{{Short description|none}} <!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see WP:SDNONE --> The '''cinema of Gabon''' has had an uneven history. Though President Omar Bongo and his wife, Josephine Bongo, encouraged filmmaking in the 1970s, there was a 20-year hiatus until filmmaking started to grow again in the new millennium.
==History== French companies made documentaries in colonial Gabon from 1936 onwards.<ref name="Yates2017">{{cite book|author=Douglas A. Yates|title=Historical Dictionary of Gabon|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zbZGDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA119|date=28 December 2017|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|isbn=978-1-5381-1012-6|pages=119–|chapter=Cinema}}</ref>
After independence, Philippe Mory, Gabon's first professionally trained actor, organized the Compagnie Cinematographique du Gabon in 1962, and helped produce ''The Cage'', a feature film entered into the 1963 Cannes Film Festival.<ref name="Yates2017"/> The national television company supported films like Pierre-Marie Dong's ''Carrefour humain'' (1969) and Mory's ''Les tams-tams se sont tus'' (1972).<ref name="Diawara1992">{{cite book|last=Diawara|first=Manthia|authorlink=Manthia Diawara|title=African Cinema: Politics & Culture|url=https://archive.org/details/africancinemapol0000diaw|url-access=registration|year=1992|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=0-253-20707-X|pages=[https://archive.org/details/africancinemapol0000diaw/page/62 62]–63}}</ref>
Though Gabon had only eight cinemas, President Omar Bongo and his wife Joséphine Bongo took a direct personal interest in film.<ref name="Armes2006">{{cite book|author=Roy Armes|title=African Filmmaking: North and South of the Sahara|url=https://archive.org/details/africanfilmmakin0000arme|url-access=registration|year=2006|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=0-253-21898-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/africanfilmmakin0000arme/page/46 46]}}</ref> The President built a 400-seat cinema in his presidential palace, and in 1975 founded the Centre National Du Cinéma with Mory as director. He also founded a production company, Les Films Gabonais.<ref name="Yates2017"/> Gabon saw nine films from six directors in the 1970s.<ref name="Armes2006"/> Les Films Gabonais produced several films co-directed by Dong and based on the writings of the presidential couple: ''Obali'' (1976) and ''Ayouma'' (1977) were based on plays examining social themes by Joséphine Bongo,<ref name="Akyeampong2012">{{cite book|author=David E. Gardinier |editor=Emmanuel Kwaku Akyeampong |editor2=Henry Louis Gates Jr |title=Dictionary of African Biography|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=39JMAgAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PA147|year=2012|publisher=OUP USA|isbn=978-0-19-538207-5|pages=147–48|chapter=Dabany, Patience}}</ref> and ''Demain, un jour nouveau'' (1978) was a version of the president's memoirs.<ref name="Armes2008-94">{{cite book|author=Roy Armes|title=Dictionary of African Filmmakers|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=88sTRTl6yKwC&pg=PA94|year=2008|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0-253-35116-6|page=94|chapter=Dong, Pierre-Marie}}</ref> Another Gabonese film from this period was Charles Mensah's ''Ilombe'' (1978).
==Contemporary cinema== After two decades of relative inactivity, Gabonese filmmaking started to rise again in the new millennium. Charles Mensah at the Centre National du Cinéma Gabonais (CENACI; later renamed Institut Gabonais de l'Image et du Son, or IGIS)<ref>{{cite web | title=Il y a 4 ans le cinéaste Charles Mensah tirait sa révérence | website=gabonactu.com | date=3 June 2015 | url=http://www.gabonactu.com/il-y-a-4-ans-le-cineaste-charles-mensah-tirait-sa-reverence/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161101113357/http://www.gabonactu.com/il-y-a-4-ans-le-cineaste-charles-mensah-tirait-sa-reverence/ | archive-date=1 November 2016 | url-status=dead | language=fr | access-date=17 June 2025}}</ref> had introduced new policies to restructure Gabonese cinema in the early 1990s.<ref>Imunga Ivanga, [http://africultures.com/the-revival-of-gabonese-cinema-5495/ The revival of Gabonese cinema], ''Revue Africultures'', Vol. 36, 2001.</ref>
Imunga Ivanga started making short films in the 1990s, and his feature film ''Dôlè'' (2000) was the first Gabonese feature film for two decades.<ref name="Armes2008-78">{{cite book|author=Roy Armes|title=Dictionary of African Filmmakers|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=88sTRTl6yKwC&pg=PA78|year=2008|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0-253-35116-6|pages=78–79|chapter=Ivanga, Imunga}}</ref> It won festival awards at Carthage, Cannes and Milan.<ref name="Hickendorff2014">{{cite book|author=Annelies Hickendorff|title=Gabon|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g99xBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA21|year=2014|publisher=Bradt Travel Guides|isbn=978-1-84162-554-6|page=21}}</ref>
Henri-Joseph Koumba Bididi made a number of short films, and the 2001 feature film ''The Elephant's Balls''.<ref name="Armes2008-85">{{cite book|author=Roy Armes|title=Dictionary of African Filmmakers|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=88sTRTl6yKwC&pg=PA85|year=2008|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0-253-35116-6|page=85|chapter=Koumba-Bibidi, Henri-Joseph}}</ref> Ivunga and Mory collaborated on ''L'Ombre de Liberty'' (2006), and in 2014 Ivunga was made general director of the national television network, Gabon Television.<ref name="Yates2017-254">{{cite book|author=Douglas A. Yates|title=Historical Dictionary of Gabon|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zbZGDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA254|date=28 December 2017|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|isbn=978-1-5381-1012-6|page=254|chapter=Ivanga, Imunga (1967-)}}</ref> Amédée Pacôme Nkoulou's documentary ''Boxing Libreville'' (2018) has won several awards.
{{as of|2017}}, Canal Olympia was building new cinemas in Gabon.<ref>[http://www.arabnews.com/node/1186541/media African cinema makes a comeback, but Hollywood gets top billing], ''Arab News'', 1 November 2017.</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== * Victor Bachy, ''Cinema au Gabon'', Brussels, 1986
Category:Cinema of Gabon