by Bosibori Mainye
Source: Black Movies Entertainment
My Friday plan was to go for a 6pm movie screening at PAWA 254. The poster read, “The Father of African Cinema: Sembene! Across Africa.” Going in, I had no idea what to expect. I just knew it was a documentary about an African filmmaker.
Joined by a handful of non creatives and creatives alike, we sat down and were sucked into this profound story of a true African legend: Ousmane Sembene.
Sembene (the ‘e’ at the end is silent) was born in 1923 in Senegal. Starting out as a fisherman, he later relocated to Marseilles, France to work as a docker.
Following a back injury while carrying a bag of coffee one unfortunate day, he had to get off work and was put on bed rest for 6 months. During this time, Sembene took an interest in reading.
He immersed himself in all forms of literature, and that is when he realised that there wasn’t any piece of African literature. Where were the African stories? Where were the African heroes?
And so he started writing. He wrote articles in French and in 1956, wrote his first novel, Le Docker Noir (The Black Docker). His literary works would later come to inspire many across Africa and beyond, including Samba, who became his biographer and the main narrator in this film.
But as Sembene continued to write, a big problem presented itself. His work was only reaching a small percentage of the African population, and that’s because majority of Africans were illiterate at the time. And so he change tact.
For a year, between 1962 and 1963, Sembene went to Moscow to study filmmaking. He knew film would reach a wider African audience.
He came back home and made his first film, Barom Sarret (The Wagoner) in 1963. He was the first African ever to make an African film featuring Africans, for Africans.
He went ahead and produced another one, his first feature film, in 1966 called The Black Girl, which went on to win a French award and brought international attention to Sembene and African film in general. And he relentlessly continued to make moving, thought provoking films until his death in 2007.
Throughout the whole film, a few things are evident. One, is that Sembene loved and was passionate about Africa. He believed that Africa had such great stories and he always urged Africans to tell those stories in his interviews and through his work.
Second, he was a creative, constantly obsessed with his work and creating. His wife even commented once during an interview that Sembene was sometimes a polygamist, in that when he was creating, creation became his first wife.
Third, he was a confident, sometimes arrogant man, who didn’t shy away from exploring controversial topics. In fact, a couple of his films were banned because of that very reason. But that did not stop him. He had this incredible fire to keep creating. People would often tell him that being frank was his downfall, but Sembene was quick to reply, “Being frank is not my downfall. It is my freedom.”
Fourth, he was a hardworking man committed to his craft. Even when his health was deteriorating, he never for one second slowed down. When he was asked to take a break he said, “After I die I’ll have plenty of time to rest. Let’s get to work.”
It’s been 10 years now since he passed away and it pains me that this is the first I’m hearing of this African hero. And my initial thoughts after finishing the documentary were to go do further research on this guy and watch all his films. His story moved me and I was in awe at how much he was able to accomplish in his lifetime.
Snippets of his famous films are shown throughout the movie, along with the ‘behind the scenes’ action into how he made his films and some of his interviews. In between, people who knew him and were close to him talked about him and his work. He was greatly admired.
This documentary is a must-watch. It will leave you feeling inspired and challenged to pursue your dreams no matter the circumstances. And the beauty of this documentary is that it will resonate with everyone.
Bosi is the Finance and Budget Coordinator for The Arena Kenya. She describes herself as a curious soul, a certified bibliophile and an avid foodie.
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