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- Volume 1, Issue 1, 2009
Journal of African Cinemas - Volume 1, Issue 1, 2009
Volume 1, Issue 1, 2009
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Globalization and African cinema: distribution and reception in the anglophone region
More LessWhen Tommy Lott advanced his 'no-theory theory' on the definition of black cinema, he argued that a theory remains a theory only up to the time when the meanings it advances 'are no longer applicable'. He was aware of the complexity of theorizing on an ongoing activity based on an essentialized notion.
What I see as a possible arena of contention and re-theorizing is the versatility of cultures in appropriating processes of knowledge distribution. What I am advocating here is seeing the film and video distribution practices that continue to grow in Africa as loci of sociological and ontological questionings. Is the experience of media within cultures dependent on exposure to western media concepts? Isn't exposure itself merely a limited rather than a limiting experience? How far are 'appropriations' related to media sociality? How do community media express themselves outside the boundaries of expectations and definitions of authoritative media?
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Home video films and the democratic imperative in contemporary Nigeria
More LessThe paper analyses the sociopolitical import of Nigerian home video films (Nollywood) against the backdrop of long years of military rule. Some titles discussed in the paper include: Saworo Ide/Brass Bells and Agogo Eewo/Gong of Taboo, Alaga Kansu/Local Council Chairman, Akobi Gomina I & II/The Governor's Heir and Your Excellency.
The paper notes that while military dictatorship lasted, the film was more or less a medium for social diversion, cultural exhibition and religious affirmation. The inauguration of a civilian administration in 1999 has, however, led to the expansion of thematic possibilities through the screen. To this end, the Nigerian home video presents a framework for deepening people's participation in the process of democratization and development, as shown in the film analyses. In conclusion, the paper affirms the potential of video film in tackling the challenges of social re-construction in a post-military democratization.
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Reframing African cinema and democracy: the case of Cameroon
More LessCameroonian film production is interpreted as a means of initiation to political education and progress towards democracy. Social satire in the first generation (Pipa and Kamwa) evolves into political awareness and opposition in the contemporary generation (Ba Kobhio, Bekolo and Teno). Documentarist Jean-Marie Teno holds the colonial regime responsible for the ingrained abuse of power and disregard for ordinary citizens in the neo-colonial regime. The syndrome of the 'chief', within the family in the films of the 1970s (Pipa and Kamwa), or within the state institutions in the films of the 1990s (Bekolo and Teno), is the target of an awareness campaign. Cameroonian cinema is promoting a civil society which, from the onset of independence, managed to keep alive indigenous practices of democratic consultation. The author trusts in the empowerment of young people under the guidance of film-makers-cum-political-activists to recover the imagination necessary for creating a new social utopia.
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Beyond colonial stereotypes: reflections on postcolonial cinema in the African Great Lakes region
More LessThe African Great Lakes region – Rwanda, Burundi and Congo-Kinshasa – is usually remembered for its social upheavals and fratricidal wars, rarely for film-making. Moreover, some cinema critics recognize that in the region, like in other African countries, many contemporary films remain subtly informed by colonial clichés and western sponsors' unilateral choices, with little or no consideration for African film-makers' interests and needs. First, the article describes the core of colonial cinema with its stereotypical and sensationalist images, which are the ingredients likely to stir western audiences. Second, through the analysis of some representative films, it shows how the colonial-inspired marketable clichés surreptitiously inform today's film-making. Finally, and most importantly, this enquiry examines films that embody what may be defined as milestones of postcolonial imagination in the region. The conclusion points to production initiatives and to more freedom in the choice of topics.
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The rise of the African musical: postcolonial disjunction in Karmen Geï and Madame Brouette
By Sheila PettyThis essay explores the rise of the film musical as a unique vehicle for artistic expression by African film-makers. In particular, the essay deals with the films, Karmen Geï and Madame Brouette and considers the ways in which both films employ this genre as a means of investigating social and political issues affecting postcolonial Senegalese culture. Furthermore, the African musical brings with it new ideological, visual and narrative strategies that are expanding the cinematic grammar of African cinema and creating a hybridized form. The essay demonstrates how both films engage spectators in the struggle for existence within the postcolonial context, and by foregrounding the complexities of that struggle, create a debate and a call to action that seeks solutions from within African perspectives.
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