Francophone Cinema and the Question of Autonomy (1969-2000)



Since the birth of the Pan-African film festival of Ouagadougou, FESPACO (1969), French African and Caribbean directors or filmmakers have addressed its and their histories, invented their own images, and shown their personal / internal point of view. With the films of Ousmane Sembène (La noire de…), Abderrahmane Sissako (Heremakhono), Med Hondo (Sarraounia), Souleymane Cissé (Finyé), Jean-Pierre Dikongué Pipa (Muna Moto), Euzan Palcy (Une saison blanche et sèche), Guy Deslauriers (Passage du milieu) or Christian Lara (1802 l’épopée guadeloupéenne) – among many others – we will examine the variety approaches and the whole significance of autonomy in the post-colonial era. This will include the invention of black continental history because of colonization or slavery, political reflections because of African conditions of Independence and cultural aesthetics because of conflicts with European civilization.