International Studies 198 - Studies in African Film

Michael Dembrow, Instructor

SSII 2000

(AE) = African Experiences of Cinema

(SS) = Sisters of the Screen

Week I

June 20 Introductions

The Course

Images of Africa: screening and discussion of Consuming Hunger: Shaping the

Image

Hollywood's Image of Africa

Handout on African values

Presentation of Yaaba study questions

Screening: Yaaba (Burkina Faso, 1989, 90 min.)

June 22 Discussion of Yaaba

Film Analysis

Brief Overview of African History

The Colonial Legacy

Intro. to Ousmane Sembène

Presentation of Xala study questions

Screening of Xala (Senegal, 1974, 123 min.)

To be read: Handout: "Africa Through African Eyes"

Intro., pp. 1-17 (AE)

To be written: Answers to Yaaba study questions

Journal entry

Week II

June 27 Patterns in African History

Ousmane Sembène--"The Father of African Film"

Discussion of Xala

Presentation of Zan Boko Questions

Screening: Zan Boko (Burkina Faso, 1988, 94 min.)

To be read: Handout: "Historical Background"

Handouts on Ousmane Sembène

"Resolutions . . .," pp. 17-26 (AE)

To be written: Answers to Xala study questions

Journal entry

June 29 The Film Industry in Africa

The Algiers Conference and Subsequent Developments

FESPACO

Discussion of Zan Boko

Presentation of Keita questions

Screening of Keita: The Heritage of the Griot ((Burkina Faso, 1995, 94 min.)

To be read: Med Hondo, "What Is Cinema for Us?" 39-41 (AE)

Pfaff, "Africa From Within," 223-238 (AE)

To be written: Answers to Zan Boko study questions

Journal entry

Week III

July 4 NO CLASS!!!!

July 6 Baba Wagué Diakité on Sundjata and traditional storytelling

Griots: Culture, Myth, Legacy, Social Critique

Discussion of Keita

Presentation of Pièces d'Identité questions

Screening of Pièces d'Identité(Congo, 1998, 94 min.)

To be read: Handout: "Cinematic Griot as Participant, Compromised or Otherwise"

Handout: "African Filmmaker as Griot?

"African Cinema and the Headshrinkers," 42-44 (AE)

"To Make a Film Means to Take a Position," 45-47 (AE) "Responsibility and Freedom of Expression," 65-66 (AE

"Cinema and Freedoms" Reflections of a Senegalese Film-Maker," 67-69 (AE)

"Freedom: The Power to Say No," 70-71 (AE)

To be written: Answers to Keita questions

Journal entry

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