SENEGAL

Senegalese cinema was once the leading production sector on the African continent. The French-influence that permeates the upper-class urban centres and the passion and plight of the native population have combined to lasting effect since the film industry launched in Senegal with Paulin Soumanou Vieyra’s 1955 short film L’Afrique sur Seine.

Vieyra (pictured, above) would remain a vocal advocate of Senegal’s representation on-screen with his documentary work, including Mol (1957), Indépendance du Cameroun, Togo, Congo, Madagascar (1960) and En résidence surveillée (Under House Arrest, 1981). His contemporary at the forefront of the post-independence Senegalese film industry was the man that has been called ‘The Father Of African Cinema’ – Ousmane Sembene. Many believe his death in 2007 represents the symbolic end of an era when Senegalese movies and the rich filmmaking culture from which they came sadly passed.

Sembene (pictured, right) was responsible for over three decades of impassioned filmmaking, despite coming late to the field of film directing – he was 37 when he returned home after learning his craft in Moscow. His debut production was the short film Barom Sarret (The Wagoner, 1963), regarded as the first film to be made by a black African filmmaker. He directed the first black African feature film, La noire de... (Black Girl, 1966) and would be responsible for some of the most respected and internationally-acclaimed African films ever made – Mandabi (The Money Order, 1968, shot in the native Wolof dialect), Tauw (1970), Emitai (God of Thunder, 1971, with dialogue in both French and the native Diola language), Xala (The Curse, 1975), Ceddo (Outsiders, 1977), Camp de Thiaroye (The Camp at Thiaroye, 1987) and, most significantly, Moolaade (2004; trailer, below), his powerful indictment of the brutal practice of female circumcision, which won the Un Certain Regard award at the Cannes Film Festival  and the Best Foreign Film award from the National Board of Film Critics (U.S.).

Sembene’s early work not only fuelled the industry in Senegal but focussed the international community on the resources and talent in the region. His exposure is credited with kick-starting the film industries in satellite countries such as Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Cameroon, Mali and Mauritania.

Strong filmmaking visions came from Senegal throughout the 1970’s, benefitting from the guidance of notable talents from France. For example, filmmaker Jean Rouch encouraged the early short film projects of Safi Raye, a Senegalese woman who would become the first female director of a feature length film in the region, 1975’s Kaddu Beykat (Letter From My Village). Djibril Diop Mambéty was an outspoken filmmaker whose works of social realism and political drama often brought him into direct conflict with the ruling government – his early shorts Contras City (1969) and Badou Boy (1970) were satirical comments on the rich/poor dichotomy of life in the capital, Dakkar; his first feature, Touki Bouki (Journey Of The Hyena, 1973; pictured, above) took a similarly comical but no less impactful look at the clash of the traditional and the modern. Twenty years later, Mambéty would revisit the villages of Senegal with a far sharper focus with Hyènes (Hyenas, 1993; trailer, below), a forthright blasting of Western culture in general and the World Bank in particular for creating dire poverty in Senegal, but also to the Senegalese people for embracing consumerism so blindly. The film was nominated for the Palme D’or at Cannes in 1994.

Rising costs, the threat of terrorism and the scourge of poverty took its toll on the Senegalese film sector from the early 1980s and remains a hinderance today. Safi Raye continued producing films, but few were released in her homeland, screening mainly in Europe; journalist-turned-filmmaker Ben Diogaye Beye debuted his film Seye Seyeti (A Man Some Women) in 1980 to festival recognition, but he would not direct again until 2004’s Un amour d’enfant (pictured, below); Jean Odoutan’s feelgood comedy-drama Barbecue-Pejo (2000) was a rare success. And Ousmane Sembene had the reputation to finance films in his native Senegal, but funds came from and profits went back to international financiers, who funded his work for the global arthouse marketplace. With its capital Dakkar sorely lacking studio and cinema space and all post-production facilities located offshore, Senegal‘s film artisans went through a period of stagnating creativity. 

For the last decade, a fresh brigade of filmmakers have begun to emerge. These include such directors as Moussa Toure (La Pirogue, 2012), Alain Gomis (Felicite, 2017, winner of the Berlinale Grand Jury Prize) Laurence Gavron (So Far from Vietnam, 2016), Moustapha Saitque (Waiting for the Third Prophet, 2016), Samba Gadjigo (Sambene, 2017; On Black Girl, 2017), and Ousmane William Mbaye (Kemtiyu Seex Anta, 2016). In 2017, the annual subsidy granted by President Macky Sall to Senegalese cinema increased to two billion CFA francs (3 million euros). French director Philippe Godeau and star Omar Sy utilised the land and many local technicians for their film Yao (2018; trailer, below).

In 2019, hope for the future of Senegalese cinema is at an all-time high, with the announcement that director Mati Diop, niece of the legendary Djibril Diop Mambéty, will be the first black woman director to have her film, the drama Atlantique, run In Competition in the 72 year history of the Cannes Film Festival.

Read the Screen-Space Feature 5 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT MATI DIOP here.

Key Event:
Dakar International Film Festival (RECIDAK) – Dakar, Senegal; annually in November.
The Rencontres International Cinématographiques de Dakar was initiated in 1990 by Annette Mbaye D'Erneville through its structure called the Consortium of Communication in Africa (CCA). The idea was to create this event around the 7th art in partnership with the French Ministry of Cooperation and authorities of the Francophonie and show the true identity of Senegal, which is the soul of African cinema. In November 2018, directors, producers, film teachers and art critics attended, with 59 films from 32 countries presented.

Contact:
Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication du Sénégal
Building Adja Fatou Diop Nourou
12 ^th  sis Floor Allées Papa Gueye FALL  
Tel: (+221) 33 849 03 38
Web: http://www.culture.gouv.sn/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MinisteredelaCultureduSenegal
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CultureGouv

(All effort has been made to ensure content is comprehensive and accurate at time of publication. No claim to ownership on any visual material; please contact the site directly with issues regarding copyright for immediate resolution)