A discussion about Senegal's most admired filmmaker, Ousmane Sembene, and screenings of his films are planned for the next Remembering the Crossings event at Grand Valley State University.
Samba Gadjigo, professor of Francophone Studies at Mount Holyoke College, will lead discussions each night during a GVSU film festival at the Cook-DeWitt Center on the Allendale Campus. Gadjigo is the author of the first authorized biography of Sembene, forthcoming in French, to be followed by an English translation edition from Indiana University Press. All events are free and open to the public.
Wednesday, March 14, 7 p.m. - "Man is Culture" presented
by Dr. Gadjigo, who explores Ousmane Sembene's cultural production and
his questioning of history, including slavery.
Thursday, March 15,
7:30 p.m. - Screening of "Black Girl" (1966) and the
documentary "The Making of Moolaadé" (2004) followed by
discussion.
Friday, March 16, 7 p.m. - Screening of
"Moolaadé" (2004) and discussion.
Sembene was born in 1923 in southern Senegal and spent many years as a manual laborer. In 1947, he migrated to Marseilles, France, until Senegal was granted its political independence in 1960. During his time in France, Sembene attended seminars and workshops on Marxism and joined the French communist party in 1950. He worked at educating and liberating other African workers on the fringe of French society.
Since returning to Senegal in 1960, Sembene has been devoted to Africans that are disenfranchised and marginalized by their own society through both literary and film creations.
Sembene's first feature film, "La noire de," known in English as "Black Girl," was made in 1966, and is credited as the beginning of African cinema. The story of exile and despair features a Senegalese maid taken to the French Riviera by her French employers. Outside of Africa, she feels dehumanized. The film won the Jean Vigo Prize in Paris and the Grand Prize at the Dakar Black Arts Festival.
The film "Moolaadé" focuses on the still common African practice of female circumcision. A strong-willed woman, who has managed to shield her own daughter from mutilation, provides moolaadé, or sanctuary, to four young girls seeking her help. This film was the 2004 winner of the Cannes Film Festival "Un Certain Regard."
Remembering the Crossings events are continuing throughout West Michigan to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. For more information call Steeve Buckridge at GVSU's Department of History, (616) 331-8550, or visit www.gvsu.edu/abolition for a complete list of area events.
