Eschewing the postcolonial hubris that suggests Africa could only define itself in relation to its colonizers, a problem plaguing many studies published in the West on African cinema, this entry in the Directory of World Cinema series instead looks at African film as representing Africa for its own sake, values, and artistic choices.
With a film industry divided by linguistic heritage, African directors do not have the luxury of producing comedies, thrillers, horror films, or even love stories, except perhaps as DVDs that do not travel far outside their country of production. Instead, African directors tend to cover serious sociopolitical ground, even under the cover of comedy, in the hopes of finding funds outside Africa. Contributors to this volume draw on filmic representations of the continent to consider the economic role of women, rural exodus, economic migration, refugees and diasporas, culture, religion and magic as well as representations of children, music, languages and symbols.
A survey of national cinemas in one volume, Directory of World Cinema: Africa is a necessary addition to the bookshelf of any cinephile and world traveller. 

Blandine Stefanson taught French literature and cinema at the University of Adelaide until 2002 and is now researching postcolonial cultures in West Africa and New Caledonia. She contributed book chapters and journal articles on postcolonial literatures and/or cinema in Australian Journal of French Studies, Essays in French Literature, Etudes Francophones, Africultures, Dialogues et Cultures. She coordinated Littérature de Nouvelle-Calédonie (Notre Librairie 134) and co-edited Les historiens africains et la mondialisation/African Historians and Globalization. She was Guest Editor for volume 1 of Journal of African Cinemas (Issues 1 & 2) and is now co-editor of Directory of World Cinema: Africa (Intellect Books).

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Films of the Year
A Screaming Man
The Pirogue
Eighteen Days

Directors
Abderrahmane Sissako
Osvalde Lewat
Darrell Roodt
Francois Verster

Modes of Production
What is African Cinema? The Industries of African Cinema
French Funding and African Francophone Cinema
Bongo Movies: A Modern African Film Industry in Tanzania

Aesthetics
Scoring African Cinema
Locations: Authentic or Substituted

Festival Focus
Fespaco Film Festival
African Film Festivals Around the World

Drama

Documentary

Comedy

Social Issues

Childhood in African Cinema

Literary Adaptation

History and Film

Screening War, Surviving War

Africa Seen by 'Outsiders': Invention, Idea, Method

Surreal

(Home) Video Films from Nigeria and Ghana

Recommended Reading

African Cinema Online

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