Father Of African Film

One hundred and one years ago, the “father of African film”, Ousmane Sembène, was born in Ziguinchor, Senegal. Sembène’s career began modestly, working a number of manual jobs. In 1944, he was drafted into a corps of the French Army where he was forced to fight in World War II.

After returning to Senegal, he participated in the 1947 Dakar–Niger Railway strike. Later that year he made a break for France where he actively engaged with the French trade union movement by joining the General Confederation of Labour and the communist party. While in France he helped to lead yet another strike to halt a shipment of weapons destined for use in the war against Vietnam. These acts of class consciousness and international solidarity would become reoccurring themes in his future creative work.

After teaching himself to read and write in French, Sembène began writing fiction. His first novel, Le Docker Noir (The Black Docker), released in 1956, highlights the life of an African dock worker. In 1960, Sembène released Les Bouts de Bois de Dieu (God’s Bits of Wood), a fictional account of the Dakar–Niger Railway strike. While he found great satisfaction in tackling social issues in his writing, he began to consider that film might be a “more effective tool” for his activism. “To summarize history using our oral tradition,” he said, “cinema is an important tool for us.”

As a filmmaker, Sembène sought to challenge colonial modes of film production and expression. He directed films in various African languages including Wolof, Fulfulde, and Mandinka. Sembène’s choice to incorporate indigenous languages into his films was a deliberate effort to represent the rich cultural and linguistic tapestry of Africa. It aligned with his broader mission of decolonizing African cinema and promoting authentic narratives rooted in local experiences. This viral clip from the film Caméra d’Afrique speaks to an idea that African artists today should remember: Europe (the West) should not be the center of our world.