Cinema of Africa

{{Short description|none}}  [[File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Straatgezicht met filmposter Tunis TMnr 20013070.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|right|Cinematic street poster in Tunis, Tunisia for the Egyptian film ''Saladin the Victorious'' (1963, Arabic: الناصر صلاح الدين, Al Nasser Salah Ad-Din) directed by Youssef Chahine starring Ahmed Mazhar as Saladin, Salah Zulfikar, Nadia Lutfi and others]]

'''Cinema of Africa''' refers to the film industries and films produced in the continent of Africa. It covers both the history and present of the making or screening of films on the African continent, and also refers to the persons involved in this form of audiovisual culture. It dates back to the late 19th century, when film reels were the primary cinematic technology in use. Cairo has been the capital of film industry in Africa since the early 20th century to the present day.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ntsal |title=The Golden Age of Cairo’s Silver Screens |url=https://rawi-publishing.com/articles/the-golden-age-of-cairo's-silver-screens?lang=en#:~:text=Attracted%20to%20Cairo,%20Egyptian%20and,of%20young%20and%20enterprising%20architects. |access-date=2025-12-30 |website=rawi-publishing.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-03-17 |title=تاريخ السينما المصرية - Chamber of Cinema industry |url=https://cci.org.eg/en/%d8%aa%d8%a7%d8%b1%d9%8a%d8%ae-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b3%d9%8a%d9%86%d9%85%d8%a7-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d8%b5%d8%b1%d9%8a%d8%a9/ |access-date=2025-12-30 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Cairo {{!}} Egypt, Meaning, Map, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Cairo |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251116225737/https://www.britannica.com/place/Cairo |archive-date=2025-11-16 |access-date=2025-12-30 |work=Encyclopedia Britannica |language=en}}</ref>

As there are more than 50 countries with audiovisual traditions, there is no one single 'African cinema'. Both historically and culturally, there are major regional differences between North African and sub-Saharan cinemas, and between the cinemas of different countries.<ref name="Hayward, Susan 2006. p. 426-442">Hayward, Susan. "Third World Cinemas: African Continent" in ''Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts'' (Third Edition). Routledge, 2006. p. 426-442</ref> The Egyptian film industry and the Tunisian are also among the oldest in the world. Cinema of Egypt in particular is the most established and flourishing industry in Africa.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Houissa |first=Ali |title=LibGuides: Middle Eastern & North African Cinema & Film: Egyptian Cinema & Film |url=https://guides.library.cornell.edu/MidEastCinema/Egypt |access-date=2023-12-18 |website=guides.library.cornell.edu |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gaffney |first=Jane |date=1987 |title=The Egyptian Cinema: Industry and Art in a Changing Society |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41857918 |journal=Arab Studies Quarterly |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=53–75 |jstor=41857918 |issn=0271-3519}}</ref> Pioneers Auguste and Louis Lumière screened their films in Alexandria, Cairo, Tunis, Susa, Libya and Hammam-Lif, Tunisia in 1896.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LmSFAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA23|title=Companion Encyclopedia of Middle Eastern and North African Film|last=Leaman|first=Oliver|date=2003-12-16|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781134662524|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bibalex.org/alexcinema/historical/beginnings.html|title=Alexandria, Why? (The Beginnings of the Cinema Industry in Alexandria)|publisher=Bibliotheca Alexandrina's AlexCinema}}</ref> Albert Samama Chikly is often cited as the first producer of indigenous African cinema, screening his own short documentaries in the casino of Tunis as early as December 1905.<ref name="Ritrovato">{{cite web | url=https://festival.ilcinemaritrovato.it/en/proiezione/albert-samama-chikly-tre-programmi/| title=Three Programmes | publisher=Cinema Ritrovato | accessdate=14 October 2020}}</ref>

The first film to be produced was 1923's ''Barsoum Looking for a Job'' in Egypt.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://m.imdb.com/title/tt8737540/trivia/?ref_=tt_dyk_trv |title=Barsoum Looking for a Job (Short 1923) - Trivia - IMDb |language=en-US |access-date=2025-04-22 |via=m.imdb.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=UNESCO |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i_BMEAAAQBAJ&dq=Barsoum+Looking+for+a+Job+)+,+1923.+by+.+Mohamed+Bayoumi&pg=PA263 |title=The African Film Industry: Trends, challenges and opportunities for growth |date=2021-10-01 |publisher=UNESCO Publishing |isbn=978-92-3-100470-4 |language=en}}</ref> Alongside his daughter Haydée Tamzali, Chikly would go on to produce important early milestones such as 1924's ''The Girl from Carthage''. In 1927, Egypt produced ''Laila,'' the first feature-length film produced by Aziza Amir and directed by Stephan Rosti and Wedad Orfi. In 1935, the Studio Misr in Cairo began producing mostly formulaic comedies and musicals, but also films like Kamal Selim's ''The Will'' (1939). Egyptian cinema flourished in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, considered its Golden Age.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://eng.babelmed.net/dossier/120-egypt/6913-the-golden-age-of-egyptian-cinema-the-1940s-to-1960s.html|title=The Golden Age of Egyptian Cinema – the 1940s to 1960s|access-date=2017-10-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171125070157/http://eng.babelmed.net/dossier/120-egypt/6913-the-golden-age-of-egyptian-cinema-the-1940s-to-1960s.html|archive-date=2017-11-25|url-status=dead}}</ref> Youssef Chahine's seminal ''Cairo Station'' (1958) laid the foundation for Arab film.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/feature/49355 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120803090558/http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/feature/49355 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-08-03 |title=African Cinema: Invisible Classics |publisher=British Film Institute}}</ref>

The Egyptian film industry is the largest in Africa in terms of revenue and popularity, while the Nigerian film industry is the largest in terms of volume and number of annual films,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.afriff.com/post/top-10-film-industries-in-africa#:~:text=Topping%20the%20list%20is%20Nigeria,second%20only%20to%20India's%20Bollywood |access-date=2023-10-25 |website=afriff.com |title=Top 10 film industries in Africa |date=4 August 2023 |publisher=AFRIFF African International Film Festival}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |access-date=2023-10-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130309160415/https://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=30707 |archive-date=2013-03-09 |url=https://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=30707 |title=Nigeria surpasses Hollywood as world's second largest film producer – UN |publisher=United Nations |date=2009-05-05 |website=un.org}}</ref><ref name="Independent 2010">{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/nigerias-nollywood-eclipsing-hollywood-in-africa-1974087.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100518123107/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/nigerias-nollywood-eclipsing-hollywood-in-africa-1974087.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 18, 2010 |title=Nigeria's Nollywood eclipsing Hollywood in Africa |date=May 15, 2010 |work=The Independent |access-date=2010-11-24}}</ref> it is also the second largest film producer in the world.<ref name="gov">{{cite web|url=https://www.pwc.com/ng/en/assets/pdf/spolight-the-nigerian-film-industry.pdf|title=Spotlight: The Nigerian Film Industry|date=July 2017}}</ref> In 2016, Nigeria's film industry contributed 2.3% to its gross domestic product (GDP).<ref name=gov /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Report: Saudi is the Egyptian Film Industry's Biggest Export Market |url=https://cairoscene.com/artsandculture/report-saudi-is-the-egyptian-film-industry-s-biggest-export-market |access-date=2025-12-30 |website=CairoScene}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Egyptian Boxoffice year 2025 week 52 |url=https://elcinema.com/en/boxoffice/SA/ |access-date=2025-12-30 |website=elcinema.com}}</ref>

==History== ===Colonial era=== {{See also |Annees folles |Negritude}} During the colonial era, Africa was represented largely by Western filmmakers. In the first decades of the twentieth century, Western filmmakers made films that depicted black Africans as "exoticized", "submissive workers" or as "savage or cannibalistic". For example, see ''Kings of the Cannibal Islands'' in 1909, ''Voodoo Vengeance'' (1913) and ''Congorilla'' (1932).<ref name="Hayward, Susan 2006. p. 426-442"/> The first film to be produced was the Egyptian film ''Barsoum Looking for a Job'' (1923).<ref name=":2">{{Cite AV media |url=https://m.imdb.com/title/tt8737540/trivia/?ref_=tt_dyk_trv |title=Barsoum Looking for a Job (Short 1923) - Trivia - IMDb |language=en-US |access-date=2025-04-22 |via=m.imdb.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=UNESCO |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i_BMEAAAQBAJ&dq=Barsoum+Looking+for+a+Job+)+,+1923.+by+.+Mohamed+Bayoumi&pg=PA263 |title=The African Film Industry: Trends, challenges and opportunities for growth |date=2021-10-01 |publisher=UNESCO Publishing |isbn=978-92-3-100470-4 |language=en}}</ref>

[[File:Barsoum_Looking_for_a_Job_(1923_film)_10.jpg|alt=Barsoum Looking for a Job (1923 film) 10|thumb|Bishara Wakim in ''Barsoum Looking for a Job'' (1923), the first African film production.<ref name=":2" />]]

Colonial era films portrayed Africa as exotic, without history or culture. Examples abound and include jungle epics based on the Tarzan character created by Edgar Rice Burrou, and the adventure film ''The African Queen'' (1951), and various adaptations of H. Rider Haggard's novel ''King Solomon's Mines'' (1885).<ref name="authentic">{{cite journal | author=Murphskirty, David| title=Africans Filming Africa: Questioning Theories of an Authentic African Cinema| journal=Journal of African Cultural Studies| year=2000| volume=13| issue=2| pages=239–249| doi=10.1080/713674315| jstor=1771833| s2cid=55143264}}</ref>

One of the first films to be entirely produced in Africa was the South African dramatic film ''The Great Kimberley Diamond Robbery'' (1911).<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=February 2010 |title=Almost 100 years old and still rolling! The history of SA cinema Part 2 |url=http://www.gautengfilm.org.za/news/news-archive/2010/february-2010/640-almost-100-years-old-and-still-rolling-the-history-of-sa-cinema-part-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201017195642/http://www.gautengfilm.org.za/news/news-archive/2010/february-2010/640-almost-100-years-old-and-still-rolling-the-history-of-sa-cinema-part-29 |archive-date=17 October 2020}}</ref> It was followed by ''De Voortrekkers'' (1916), South Africa's (and possibly Africa's) first epic film and oldest surviving film, about the Great Trek and targeted at an Afrikaner audience.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Voortrekkers (1916) |url=https://www.africa-in-motion.org.uk/resources/africas-lost-classics/films/event/315/ |access-date=2023-06-12 |website=Africa in Motion |language=en-US}}</ref> A notable theme in early South African cinema was the ethnic confrontation between Afrikaner (specifically Boer) and British South Africans.<ref name=":1" />

Much early ethnographic cinema "focused on highlighting the differences between indigenous people and the white civilised man, thus reinforcing colonial propaganda".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cinefiliaritrovata.it/the-anti-colonial-gaze-in-ethnographic-cinema-voyage-au-congo-e-marquis-de-wavrin/ |title=The anti-colonial gaze in ethnographic cinema: "Voyage au Congo" e "Marquis de Wavrin" |date=July 1, 2018| access-date=October 18, 2018| publisher=Cinefilia ritrovata }}</ref> Marc Allégret's first film,''Voyage au Congo'' (1927) respectfully portrayed the Masa people, in particular a young African entertaining his little brothers with a baby crocodile on a string. Yet Africans were portrayed merely as human, but not equals; a dialogue card, for example, referred to the movements of a traditional dance as naive. His lover, writer André Gide, accompanied Allégret and wrote a book, also titled ''Voyage au Congo''. Allégret later made ''Zouzou'', starring Josephine Baker, the first major film starring a black woman. Baker had caused a sensation in the Paris arts scene by dancing in the {{Interlanguage link|Revue Nègre|fr}} clad only in a string of bananas.

[[File:Bahiga_Hafez.jpg|alt=Bahiga Hafez|thumb|240px|Egyptian filmmaker and actress Bahiga Hafez (1908–1983) in the 1930s]]

In the French colonies, Africans were prohibited by the 1934 Laval Decree from making films of their own.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Barlet, Olivier |title= The Ambivalence of French Funding |journal=Black Camera |volume=3 |number=2 |year=2012| pages=205–16 |doi=10.2979/blackcamera.3.2.205|jstor=10.2979/blackcamera.3.2.205 |s2cid= 143881053 }}</ref><ref>Diawara, Manthia (1992). ''African Cinema: Politics and Culture''. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, pp. 22–23.</ref> The ban stunted the growth of film as a means of African expression, political, cultural, and artistic.<ref>Halhoul, Khalid (2012). "Using African Cinema to Shift Cultural Perceptions." ''Utne Reader'' (June/July 2012 edition). Mixed Media Section, pp. 78–79.</ref> Congolese Albert Mongita did make ''The Cinema Lesson'' in 1951 and in 1953 Mamadou Touré made ''Mouramani'' based on a folk story about a man and his dog.<ref>{{cite web|title=Caught in the Undertow: African Francophone Cinema in the French New Wave |url=http://sensesofcinema.com/2010/feature-articles/caught-in-the-undertow-african-francophone-cinema-in-the-french-new-wave/ |author=Wes Felton |date=December 2010|publisher=Senses of Self}}</ref> In 1955, Paulin Soumanou Vieyra{{spaced ndash}} originally from Benin, but educated in Senegal{{spaced ndash}} along with his colleagues from Le Group Africain du Cinema, shot a short film in Paris, ''Afrique-sur-Seine'' (1955). Vieyra was trained in filmmaking at the Institut des hautes études cinématographiques (IDHEC) in Paris, and despite the ban on filmmaking in Africa, was granted permission to make a film in France.<ref>Diawara (1992), ''African Cinema'', p. 23.</ref> Considered the first film directed by a black African, ''Afrique Sur Seine'' explores the difficulties of being an African in 1950s France.<ref>Gugler, Josef (2003). ''African Film: Re-Imagining a Continent''. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, p. 3.</ref>

Portuguese colonies came to independence with no film production facilities at all, since the colonial government there restricted film-making to colonialist propaganda, emphasizing the inferiority of indigenous populations. Therefore, little thought was given until independence to developing authentic African voices.<ref>{{cite book|page=234| volume=1|title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of African Thought |author1=Abiola Irele|author2= Biodun Jeyifo |editor1=Abiola Irele|editor2= Biodun Jeyifo |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0195334739 |via=Google Books |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hF_xjFL6_NEC&pg=PA233 }}</ref>

In the mid-1930s, the Bantu Educational Kinema Experiment in eastern and south-eastern African countries was conducted in an attempt to "educate the Bantu, mostly about hygiene. Only three films from this project survive; they are kept at the British Film Institute.<ref>Notcutt, L. A., and G. C. Latham, ''The African and the Cinema: An Account of the Work of the Bantu Educational Cinema Experiment during the Period March 1935 to May 1937'', London: Edinburgh House Press, 1937.</ref>

Before the colonies' independence, few anti-colonial films were produced. Examples include ''Statues Also Die'' (''Les statues meurent aussi'') by Chris Marker and Alain Resnais, about European theft of African art; the second half of the film was banned for years by the French authorities. The 1950 film ''Afrique 50'' by René Vautier, showed anti-colonial riots in Côte d'Ivoire and in Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), and was likewise banned, with Vautier being jailed for several months.<ref>Melissa Thackway (2003). ''Africa Shoots Back: Alternative Perspectives in Sub-Saharan Francophone African Film''. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-253-34349-9}}, pp. 7 and 32.</ref>

[[File:Lobna_Abdel_Aziz_(Bride_of_the_Nile)_2.jpg|thumb|Lobna Abdel Aziz in ''Bride of the Nile'' (1963)]]

Also doing film work in Africa at this time was French ethnographic filmmaker Jean Rouch, controversial with both French and African audiences. Film documentaries such as ''Jaguar'' (1955), ''Les maitres fous'' (1955), ''Moi, un noir'' (1958) and ''La pyramide humaine'' (1961). Rouch's documentaries were not explicitly anti-colonial, but did challenge perceptions of colonial Africa and give a new voice to Africans.<ref>For more on Rouch's work, see Steven Feld (ed.), ''Cine-Ethnography'' (1994), and Paul Henley, ''The Adventure of the Real: Jean Rouch and the Craft of Ethnographic Cinema'' (2010).</ref> Although Rouch was accused by Ousmane Sembene and others<ref>See, for example, Nwachukwu Frank Ukadike, ''Black African Cinema'' (1994), pp. 48–58.</ref> of seeing Africans "as if they are insects,"<ref>{{Cite web|title=You look at us like insects|url=http://maitres-fous.net/Sembene.html|access-date=2021-10-12|website=maitres-fous.net}}</ref> Rouch was an important figure in the developing field of African film and was the first person to work with Africans, of whom many had important careers in African cinema (Oumarou Ganda, Safi Faye and Moustapha Alassane, and others).<ref>Diawara (1992). ''African Cinema'', pp. 23–24. See also Henley, Paul (2010), ''The Adventure of the Real: Jean Rouch and the Craft of Ethnographic Cinema'', Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 310–337.</ref>

Because most films made prior to independence were egregiously racist in nature, African filmmakers of the independence era,{{spaced ndash}} such as Ousmane Sembene and Oumarou Ganda, among others{{spaced ndash}} saw filmmaking as an important political tool for rectifying the image of Africans put forward by Western filmmakers and for reclaiming the image of Africa for Africans.<ref>Thackway (2003). ''Africa Shoots Back'', pp. 1–6.</ref>

===Post-independence and 1970s=== [[File:Beattie and GBC puppets '68 (3).jpg|thumb|''The Ghana Broadcasting Puppet Show'' developed by Beattie Casely-Hayford (1968)]] [[File:Salah_Zulfikar&Soad_Hosny.jpg|alt=|thumb|Salah Zulfikar and Soad Hosny in the Egyptian film ''Those People of the Nile'' (Egyptian Arabic: الناس والنيل, Al Nass Wal Nil) directed by Youssef Chahine (1972)]] The first African film to win international recognition was Sembène Ousmane's ''La Noire de...'' also known as ''Black Girl''. It showed the despair of an African woman who has to work as a maid in France. It won the Prix Jean Vigo in 1966.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vulture.com/2015/02/how-ousmane-sembene-invented-african-cinema.html |work= Vulture |date=November 5, 2015|title=The Story of Sembene!: How Ousmane Sembene Invented African Cinema |author=Bilge Ebiri |access-date=October 28, 2018}}</ref> Initially a writer, Sembène had turned to cinema to reach a wider audience. He is still considered the "father of African cinema".<ref>{{Cite web |last=McLellan |first=Dennis |date=2007-06-14 |title=Ousmane Sembene, 84; Sengalese hailed as 'the father of African film' |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-jun-14-me-sembene14-story.html |access-date=2024-09-24 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> Sembène's native Senegal continued to be the most important place of African film production for more than a decade.{{Citation needed|date=August 2009}}

With the creation of the African film festival FESPACO in today's Burkina Faso in 1969, African film created its own forum. FESPACO now takes place every two years in alternation with the Carthago film festival in Tunisia.

The Pan African Federation of Filmmakers (Fédération Panafricaine des Cinéastes, or FEPACI)<ref>[http://www.fepaci.org/congress1 FEPACI.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140226111448/http://www.fepaci.org/congress1/ |date=2014-02-26 }}</ref> was formed in 1969 to promote African film industries in terms of production, distribution and exhibition. From its inception, FEPACI was seen as a critical partner organization to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), now the African Union. FEPACI looks at the role of film in the politico-economic and cultural development of African states and the continent as a whole.

Med Hondo's ''Soleil O'', shot in 1969, was immediately recognized. No less politically engaged than Sembène, he chose a more controversial filmic language to show what it means to be a stranger in France with the "wrong" skin colour.{{citation needed|date=October 2018}}

===1980s and 1990s=== [[File:Souleymane Cissé.jpg|thumb|left|Malian film director Souleymane Cissé at the third International Festival "Cines del Sur" in Granada, 2009]] Souleymane Cissé's ''Yeelen'' (Mali, 1987) was the first film made by a Black African to compete at Cannes.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://qz.com/africa/1282690/african-filmmakers-in-cannes-2018-want-to-take-back-control-from-european-producers/ |title=In Cannes, African filmmakers are plotting to take back control from European producers | author=Nadia Neophytou |work=QuartzAfrica |date=May 19, 2018}}</ref> Cheick Oumar Sissoko's ''Guimba'' (Mali, 1995) was also well received in the West. Many films of the 1990s, including ''Quartier Mozart'' by Jean-Pierre Bekolo (Cameroon, 1992), are situated in the globalized African metropolis.

Nigerian cinema experienced a large growth in the 1990s with the increasing availability of home video cameras in Nigeria, and soon put Nollywood in the nexus for West African English-language films. Nollywood produced 1844 movies in 2013 alone.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://fortune.com/2015/06/24/nollywood-movie-industry/ |title=Meet 'Nollywood': The second largest movie industry in the world |author=Jake Bright |date=June 24, 2015 |access-date=October 28, 2018|publisher=Fortune}}</ref>

The last movie theatre in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, shut down in 2004. Many of the former cinemas were converted to churches.<ref name=drG>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/06/congo-cinema-religion-la-belle-at-the-movies |work=The Guardian |title=The death of cinema in Congo: how churches killed off cowboy films: As the country is left without a single film theatre, a new documentary explores the end of a once thriving movie culture |author=Colm McAuliffe |date=November 6, 2015|access-date=October 28, 2018}}</ref> In 2009 the UN refugee agency screened ''Breaking the Silence'' in South Kivu and Katanga Province. The film deals with rape in the Congolese civil wars<ref>{{cite web|url=https://reliefweb.int/report/democratic-republic-congo/dr-congo-unhcr-uses-cinema-spread-awareness-sexual-violence |title=DR Congo: UNHCR uses cinema to spread awareness of sexual violence |date=July 30, 2009|access-date=October 28, 2018}}</ref> In neighboring Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo, a 200-seat cinema, MTS Movies House, opened in 2016,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jeuneafrique.com/351255/culture/congo-ouverture-dun-cinema-a-pointe-de-technologie/ |title= Congo : ouverture d'une salle de cinéma à la pointe de la technologie: La République du Congo s'offre un cinéma de haut standing de 200 places à Brazzaville |trans-title=Congo:Opening of a cutting-edge cinema hall: The Republic of the Congo getting a luxury cinema with 200 seats in Brazzaville| publisher=JeuneAfrique|author=Jean-Sebastien Josset |date=August 25, 2016 |access-date=October 28, 2018|language=fr}}</ref> and in April 2018, construction began on another new cinema .<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.adiac-congo.com/content/cinema-bientot-une-salle-de-projection-brazzaville-82177|trans-title=Cinema: Soon a screen in Brazzaville|title=Cinéma : bientôt une salle de projection à Brazzaville |date=19 April 2018 |access-date=October 28, 2018| language=fr}}</ref>

A first African Film Summit took place in South Africa in 2006. It was followed by FEPACI 9th Congress. The Africa Movie Academy Awards were launched in 2004, marking the growth of local film industries like that of Nigeria as well as the development and spread of the film industry culture in sub-Saharan Africa.

=== 2000s and 2010s === [[File:Abderrahmane Sissako César 2016.jpg|thumb|Abderrahmane Sissako at the ceremony of the César Awards, Paris in 2016]] [[File:منة شلبي.jpg|thumb|Menna Shalabi, Egyptian film star]] Contemporary African cinema deals with a wide variety of themes relating to modern issues and universal problems.

Migration and relations between African and European countries is a common theme among many African films. Abderrahmane Sissako's film ''Waiting for Happiness'' portrays a Mauritanian city struggling against foreign influences through the journey of a migrant coming home from Europe.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/waiting-for-happiness|title=Waiting for Happiness|last=Gonzalez|first=Ed|date=October 4, 2002|website=Slant Magazine|access-date=December 4, 2018}}</ref> Migration is also an important theme in Mahamat Saleh Haroun's film ''Une Saison en France,'' which shows the journey of a family from the Central African Republic seeking asylum in France.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://en.unifrance.org/movie/42910/a-season-in-france|title=A Season in France (2017)|website=en.unifrance.org|language=en|access-date=2018-12-04}}</ref> Haroun is part of the Chadian diaspora in France, and uses the film to explore aspects of this diasporan experience.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/artist/mahamat-saleh-haroun|title=Mahamat-Saleh HAROUN - Festival de Cannes 2018|website=Festival de Cannes 2018|language=en|access-date=2018-12-04}}</ref>

Africanfuturism and Afrofuturism is a growing genre, encompassing Africans both on the continent and in the diaspora who tell science or speculative fiction stories involving Africa and African people. Neill Blomkamp's ''District 9'' is a well-known example, portraying an alien invasion of South Africa.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2012/sep/03/10-best-african-films|title=African Cinema: ten of the best|last=Cousins|first=Mark|date=September 3, 2012|website=The Guardian|access-date=December 4, 2018}}</ref> Wanuri Kahiu's short film ''Pumzi'' portrays the futuristic fictional Maitu community in Africa 35 years after World War III.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}

Directors including Haroun and Kahiu have expressed concerns about the lack of cinema infrastructure and appreciation in various African countries.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Movies/03/26/wanuri.kahiu.pumzi/index.html|title=Wanuri Kahiu "In Kenya, I'm a hustler"|last=Kermeliotis|first=Teo|date=30 March 2010|work=CNN|access-date=4 December 2018}}</ref> However, organizations such as the Changamoto arts fund are providing more resources and opportunities to African filmmakers.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.contemporaryand.com/institue/changamoto-arts-fund/|title=Changamoto Arts Fund|date=2018|website=Contemporary And|access-date=4 December 2018}}</ref>

=== 2020s === Some African countries suffer a lack of freedom of speech, that undermine the film industry. This is specially severe in Equatorial Guinea.<ref>{{Cite web|title=10 Most Censored Countries|url=https://cpj.org/reports/2019/09/10-most-censored-eritrea-north-korea-turkmenistan-journalist/|access-date=2021-06-01|website=Committee to Protect Journalists|language=en-US}}</ref> The feature film ''The Writer From a Country Without Bookstores''<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.elescritordeunpais.com/en|title=The Writer from a Country Without Bookstores}}</ref> is the first to be shot in the country and critic with Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo's dictatorship, one of the longest lasting in the world.

In 2025, Angola premiered its first musical film, still one of the few to be shot in Africa. Called "The Adventures of Angosat", contains music composed by local rapper Isis Hembe.<ref>{{Cite web|title=First Angolan musical film to premiere at New York African Film Festival |url=https://www.novojornal.co.ao/cultura/detalhe/primeiro-filme-musical-angolano-estreia-em-maio-no-festival-de-cinema-africano-de-nova-65285.html|website=Novojornal|language=PT}}</ref>

===Themes=== [[File:Ousmane_Sembène_(1987)_by_Guenter_Prust.jpg|thumb|left|Senegalese film director, producer and write Ousmane Sembène (1923–2007)]]

African cinema, like cinema in other world regions, covers a wide variety of topics. In Algiers in 1975, the Pan African Federation of Filmmakers (FEPACI) adopted the Charte du cinéaste africain (Charter of the African cinéaste), which recognized the importance of postcolonial and neocolonial realities in African cinema. The filmmakers start by recalling the neocolonial condition of African societies. "The situation contemporary African societies live in is one in which they are dominated on several levels: politically, economically and culturally."{{Citation needed|date=July 2008}} African filmmakers stressed their solidarity with progressive filmmakers in other parts of the world. African cinema is often seen a part of Third Cinema.

Some African filmmakers, for example Ousmane Sembène, try to give African history back to African people by remembering the resistance to European and Islamic domination.

The African filmmaker is often compared to the traditional griot. Like griots, filmmakers' task is to express and reflect communal experiences. Patterns of African oral literature often recur in African films. African film has also been influenced by traditions from other continents, such as Italian neorealism, Brazilian Cinema Novo and the theatre of Bertolt Brecht.

==Women directors== <gallery class="center"> File:Kemi Adetiba.png|Kemi Adetiba (born 1980), Nigerian film maker, 2014 File:Safi Faye.jpg|Safi Faye (1943–2023), Senegalese film director, anthropologist, ethnologist and feminist, 2004 File:Wanuri Kahiu.png|Wanuri Kahiu (born 1980), Kenyan film director, producer, and author, 2018 File:هالة_خليل_3.jpg|Hala Khalil (born 1967), Egyptian film director, producer, and screenwriter, 2018 </gallery>

Recognised as one of the pioneers of Senegalese cinema as well as cinema developed on the African continent at large, ethnologist and filmmaker Safi Faye was the first African woman film director to gain international recognition.<ref>Beti Ellerson, "African through a Woman's Eyes: Safi Faye's Cinema" in ''Focus on African Cinema''(ed) Francoise Pfaff, (Bloomington: Indiana University, 2004), 185</ref> Faye's first film La Passante (The Passerby) was released in 1972 and following this, Kaddu Beykat (Letter from My Village), the filmmaker's first feature film was released in 1975. Faye continued to be active with several released works in the latter half of the 1970s all the way through her latest work, the 1996 drama film Mossane.

Sarah Maldoror, a French filmmaker and the daughter of immigrants from Guadeloupe has been recognised as one of the pioneers of African cinema in the diaspora. She is the founder of Les Griots (The Troubadours), the first drama company in France made for actors of African and Afro-Caribbean descent.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |url=https://www.documentamadrid.com/en/news/pioneer-african-cinema-sarah-maldoror-special-guest-documentamadrid-and-reina-sofia-museum |title=The pioneer in African cinema Sarah Maldoror, special guest to DocumentaMadrid and the Reina Sofía Museum | DocumentaMadrid |access-date=2019-05-08 |archive-date=2019-05-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190508145024/https://www.documentamadrid.com/en/news/pioneer-african-cinema-sarah-maldoror-special-guest-documentamadrid-and-reina-sofia-museum |url-status=dead }}</ref> Originally in the theatre, she went on to study filmmaking at the State Institute of Cinematography of the Russian Federation (VGIK) in Moscow.<ref name=":0" /> In 1972, Maldoror shot her film ''Sambizanga'' about the 1961–74 war in Angola. Surviving African women of this war are the subject of the documentary ''Les Oubliées'' (The forgotten women), made by Anne-Laure Folly 20 years later. Maldoror also worked as assistant director on The Battle of Algiers (1966) with filmmaker Gillo Pontecorvo.

In 1995, Wanjiru Kinyanjui made the feature film ''The Battle of the Sacred Tree'' in Kenya.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.clevelandfilm.org/films/1996/the-battle-of-the-sacred-tree|title=THE BATTLE OF THE SACRED TREE|publisher=Cleaveland International Film Festival|author=G. Cahill|access-date=2018-10-28|archive-date=2018-10-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181028112258/https://www.clevelandfilm.org/films/1996/the-battle-of-the-sacred-tree|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 2008, Manouchka Kelly Labouba became the first woman in the history of Gabonese cinema to direct a fictional film. Her short film ''Le Divorce'' addresses the impact of modern and traditional values on the divorce of a young Gabonese couple.

Kemi Adetiba, hitherto a music video director, made her directorial debut in 2016 with ''The Wedding Party''. The film, about the events involved in the celebration of an aristocratic wedding, would go on to become the most successful Nollywood film in the history of her native Nigeria.

Wanuri Kahiu is a Kenyan film director, best known for her film ''From a Whisper,'' which was awarded Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Picture at the Africa Movie Academy Awards in 2009. Nearly 10 years after the release of ''From a Whisper'', Kahiu's film ''Rafiki'', a coming-of-age romantic drama about two teenage girls in the present-day Kenya. The film made headlines, partly for its selection at the Cannes Film Festival but also for its exploration of sexuality that did not sit well with the Kenyan government.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-04-12|title=Meet the director of the Kenyan lesbian romance who sued the government who banned it|url=http://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/apr/12/kenyan-director-wanuri-kahiu-rafiki-lesbianism-african-art|access-date=2021-06-01|website=The Guardian|language=en}}</ref>

Rungano Nyoni, best known for the internationally acclaimed feature film ''I am Not a Witch'' is a Zambian-Welsh director and screenwriter. Born in Zambia and also raised in Wales, Nyoni went on to graduate from the University of Arts in London with a Master's in acting in 2009.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://iffr.com/en/persons/rungano-nyoni|title = Rungano Nyoni | IFFR}}</ref> Her filmography as a filmmaker (whether as a director or screenwriter) also includes the short films: ''The List'' (2009, short), ''Mwansa The Great'' (2011, short), ''Listen'' (2014, short), and she was also one of the directors of the international film project ''Nordic Factory'' (2014).<ref>{{Cite web|title=films|url=http://rungano.com/about-1|access-date=2021-06-01|website=rungano nyoni|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Producer and script consulting Valeria Richter|url=http://pebble.dk/portfolio_page/nordic-factory-2014/|access-date=2021-06-01|website=Pebble.dk|language=en-GB}}</ref> She has been awarded a variety of awards including a BAFTA for outstanding debut by a British filmmaker for ''I am Not a Witch''.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Donnelly|first=Matt|date=2018-11-27|title=CAA Signs 'I Am Not a Witch' Director Rungano Nyoni|url=https://variety.com/2018/film/news/caa-rungano-nyoni-1203037801/|access-date=2021-06-01|website=Variety|language=en-US}}</ref>

== UNESCO report on the African film industry == In October 2021, UNESCO published a report of the film and audiovisual industry in 54 states of the African continent including quantitative and qualitative data and an analysis of their strengths and weaknesses at the continental and regional levels. The report proposes strategic recommendations for the development of the film and audiovisual sectors in Africa and invites policymakers, professional organizations, firms, filmmakers and artists to implement them in a concerted manner.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Lora-Mungai|first1=Marie|author-link=Marie Lora-Mungai|last2=Pimenta|first2=Pedro|year=2021|title=The African film industry. Trends, challenges and opportunities for growth|url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000379165/PDF/379165eng.pdf.multi|access-date=2024-03-21 |publisher=UNESCO|pages=3|isbn=978-92-3-100470-4 |oclc=1346154769}}</ref>

Part 1 of the report is titled Pan-African Trends Shaping the Future of the Continent's Film and Audiovisual Sector, Part 2 is Strategic Development and Growth Models, Part 3 presents detailed national mappings of the countries, and an annex lists historical key dates in African cinema from 1896 to 2021. Apart from the historical developments of audiovisual productions, major filmmakers and their artistic merit and recent trends, such as online streaming, as well as the lack of training, funding, and appreciation of this industry, are discussed.{{Sfn|Lora-Mungai|Pimenta|2021|pp=7-9}}

==List of cinema by region== ===North Africa=== {{col-begin|}} |- | * Cinema of Algeria * Cinema of Egypt * Cinema of Libya | * Cinema of Morocco * Cinema of Tunisia |} </div>

===West Africa=== {{col-begin|}} |- | * Cinema of Benin * Cinema of Burkina Faso * Cinema of Cape Verde * Cinema of the Gambia * Cinema of Ghana * Cinema of Guinea * Cinema of Guinea-Bissau * Cinema of Ivory Coast | * Cinema of Liberia * Cinema of Mali * Cinema of Mauritania * Cinema of Niger * Cinema of Nigeria * Cinema of Senegal * Cinema of Sierra Leone * Cinema of Togo |} </div>

===Central Africa=== {{col-begin|}} |- | * Cinema of Angola * Cinema of Burundi * Cinema of Cameroon * Cinema of the Central African Republic * Cinema of Chad * Cinema of the Democratic Republic of the Congo | * Cinema of Equatorial Guinea * Cinema of Gabon * Cinema of the Republic of the Congo * Cinema of Rwanda * Cinema of São Tomé and Príncipe |} </div>

===East Africa=== {{col-begin|}} |- | * Cinema of the Comoros * Cinema of Djibouti * Cinema of Eritrea * Cinema of Ethiopia * Cinema of Kenya * Cinema of Mauritius | * Cinema of Seychelles * Cinema of Somalia * Cinema of South Sudan * Cinema of Sudan * Cinema of Tanzania * Cinema of Uganda |} </div>

===Southern Africa=== {{col-begin|}} |- | * Cinema of Botswana * Cinema of Eswatini * Cinema of Lesotho * Cinema of Madagascar * Cinema of Malawi | * Cinema of Mozambique * Cinema of Namibia * Cinema of South Africa * Cinema of Zambia * Cinema of Zimbabwe |} </div>

==Directors by country== {{div col|colwidth=30em}} * '''Algeria''': Merzak Allouache, Malek Bensmaïl, Nina Khada, Karim Moussaoui * '''Angola''': Zézé Gamboa,<ref>[http://www.africanfilmny.org/2013/zeze-gamboa/ Biography], African Film Festival, New York.</ref> Miguel Hurst * '''Benin''': Idrissou Mora Kpaï, Jean Odoutan * '''Botswana''': Thabiso Maretlwaneng, Thato Rantao Mwosa * '''Burkina Faso''': Gaston Kaboré, Valérie Kaboré, Dani Kouyaté, Fanta Régina Nacro, Sanou Kollo, Idrissa Ouedraogo, Pierre Rouamba, Drissa Touré, Apolline Traoré, Saint Pierre Yaméogo * '''Burundi''': Justine Bitagoye, Eddy Munyaneza, Léonce Ngabo * '''Cameroon''': Jean-Pierre Bekolo, Bassek Ba Kobhio, Urbain Dia Moukouri, Bernard Auguste Kouemo Yanghu, Joséphine Ndagnou, Jean-Paul Ngassa, Jean-Pierre Dikongué Pipa, Thérèse Sita-Bella, Francis Taptue, Jean-Marie Teno, Francois L. Woukoache * '''Cape Verde''': Lolo Arziki, Leão Lopes, Júlio Silvão Tavares * '''Chad''': Issa Serge Coelo, Mahamat Saleh Haroun * '''Comoros''': Hachimiya Ahamada * '''Côte d'Ivoire''': Marie-Louise Asseu, Sidiki Bakaba, Akissi Delta, Henri Duparc, Desiré Ecaré, Fadika Kramo Lanciné, Roger Gnoan M'Bala, Jacques Trabi * '''Democratic Republic of the Congo''': Machérie Ekwa Bahango, Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda, Baloji, Mars Kadiombo Yamba Bilonda, Guy Bomanyama-Zandu, Claude Haffner, Dieudo Hamadi, Mamadi Indoka, Kiripi Katembo, Joseph Kumbela, Laura Kutika, Zeka Laplaine,<ref name="Thackway2003">{{cite book|author=Thackway|title=Africa Shoots Back|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iA--kyw_FhsC|access-date=13 October 2010|year=2003|publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=9780852555774}}</ref> Albert Mongita, Djo Tunda Wa Munga, Guy Kabeya Muya, Mwezé Ngangura, Ne Kunda Nlaba, Monique Mbeka Phoba, Roger Kwami Zinga * '''Egypt''': Salah Abu Seif, Adel Adeeb, Youssef Chahine, Yousry Nasrallah, Ezz El-Dine Zulficar, Sherif Arafa, Khaled Youssef, Marwan Hamed, Mohamed Khan, Shady Abdel Salam, Khairy Beshara, Samir Seif, Nader Galal, Ali Abdel-Khalek,{{citation needed|date=April 2024}} Ashraf Fahmy, Radwan El-Kashef,{{citation needed|date=April 2024}} Hady El Bagoury, Ali Ragab, Hala Khaleel, Ehab Lamey, Tarek Al Eryan, Atef El-Tayeb, Daoud Abdel Sayed, Ehab Mamdouh,{{citation needed|date=April 2024}} Sandra Nashaat * '''Ethiopia''': Yemane Demissie, Haile Gerima, Hermon Hailay, Salem Mekuria<ref>[http://www.wmm.com/filmcatalog/makers/fm248.shtml "Salem Mekuria"], Women Make movies.</ref> * '''Gabon''': Henri Joseph Koumba Bibidi, Pierre-Marie Dong, Imunga Ivanga, Manouchka Kelly Labouba, Charles Mensah * '''Ghana''': Egbert Adjesu, John Akomfrah, King Ampaw, Kwaw Ansah, Jim Awindor, Yaba Badoe, Akosua Busia, Leila Djansi, Kuukua Eshun, Shirley Frimpong-Manso, Chris Hesse, Nii Kwate Owoo, Kwesi Owusu, Tom Ribeiro, Halaru B. Wandagou{{Citation needed |reason=Who is Halaru B. Wandagou? Please supply a reference |date=July 2024}} * '''Guinea''': David Achkar, Sékoumar Barry, Cheick Fantamady Camara, Mohamed Camara, Cheik Doukouré, Gahité Fofana, Mama Keïta * '''Guinea-Bissau''': Flora Gomes, Sana Na N'Hada<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://ojs.lib.umassd.edu/index.php/plcs/article/view/PLCS30_31_Arenas_page68/1223|title=The Filmography of Guinea-Bissau's Sana Na N'Hada: From the Return of Amílcar Cabral to the Threat of Global Drug Trafficking |date=May 29, 2018 |journal=Transnational Africa |editor1=Christopher Larkosh |editor2=Mario Perreira |editor3=Memory Holloway |author=Fernando Arenas - Portuguese Literary and Cultural Studies, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth|pages=68–94 |doi=10.62791/va3ttz37 |url-access=subscription |doi-access=free }}</ref> * '''Kenya''': Robby Bresson,Jim Chuchu, Wanuri Kahiu, Wanjiru Kinyanjui, Judy Kibinge, Gilbert Lukalia, Jane Munene, Anne Mungai * '''Lesotho''': Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese * '''Madagascar''': Alexander Abela, Marie-Clémence Andriamonta-Paes, Lova Nantenaina, Philippe Raberojo, Raymond Rajaonarivelo, Benoît Ramampy, Solo Randrasana, Luck Razanajaona, Laza Razanajatovo * '''Mali''': Abdoulaye Ascofare, Souleymane Cissé, Cheick Oumar Sissoko, Manthia Diawara, Adama Drabo * '''Mauritania''': Med Hondo,  Abderrahmane Sissako, Sidney Sokhona * '''Mozambique''': Fátima Albuquerque, Licínio Azevedo, Karen Boswall, Sol de Carvalho, Camilo de Sousa, Mickey Fonseca, Rogério Manjate, Isabel Noronha, Lara Sousa * '''Namibia''': Joel Haikali, Tim Huebschle, Richard Pakleppa * '''Niger''': Moustapha Alassane,<ref>{{cite web |url= https://qz.com/africa/1239066/watch-one-of-africas-first-animated-films-created-by-nigers-moustapha-alassane/ |title=One of Africa's oldest animated films has a timeless message about African life |author=Lynsey Chutel |date=March 30, 2018 |publisher=Quartz Africa}}</ref> Oumarou Ganda * '''Nigeria''': Femi Adebayo, Kemi Adetiba, C.J. Obasi, Kunle Afolayan, Dele Ajakaiye, Andy Amenechi, Bayo Awala, Ola Balogun, Biyi Bandele, Jide Bello, Chico Ejiro, Zeb Ejiro, Obi Emelonye, Lola Fani-Kayode, Greg Fiberesima, Amaka Igwe, Tunde Kelani, Billy Kings, Chris Obi Rapu, Tade Ogidan, Iyabo Ojo, Izu Ojukwu, Zina Saro-Wiwa, Yemi Shodimu, Eddie Ugboma * '''Rwanda''': Eric Kabera, Kivu Ruhorahoza * '''São Tomé and Príncipe''': Januário Afonso, Katya Aragão, Ângelo Torres * '''Senegal''': Tidiane Aw, Moussa Bathily, Ben Diogaye Bèye, Ahmadou Diallo, Clarence Thomas Delgado, Djibril Diop Mambéty, Thierno Faty Sow, Safi Faye, Joseph Gaï Ramaka, Dyana Gaye, Alain Gomis, Ousmane William Mbaye, Bouna Medoune Seye, Samba Félix Ndiaye, Moustapha Ndoye, Ababacar Samb Makharam, Ibrahima Sarr{{citation needed|date=October 2018}}, Ousmane Sembène, Moussa Sène Absa, Blaise Senghor, Mansour Sora Wade, Paulin Soumanou Vieyra, As Thiam, Momar Thiam, Moussa Touré, Mahama Johnson Traoré * '''Somalia''': Abdisalam Aato, Abdulkadir Ahmed Said, Idil Ibrahim * '''Sudan''': Amjad Abu Alala, Suhaib Gasmelbari, Gadalla Gubara, Hajooj Kuka, Hussein Shariffe, Marwa Zein * '''South Africa''': Neill Blomkamp, Seipati Bulani-Hopa, Mickey Dube, Nosipho Dumisa, Oliver Hermanus, Katinka Heyns, Gavin Hood, William Kentridge, Jonathan Liebesman, Nana Mahomo,<ref>{{cite web|title=Nelson "Nana" Mahomo |url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/nelson-nana-mahomo |publisher=South African History Online}}</ref> Zola Maseko, Teddy Matthera, Morabane Modise, Sechaba Morejele, Lionel Ngakane * '''Togo''': Anne Laure Folly * '''Tunisia''': Raja Amari, Mehdi Ben Attia, Mohamed Ben Attia, Kaouther Ben Hania, Férid Boughedir, Leyla Bouzid, Nouri Bouzid, Khaled Ghorbal, Nacer Khémir, Anis Lassoued, Moufida Tlatli * '''Uganda''': Matt Bish, Caroline Kamya, Hassan Kamoga,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-man-running-a-queer-film-festival-in-a-nation-where-homosexuality-is-illegal/ |title=The Man Running a Queer Film Festival in a Nation Where Homosexuality Is Illegal|author=Yael Even Or |work=Broadly |date=August 14, 2017}}</ref> Usama Mukwaya, Mariam Ndagire, George Stanley Nsamba, Joseph Kenneth Ssebaggala, * '''Zambia''': Rungano Nyoni * '''Zimbabwe''': M. K. Asante Jr., Tsitsi Dangarembga, Roger Hawkins, Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu, Jordan Riber {{div col end}}

==Films about African cinema== [[File:AIRSCREEN Africa.jpg|thumb|right|An Open-Air-Cinema in Johannesburg with an inflatable movie screen (2010)]] * ''Caméra d'Afrique'', Director: Férid Boughedir, Tunisia/France, 1983 * ''La Belle at the Movies'', Director: Cecilia Zoppelletto, Kinshasa, 2016 * ''Le Congo, quel cinéma!'', Director: Guy Bomanyama-Zandu, Democratic Republic of Congo, 2005 * ''Les Fespakistes'', Directors: François Kotlarski, Eric Münch, Burkina Faso/France, 2001 * ''Sembene!'', Director: Samba Gadjigo and Jason Silverman, 2015<ref>{{cite web |title=Film Screening: SEMBENE! The Inspiring Story of the Father of African Cinema with Director Samba Gadjigo |url=https://events.stanford.edu/events/661/66183/ |date=February 7, 2017 |access-date=October 28, 2018 |archive-date=December 26, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191226130023/https://events.stanford.edu/events/661/66183/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> * ''Spell Reel'', Director: Filipa César, Guinea-Bissau, 2017, documentary on the digitization of revolutionary films from Guinea-Bissau.<ref>{{cite web|title=Reactivating the Lost Revolutionary Films of Guinea-Bissau: In her debut feature, artist Filipa César documents the digitization of films made in the African country around the time of its independence |author=Ela Bittencourt |date=June 27, 2017 |url=https://hyperallergic.com/387611/reactivating-the-lost-revolutionary-films-of-guinea-bissau/ |publisher=HyperAllergic}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Review: 'Spell Reel' Shows a Revolution Filmed, on the Leader's Orders | author=Ben Kenigsberg |date=June 27, 2017 |work=New York Times}}</ref> * ''This Is Nollywood'', Director: Franco Sacchi, 2007

== Film festivals == {{See also|List of film festivals#Africa}}

===Africa=== *Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF), Lagos, Nigeria *Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA, AMA Awards), Yenagoa, Nigeria *Alexandria Mediterranean Countries Film Festival, Alexandria, Egypt *Amakula International Film Festival, Kampala, Uganda *Ananse Cinema International Film Festival (ANCIFF), Kasoa, Ghana *Aswan International Women's Film Festival, Aswan, Egypt *Bushman Film Festival, held in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://bushmanfilmfestival.net/ |title=Bushmanfilmfestival – Smartphone Film festival in Côte d'Ivoire |access-date=2020-02-18 |archive-date=2020-02-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200218192510/https://bushmanfilmfestival.net/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> *Cabo Verde International Film Festival *Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF), Cairo, Egypt *Carthage Film Festival *El Gouna Film Festival (GFF), El Gouna, Egypt *Festival International du Film Amateur de Kélibia (FIFAK), Kélibia, Tunisia *Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO), Burkina Faso *Festival of African Cinema (Tarifa-Tangier African Film Festival), Morocco/Spain *Luanda International Pan African Film Festival (Luanda PAFF) *Luxor African Film Festival, Luxor, Egypt *Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO) is the largest and most prestigious film festival in Africa *Rencontres du Film Court Madagascar (Madagascourt Film Festival) *Rwanda Film Festival (Hillywood), held in Rwanda *Sahara International Film Festival (FiSahara), held in Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria *Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF)

===Asia=== * Atesib Film Festival, Israel

===Europe=== *Africa in Motion, held in Edinburgh, Scotland in late October *Festival cinémas d’Afrique Lausanne, in Lausanne, Switzerland in August *Festival des Cinémas d'Afrique du pays d'Apt, in Apt, Vaucluse, France in November

===USA=== *The African Film Festival (TAFF) held in Dallas in late June<ref>{{cite web|title=TAFF WORKSHOPS AND EVENTS CALENDAR |url=http://www.theafricanfilmfestival.org/#TAFF}}</ref> *African Film Festival, held in New York *Africa World Documentary Film Festival, held in St Louis *Pan African Film Festival, held in Los Angeles *Silicon Valley African Film Festival, held in San Jose, California

==See also== {{portal|Africa|Film}} {{col-begin|}} | * African literature * Africa Movie Academy Awards, Nigeria * Atlas Corporation Studios, Morocco * List of African films * Négritude * Negrophilia * Nu Metro Cinemas, South Africa | * Political cinema * Somaliwood, Somali film industry, Ohio, USA * Ster-Kinekor, South Africa * Third Cinema, includes filmmakers from Africa * Women in African cinema * World cinema |} </div>

== Sources == {{Free-content attribution | title = The African film industry. Trends, challenges and opportunities for growth | publisher = UNESCO | source =  | documentURL = https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000379165/PDF/379165eng.pdf.multi | License statement URL = | license = CC-BY-SA 3.0 IGO | author-last1 = Lora-Mungai | author-first1 = Marie | author-last2 = Pimenta | author-first2 = Pedro }}

==References== {{reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography== {{Scholia|topic}} {{refbegin|30em}} * {{cite web |url=https://www.africultures.com |title=Africultures, les mondes en relation |last= |first= |date=2023 |website=africultures.com |publisher=Africultures |access-date=1 June 2023 |quote= |language=fr, en, pt}} * {{cite web |url=https://www.afrimages.net |title=Afrimages, Cinémas d'Afrique: analyses critiques |last= |first= |date=2023 |website=afrimages.net |publisher=Afrimages, Olivier Barlet |access-date=1 June 2023 |quote= |language=fr, en, pt}} * {{cite web |url=https://www.africine.org |title=Africine.org, Le leader mondial (cinémas africains & diaspora) |last= |first= |date=2023 |website=africine.org |publisher=Fédération africaine de la critique cinématographique (FACC), African Federation of Film Critics |access-date=1 June 2023 |quote=Actuellement recensés 21 791 films, 2 562 textes |language=fr, en, pt}} * Armes, Roy: ''Dictionary of African Filmmakers'', Indiana University Press, 2008, {{ISBN|0-253-35116-2}} * {{Cite book | publisher = Zed Books | isbn = 978-1856497428 | last = Barlet | first = Olivier | title = African Cinemas: Decolonizing the Gaze | location = London; New York | date = 2000 }} * {{cite web | url=http://africultures.com/the-five-decades-of-african-cinemas-7954/ |publisher=Africultures |author=Barlet, Olivier |title=The Five Decades of African Cinemas |date=15 July 2008 }} * {{Cite book | publisher = Michigan State University Press | isbn = 978-1611862119 | last = Barlet | first = Olivier | title = Contemporary African Cinema | location = East Lansing | date = 2016 }} * {{Cite book |title=Contemporary Lusophone African film : transnational communities and alternative modernities |editor-first1=Paulo |editor-last1=de Medeiros |editor-first2=Livia |editor-last2=Apa |language=English |publisher=Routledge |location=Abingdon, Oxon |date=2021 |series=Remapping world cinema |isbn=9780367134976 }} * {{cite book |title=African Film and Literature: Adapting Violence to the Screen |author=Dovey, Lindiwe |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0231147545 }} *{{Cite book |title=Francophone African cinema : history, culture, politics and theory |first=Martial K. |last=Friendéthié |publisher=McFarland |location=Jefferson, N.C. |date=2009 |isbn=9780786439621 |oclc=277136408 }} * {{cite web |url=http://www.africine.org/revues/ecrans-dafrique/59 |title=Ecrans d'Afrique, Revue internationale de cinéma, télévision et vidéo |last= |first= |date= |website=africine.org |publisher= |access-date=1 June 2023 |quote=Créée en 1992. Elle n'est plus éditée depuis 1998.}}. See also Ecrans d'Afrique. * {{Cite news | last = Halhoul | first = Khalid | title = Using African Cinema to Shift Cultural Perceptions | work = Utne Reader | access-date = 2014-04-12 | date = 2012-07-03 | url = http://www.utne.com/arts/african-cinema-shift-cultural-perceptions.aspx }} * {{cite book |title=A companion to African cinema |editor-first1=Kenneth W. |editor-last1=Harrow |editor-first2=Carmela |editor-last2=Garritano |publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Inc. |location=Hoboken, NJ |date=2019 |series=Wiley-Blackwell companions to national cinemas |pages=498 |isbn=9781119100317 }}

* Lelievre, Samuel (ed.), "Cinémas africains, une oasis dans le désert?", ''CinémAction'', no. 106, Paris, Télérama/Corlet, 1st trimester 2003 * {{cite web|title=Film Policy and the development of the African Cinema |author=Okome, Onookome |via=Michigan State University | url=http://pdfproc.lib.msu.edu/?file=/DMC/African%20Journals/pdfs/glendora%20review/vol1no2/graa001002017.pdf }} *{{Cite book |title=Men in African film & fiction |first=Lahoucine |last=Ouzgane |publisher=James Currey imprint of Boydell & Brewer |location=Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK |date=2011 |isbn=9781846159329 |oclc=792684913 }} *{{Cite book | publisher = Indiana University Press | isbn = 9780253216687 | last = Pfaff | first = Françoise | title = Focus on African Films | location = Bloomington | date = 2004 }} * {{Cite journal |last=Roberts |first=Andrew D. |date=1987 |title=Africa on Film to 1940 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/history-in-africa/article/abs/africa-on-film-to-1940/764F764BEEEC6B725A40A684F5F11E62 |journal=History in Africa |language=en |volume=14 |pages=189–227 |doi=10.2307/3171838 |issn=0361-5413|url-access=subscription }} * Solanas, Fernando E., Getino, Octavio, "Towards a Third Cinema" in: Bill Nichols (ed.), ''Movies and Methods. An Anthology'', University of California Press, 1976, pp. 44–64 * Şaul, Mahir and Ralph Austen, Ralph A. (eds), ''Viewing African Cinema in the Twenty-First Century: Art Films and the Nollywood Video Revolution'', Ohio University Press, 2010, {{ISBN|978-0-8214-1931-1}} * Tomaselli, Keyan G., & Mhando, Martin (eds), ''Journal of African Cinemas'', Bristol : Intellect, 2009 -, {{ISSN|1754-9221}} *{{Cite book | publisher = University of California Press | isbn = 978-0520077478 | last = Ukadike | first = Nwachukwu Frank | title = Black African cinema | location = Berkeley, CA | date = 1994 }}*{{Cite book | publisher = University of California Press | isbn = 978-0520077478 | last = Ukadike | first = Nwachukwu Frank | title = Black African cinema | location = Berkeley, CA | date = 1994 }} {{refend}}

== External links == *[http://www.rfi.fr/hebdo/20180525-afrique-grands-groupes-francais-assaut-salles-cinema-culture Movie theatres re-opening in Africa] (in French, extensive business discussion) *[http://congoinharlem.org/ Congo in Harlem] *[http://www.africanholocaust.net/news_ah/panafricancinema.htm The Heavy Flag of Pan-African Cinema] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150809220422/http://www.africanholocaust.net/news_ah/panafricancinema.htm |date=2015-08-09 }} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20060613073319/http://web.africa.ufl.edu/asq/v2/v2i1a4.htm African Cinema in the 1990s] *[http://africanmedia.msu.edu/ African Media Program]{{spaced ndash}} comprehensive database of African media *[https://web.archive.org/web/20100328183419/http://newsreel.org/ Library of African Cinema in California] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20120218212003/http://www.fcat.es/wiki/ Wiki of the African Film Festival of Tarifa] *Khalid Halhoul, [http://www.utne.com/african-cinema-shift-cultural-perceptions.aspx "Using African Cinema to Shift Cultural Perceptions"], ''UTNE'', July 3, 2012. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130703053914/http://www.utne.com/african-cinema-shift-cultural-perceptions.aspx |date=2013-07-03 }} *[http://cannes-or-bust.com/cannes-events/pan-african-film-festival/ Pan-African Film Festival, Cannes] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20150713163252/http://www.africapedia.com/TOP-AFRICAN-FILM-DIRECTORS-IN-ALPHABETICAL-ORDER "Top African Film Directors in Alphabetical order"], Africapedia

Africa Category:Cinema of Africa Category:Library of Congress Africa Collection related