African Film
This page features a small selection of UConn library and external resources to support learning and research pertaining to African film and television. This list is meant to be exploratory and is not a comprehensive representation or list of the library's holdings.
For additional assistance, please contact Samuel Boss, at samuel.boss@uconn.edu.
Africa on Film: Afrocentric Perspectives
African Experiences of Cinema by
African Experiences of Cinema brings together important historical documents, contemporary testimonies and critical essays. Film makers, scholars and critics detail their responses to, and experiences of, the challenges of cinema across the African continent.
Call Number: PN1993.5.A35 A36 1996ISBN: 0851705103Publication Date: 1996-10-01
African Film: re-imagining a continent by
In African Film: Re-imagining a Continent, Josef Gugler provides an introduction to African cinema through an analysis of 15 films made by African filmmakers. These directors set out to re-image Africa; their films offer Western viewers the opportunity to re-imagine the continent and its people. As a point of comparison, two additional films on Africa--one from Hollywood, the other from apartheid South Africa--serve to highlight African directors' altogether different perspectives. Gugler's interpretation considers the financial and technical difficulties of African film production, the intended audiences in Africa and the West, the constraints on distribution, and the critical reception of the films.
Call Number: PN1993.5.A35 G77 2003ISBN: 9780253343505Publication Date: 2004-01-08
African Film and Literature: adapting violence to the screen by
Analyzing a range of South African and West African films inspired by African and non-African literature, Lindiwe Dovey identifies a specific trend in contemporary African filmmaking-one in which filmmakers are using the embodied audiovisual medium of film to offer a critique of physical and psychological violence. Against a detailed history of the medium's savage introduction and exploitation by colonial powers in two very different African contexts, Dovey examines the complex ways in which African filmmakers are preserving, mediating, and critiquing their own cultures while seeking a united vision of the future. More than merely representing socio-cultural realities in Africa, these films engage with issues of colonialism and postcolonialism, "updating" both the history and the literature they adapt to address contemporary audiences in Africa and elsewhere. Through this deliberate and radical re-historicization of texts and realities, Dovey argues that African filmmakers have developed a method of filmmaking that is altogether distinct from European and American forms of adaptation.
Call Number: Print & eBookISBN: 0231519389Publication Date: 2009-05-20
African Filmmaking: five formations by
This volume attempts to join the disparate worlds of Egyptian, Maghrebian, South African, Francophone, and Anglophone African cinema--that is, five "formations" of African cinema. These five areas are of particular significance--each in its own way. The history of South Africa, heavily marked by apartheid and its struggles, differs considerably from that of Egypt, which early on developed its own "Hollywood on the Nile." The history of French colonialism impacted the three countries of the Maghreb--Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco--differently than those in sub-Saharan Africa, where Senegal and Sembène had their own great effect on the Sahelian region. Anglophone Africa, particularly the films of Ghana and Nigeria, has dramatically altered the ways people have perceived African cinema for decades. History, geography, production, distribution, and exhibition are considered alongside film studies concerns about ideology and genre. This volume provides essential information for all those interested in the vital worlds of cinema in Africa since the time of the Lumière brothers.
Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781609175276Publication Date: 2017-05-01
African Filmmaking: North and South of the Sahara by
African Filmmaking: North and South of the Saharais the first comprehensive study in English linking filmmaking in the Maghreb (Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia) with that in francophone West Africa and examining the factors (including Islam and the involvement of African and French governments) which have shaped post-independence production. The main focus is the development over forty years of two main traditions of African filmmaking: a social realist strand examining the nature of postcolonial society and a more experimental approach where emphasis is placed on new stylistic patterns able to embrace history, myth and magic. The work of younger filmmakers born since independence is examined in the light of these two traditions.Features: *An overview of the socio-political context shaped by Islam and French colonialism.*A look at filmmaking in Africa before the mid-1960s.*An examination of the inputs of African and French governments into post-independence developments North and South of the Sahara.*A historical survey of the two major tendencies in African film production over the past 40 years.*A detailed analysis of the work of five talented young filmmakers, representative of those born since independence.
Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780748628063Publication Date: 2006-01-01
Cinema in a Democratic South Africa: the race for representation by
Lucia Saks uses South African cinema as a lens through which to view cultural changes resulting from the end of apartheid in 1994. She examines how media transformed the meaning of race and nation during this period and argues that, as apartheid was disbanded and new racial constructs allowed, South Africa quickly sought a new mode of representation as a way to distance itself from the violence and racism of the half-century prior, as well as to demonstrate stability amid social disruption. This rapid search for a new way to identify and portray itself is what Saks refers to as the race for representation. She contextualizes this race in terms of South African history, the media, apartheid, sexuality, the economy, community, early South African cinema, and finally speculates about the future of "counter-cinema" in present-day South Africa.
Call Number: PN1993.5.S6 S35 2010ISBN: 9780253354570Publication Date: 2010-07-19
Global Nollywood: the transnational dimensions of an African video film industry by
Global Nollywood considers this first truly African cinema beyond its Nigerian origins. In 15 lively essays, this volume traces the engagement of the Nigerian video film industry with the African continent and the rest of the world. Topics such as Nollywood as a theoretical construct, the development of a new, critical film language, and Nollywood's transformation outside of Nigeria reveal the broader implications of this film form as it travels and develops. Highlighting controversies surrounding commodification, globalization, and the development of the film industry on a wider scale, this volume gives sustained attention to Nollywood as a uniquely African cultural production.
Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780253009425Publication Date: 2013-05-27
Men in African Film and Fiction by
Through their analysis of the depictions in film and literature of masculinities in colonial, independent and post-independent Africa, the contributors open some key African texts to a more obviously politicized set of meanings. Collectively, the essays provide space for rethinking current theory on gender and masculinity: - how only some of the most popular theories in masculinity studies in the West hold true in African contexts; - howWestern masculinities react with indigenous masculinities on the continent; - how masculinity and femininity in Africa seem to reside more on a continuum of cultural practices than on absolutely opposite planes; - andhow generation often functions as a more potent metaphor than gender. Lahoucine Ouzgane is Associate Professor of English & Film Studies, University of Alberta, Canada.
Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781846159329Publication Date: 2011-02-17
Postcolonial Images: studies in North African film by
Postcolonial Images is a comprehensive introduction to and resource for cinema of the Maghreb. In clear and accessible prose, Roy Armes examines the political and cultural context of the films and the film industry in the post-independence era. Since the birth of cinema, North Africa has been the site of countless European and U.S. film productions. This book, however, focuses on the postcolonial period, when indigenous filmmaking in each of the three Maghreb countries--Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia--arose with the newly independent nations. Comparative analyses of each country's filmmaking in the decades following independence provide a historical portrait of the conditions and environment for the development of a postcolonial cinema. Armes then turns his attention to an in-depth examination of 10 key films produced between the 1970s and the 1990s, including Omar Gatlato, La Nouba, Halfaouine, Silences of the Palace, and Ali Zaoua. The book includes a dictionary of more than 135 North African filmmakers and a chronological filmography.
Call Number: PN1993.5.A35 A76 2005ISBN: 0253344441Publication Date: 2005-02-23
Questioning African Cinema: conversations with filmmakers by
Featuring interviews with key personalities from 12 nations, Questioning African Cinema provides the most extensive, comprehensive account of the origins, practice, and implications of filmmaking in Africa.
Call Number: PN1993.5.A35 U45 2002ISBN: 9780816640041Publication Date: 2002-06-11
Films to Watch
- Black Girl (1965) on DVD at UConn Library
- Guimba the Tyrant (1995) on DVD and streaming at the UConn Library
- Mortu Nega (1998) streaming via UConn Library
- Supa Modo (2018) on Amazon Prime Video
- Teza (2008) on DVD at UConn Library and streaming on YouTube
Africa on Film and the Eurocentric Gaze
Africa on Film: beyond black and white by
From serious social commentary to outrageous camp, from Cry, the Beloved Country to Tarzan and Jungle Queen, American and British films have gone to Africa, either in spirit or reality, to find the treasures that lie there. More than four hundred films have been made about (or in) Africa in the English language, from the beginning of Edison films in the first decade of the twentieth century up to the present. They range from endless "B" movies and boys' adventure films, to the ever-popular animal documentaries and safari docudramas, to serious efforts to understand colonialism and African-American identity. Together they make a fascinating montage of European and American projections - and even occasionally offer an accurate portrait of a continent and its varied peoples. A central theme of Africa on Film is racism. But as the subtitle suggests, there is much more as well: sexism, classism, nationalism, imperialism, pan-Africanism; the complex filmic legacy of a continent in transition, and the world that both forces this transition and watches it. In fluid, amusing, and compelling prose, Cameron shows how English language films dealing with Africa have a mixed legacy of reinforcing racism, sexism, and imperialism, and at the same time challenging it.--Dust jacket
Call Number: PN1995.9.A43 C36 1994ISBN: 0826406580Publication Date: 1994-12-01
Africa on Film: myth and reality by Call Number: PN1995.9.A43 M3ISBN: 9780810458963Publication Date: 1974-01-01
Artificial Africas: colonial images in the times of globalization by
"Africa is an artificial entity," notes Ruth Mayer, "invented and conceived by colonialism." In this wide-ranging study, Mayer explores the ways in which Western, and especially American, popular culture has manufactured and deployed various images of "Africa," and how those changing constructions have reflected Western social and political concerns from the era of colonialism to the age of globalization. Mayer mines an enormous array of sources to expose the diverse images and narrative strategies that have been prominent in Western representations of Africa. She ranges authoritatively from King Solomon's Mines and Tarzan to Khartoum and Greystoke, from Conrad's Heart of Darkness to Nicholas Roeg's film version, from Isak Dinesen and Ernest Hemingway to Ishmael Reed and Charles Johnson, from comic books to hip hop acts. In the process, she shows how seemingly stable cultural stereotypes have actually been transformed to reflect changing attitudes, conditions, and fears in the West, "adjusting the symbolic repertory of yesterday to the conceptual and ideological frameworks of today." Dividing her work into "African Adventures" and "Alternative Africas," Mayer not only restores an international context to American cultural history, but also shows the ways in which these images have functioned within both white and African American communities. With a deft command of both cultural source materials and current debates, Mayer explores the complex and powerful roles these "artificial Africas" have played in Western culture.
Call Number: E169.04 .M3694 2002ISBN: 9781584651918Publication Date: 2002-10-01
Black and White in Colour: African history on screen by
Black and White in Colour considers how the African past has been represented in a wide range of historical films. Written by an eminent team of scholars, the volume provides extensive coverage of issues that have been prominent in the written history of Africa. Among the themes dealt with are the slave trade, imperialism and colonialism, racism and anti-colonial resistance. Many of the films will be familiar to readers: they include Out of Africa, Hotel Rwanda, Lumumba, Cry Freedom, The Battle of Algiers, and Ceddo. VIVIAN BICKFORD-SMITH works in the Historical Studies Department at the University of Cape Town; RICHARD MENDELSOHN is currently the head of the Department of Historical Studies at the University of Cape Town. North America: Ohio U Press; Southern Africa: Double Storey/Juta
Call Number: PN1995.9.A43 B53 2007ISBN: 9781847015228Publication Date: 2007-03-18
Hollywood's Africa after 1994 by
Hollywood's Africa after 1994 investigates Hollywood's colonial film legacy in the postapartheid era, and contemplates what has changed in the West's representations of Africa. How do we read twenty-first-century projections of human rights issues--child soldiers, genocide, the exploitation of the poor by multinational corporations, dictatorial rule, truth and reconciliation--within the contexts of celebrity humanitarianism, "new" military humanitarianism, and Western support for regime change in Africa and beyond? A number of films after 1994, such as Black Hawk Down, Hotel Rwanda, Blood Diamond, The Last King of Scotland, The Constant Gardener, Shake Hands with the Devil, Tears of the Sun, and District 9, construct explicit and implicit arguments about the effects of Western intervention in Africa. Do the emphases on human rights in the films offer a poignant expression of our shared humanity? Do they echo the colonial tropes of former "civilizing missions?" Or do human rights violations operate as yet another mine of sensational images for Hollywood's spectacular storytelling? The volume provides analyses by academics and activists in the fields of African studies, English, film and media studies, international relations, and sociology across continents. This thoughtful and highly engaging book is a valuable resource for those who seek new and varied approaches to films about Africa. Contributors Harry Garuba and Natasha Himmelman Margaret R. Higonnet, with Ethel R. Higgonet Joyce B. Ashuntantang Kenneth W. Harrow Christopher Odhiambo Ricardo Guthrie Clifford T. Manlove Earl Conteh-Morgan Bennetta Jules-Rosette, J. R. Osborn, and Lea Marie Ruiz-Ade Christopher Garland Kimberly Nichele Brown Jane Bryce Iyunolu Osagie Dayna Oscherwitz
Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780821444337Publication Date: 2012-11-01
In Darkest Hollywood: exploring the jungles of cinema's South Africa by
"From the earliest days of cinema, the idea of South Africa - the land of gold, diamonds and Zulus - captured the imagination of film-makers. In Hollywood as much as in Johannesburg, cinema uncritically took over the image of South Africa created by the literature of imperialism. Whites occupied centre frame, with Africans depicted as adjuncts (the faithful servant) or the enemy ('the savage other')." "This path-breaking study, based on years of original research, interviews with directors, scriptwriters, actors and historians, analyses and describes the development and history of films on South Africa. It encompasses the racist and the colonial, the subtle and the poignant, the commercial and the politically committed." "Relating film-making to broader changes both in South African society and elsewhere, In Darkest Hollywood provides a comprehensive and profusely illustrated history and deconstruction of fiction cinema on South Africa."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Call Number: PN1995.9 .S655 D38 1996ISBN: 0821411624Publication Date: 1996-11-01
Films to Watch
- African Queen (1951) on DVD at UConn Library
- Blood Diamond (2006) on DVD at UConn Library and streaming on Netflix
- Hotel Rwanda (2004) on DVD at UConn Library and streaming via HBO Max
- Out of Africa (1985) on DVD at UConn Library or streaming on Amazon Prime Video
- White Masai (2005) on DVD at UConn Library
For more Eurocentric films about Africa, visit "Africa through Western Eyes" -- a list of 339 films by filmmakers from Europe and North America, 1897-2019.
