clips of not only his movies, but also archival footage of Senegal and interviews with Sembene help make this a very enjoyable look at a master of world cinema that many people are unaware of.

HOUSTON MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURE: HMAAC seeks to be a cultural portal through which people share and converge histories and contemporary experiences that acknowledge and expand the African American experience, and from such interactions come together to build a common future.