Francophone African Cinema: History, Culture, Politics and Theory

by K. Martial Frindéthié

Overview

Setting the stage for a critical encounter between Francophone African cinema and Continental European critical theory, this book offers a transnational and interdisciplinary analysis of 16 Francophone African films, including Bassek Ba Kobhio's The Great White Man of Lambarene, Cheick Oumar Sissoko's Guimba the Tyrant, and Amadou Seck's Saaraba. The author invites readers to study these films in the context of transnational conversations between African filmmakers and the conventional theorists whose works are more readily available in academia. The book examines black French filmmakers' treatments of a number of cross-cultural themes, including intercontinental encounters and reciprocity, ideology and subjective freedom, governance and moral responsibility, sexuality and social order, and globalization. Throughout the work, the presentation of literary theory is accessible by both beginning and advanced students of film and culture.

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Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780786439621
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date:	04/07/2009
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	271
Sales rank:	535,495
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.54(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

K. Martial Frindéthié is a professor of Francophone studies at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. An award winning author, his research interests include literature and film and the intersection of literature and political-ideological imagination.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments     
Preface     
Introduction: Engaging African Cinema     

1. “There Is No Conversation Here, My Boy”: Spectral Returns of Fanon and Hegel in Bassek Ba Kobhio’s The Great White Man of Lambaréné     
2. The Language You Govern In: The Rise and Fall of the African Despot in Balufu Bakupa Kanyinda’s Le damier: Papa National oyé and Cheick Oumar Sissoko’s Guimba the Tyrant     
3. Nostalgic Memories and Nomadic Spirits: Merzak Allouache’s Bab-El-Oued and Karim Dridi’s Bye-Bye     
4. Allegorizing the Quest for Autonomy: Cheick Oumar Sissoko’s Finzan and Amadou Seck’s Saaraba     
5. Writing the Soxual Order: Ousmane Sembène’s Faat Kiné and Ngangura Mweze’s La vie est belle     
6. Cogito Must Have Gone Crazy: Construction and/as Deconstruction of Masculinity in Nouri Bouzid’s Bent Familia and Mufida Tlatli’s The Silences of the Palace     
7. Keita: The Heritage of the Griot : Economic, Social, and Cultural Organization of Ancient Africa     
8. Crisis in French Africa as Hexagonal Possibility: Globalization à la française     
9. “There Is No Trade Going on There”: Tales from the Killing Fields of the Congo     

Conclusion     
Appendix A: King Leopold’s Mandate to His Missionaries     
Appendix B: Speech of Baudouin I, King of the Belgians     
Appendix C: Speech of Prime Minister Patrice Emery Lumumba     
Notes     
Bibliography     
Index     

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