{"id":1663,"date":"2016-03-28T09:56:14","date_gmt":"2016-03-28T14:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/library\/?p=1663"},"modified":"2016-03-28T09:56:14","modified_gmt":"2016-03-28T14:56:14","slug":"ousmane-sembene-film-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/library\/ousmane-sembene-film-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"Ousmane Semb\u00e8ne Film Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"sembene-ousmane\"<\/a>

Ousmane Semb\u00e8ne has been called “the father of African film.”<\/p><\/div>\n

A film festival highlighting the work of African filmmaker Ousmane Semb\u00e8ne, including a documentary selected for the Sundance Film Festival, will\u00a0be held March 29-31 at Illinois Wesleyan University.<\/p>\n

Born in 1923 in Senegal, Semb\u00e8ne has often been called \u201cthe father of African film.\u201d \u00a0A fifth-grade dropout, Semb\u00e8ne was a self-taught novelist before he realized films would reach wider African audiences. Over a nearly 40-year film career, Semb\u00e8ne tackled recurring themes of the history of colonialism, the failings of religion, critique of the new African bourgeoisie, and the strength of African women. His final film, the 2004 feature Moolaad\u00e9<\/i>, explored the subject of female genital mutilation and won awards at the Cannes Film Festival. Semb\u00e8ne died in 2007.<\/p>\n

The filmmaker is the subject of the documentary\u00a0Semb\u00e8ne!<\/i> <\/a>, which was screened in 2015 at the Sundance, Telluride and Cannes film festivals.\u00a0Semb\u00e8ne!<\/i> is told through the experiences of the man who knew him best: his biographer Samba Gadjigo, who co-wrote, co-directed and co-produced the documentary.<\/p>\n

Semb\u00e8ne!<\/i> will be screened March 31 at 4 p.m. at Illinois Wesleyan. Gadjigo, who is also a professor of African studies and French at Mount Holyoke College, will lead a discussion of the film at its conclusion. In a review<\/a> of Semb\u00e8ne!<\/i>, The<\/i> Hollywood Reporter<\/i> called it \u201ca welcome spotlight on the legendary Senegalese director.\u201d<\/p>\n

Semb\u00e8ne films to be shown at IWU include Faat Kine<\/em>\u00a0on March 29 and\u00a0Mandabi <\/i>(The Money Order) on March 30. A 1968 film exploring\u00a0themes of neocolonialism, religion,<\/p>\n

\"Director<\/a>

Director Samba Gadjigo will discuss his documentary, Semb\u00e8ne!<\/p><\/div>\n

corruption and relationships to Senegalese society,\u00a0Mandabi<\/i> will be shown March 30 at 4 p.m.<\/p>\n

Semb\u00e8ne\u2019s film Faat Kin\u00e9<\/i>, set in the present day, provides a critical look at modern, post-colonial Senegal and the place of women in that society and will be shown March 29 at 7 p.m. All screenings will take place in The Ames Library\u2019s Beckman Auditorium, and are free and open to the public.<\/p>\n

The Semb\u00e8ne Film Festival is sponsored by Illinois Wesleyan\u2019s Center for Human Rights and Social Justice<\/a> with the assistance of a Re-Centering the Humanities Mellon Foundation grant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A film festival highlighting the work of African filmmaker Ousmane Semb\u00e8ne, including a documentary selected for the Sundance Film Festival, will\u00a0be held March 29-31 at Illinois Wesleyan University. Born in 1923 in Senegal, Semb\u00e8ne has often been called \u201cthe father … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":500,"featured_media":1664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ames-highlights","category-facultystaff"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/library\/files\/2016\/03\/sembene-ousmane.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/500"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1663"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1669,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1663\/revisions\/1669"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}