Two films from and about Senegal followed by a Q&A.
SenCinema
(directed by Josh Gibson & Amadou Fofana, edited by Jim Haverkamp; 2018, 34 min, USA, in English, Color, DCP)
If the movie theatres have closed down and there is no screening alternative, the art of cinema might die completely. A documentary about the history of the once-rich film culture of Senegal, how this suddenly collapsed and how some people are not prepared to leave it at that.
Black Girl
(Ousmane Sembene, 1966, 65 min, Senegal/France, in French w/ English subtitles, Black and White, DCP)
A Senegalese woman is eager to find a better life abroad. She takes a job as a governess for a French family, but finds her duties reduced to those of a maid after the family moves from Dakar to the south of France. In her new country, the woman is constantly made aware of her race and mistreated by her employers. Her hope for better times turns to disillusionment and she falls into isolation and despair. The harsh treatment leads her to consider suicide the only way out.
Q&A with the Makers of SenCinema
- Amadou Fofana (Assoc. Prof. of French, Willamette University; Humanities Writ-Large 2015-2016 Visiting Faculty Fellow, Duke University), SenCinema co-director
- Josh Gibson (Assoc. Prof. of the Practice, AAHVS), SenCinema co-director
- Jim Haverkamp (Lecturing Fellow, AMI), SenCinema editor
