Ethics and Aesthetics in Contemporary African Cinema: The Politics of Beauty

377 Pages·2019·24.501 MB·English

by  James S. Williams

ETHICS AND AESTHETICS
IN CONTEMPORARY
AFRICAN CINEMA
Series Editors:
Lúcia Nagib, Professor of Film at the University of Reading
Julian Ross, Research Fellow at the University of Westminster
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iv
ETHICS AND AESTHETICS
IN CONTEMPORARY
AFRICAN CINEMA
The Politics of Beauty
James S. Williams
BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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First published in Great Britain 2019
Copyright © James S. Williams, 2019
James S. Williams has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act,
1988, to be identified as Author of this work.
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copyright page.
Cover image: Daratt, Ali Barkai (hand) and Youssouf Djaoro,
(Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, 2006) (© Pyramide International/Courtesy Everett Collection)
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CONTENTS
List of illustration credits viii
Acknowledgements xi
1 The trouble with beauty: Reimagining African film
aesthetics 1
2 On the front line: In/visible violence, formations of style,
and aesthetic resistance 39
3 Screening Dakar: Locating beauty in the afropolis 91
4 Voice, language, mystery: From ideological struggle to
aesthetic shudder 139
5 Queering the Baobab: Male intimacy, the erotics of
abstraction, and the right to beauty 173
6 On the border, becoming world: Migrant beauty, migratory
narratives, and the transmigration of cinematic form 211
7 The afropolitan present 263
Notes 273
Bibliography 320
Filmography 341
Index 347
ILLUSTRATION CREDITS
Figure 1.1 Mandabi directed by Ousmane Sembene © Comptoir Français du
Film Production (CFFP), Grove Press, and New Yorker Films 1968.
All rights reserved 6
Figure 1.2 La Vie sur terre directed by Abderrahmane Sissako © Centre
National de la Cinématographie (CNC), Haut et Court, and La
Sept-Arte 1998. All rights reserved (Courtesy of Elise Finielz / Jump
Cut) 20
Figure 2.1 Moolaadé directed by Ousmane Sembene © Filmi Doomireew,
Direction de la Cinématographie Nationale, Centre
Cinématographique Marocain, Cinétéléfilms, Les Films Terre
Africaine, Ciné-Sud Promotion, and Artificial Eye 2004. All rights
reserved 47
Figure 2.2 The Night of Truth directed by Fanta Régina Nacro © Acrobates
Film, Les Films du Defi France 3 Cinéma, and BFI 2004. All rights
reserved 57
Figure 2.3 Bamako directed by Abderrahmane Sissako © Archipel 33,
Chinguitty Films, Mali Images, Arte France Cinéma, and Artificial
Eye 2006. All rights reserved 66
Figure 2.4 Bamako directed by Abderrahmane Sissako © Archipel 33,
Chinguitty Films, Mali Images, Arte France Cinéma, and Artificial
Eye 2006. All rights reserved 69
Figure 2.5 Bamako directed by Abderrahmane Sissako © Archipel 33,
Chinguitty Films, Mali Images, Arte France Cinéma, and Artificial
Eye 2006. All rights reserved 72
Figure 2.6 Bamako directed by Abderrahmane Sissako © Archipel 33,
Chinguitty Films, Mali Images, Arte France Cinéma, and Artificial
Eye 2006. All rights reserved 78
Figure 2.7 Timbuktu directed by Abderrahmane Sissako © Les Films du
Worso, Dune Vision, Arches Films, Arte France Cinéma, Orange
Studio & Le Pacte 2014. All rights reserved 87
Figure 3.1 Borom Sarret directed by Ousmane Sembene © Cinema 16 (World
Short Films, 2008) and World Cinema Foundation 1963. All rights
reserved 96
Figure 3.2 The Silent Monologue directed by Khady Sylla and Charlie Van
Damme © ArtMattan Productions (Great African Films – Vol. 4),
Athénaïse, Iota Production, and Karoninka 2008. All rights
reserved 105
Figure 3.3 Aujourd’hui (Tey) directed by Alain Gomis © Granit Films, Maïa
Cinéma, Cinekap, Agora Films, and Jour2Fête 2012. All rights
reserved 108
Figure 3.4 Aujourd’hui (Tey) directed by Alain Gomis © Granit Films, Maïa
Cinéma, Cinekap, Agora Films, and Jour2Fête 2012. All rights
reserved 112
Figure 3.5 Mille Soleils directed by Mati Diop © Anna Sanders Films 2013. All
rights reserved 124
Figure 3.6 Mille Soleils directed by Mati Diop © Anna Sanders Films 2013. All
rights reserved 127
Figure 3.7 Mille Soleils directed by Mati Diop © Anna Sanders Films 2013. All
rights reserved 135
Figure 4.1 Le Franc directed by Djibril Diop Mambety © Waka Films, and
La Médiathèque des Trois Mondes 1994 and 2002. All rights
reserved 145
Figure 4.2 Yeelen directed by Souleymane Cissé © Les Films Cissé, and Kino
Video 1987. All rights reserved 151
Figure 4.3 La Vie sur terre directed by Abderrahmane Sissako © Centre
National de la Cinématographie (CNC), Haut et Court, and La
Sept-Arte 1998. All rights reserved (Courtesy of Elise Finielz / Jump
Cut) 153
Figure 4.4 Waiting for Happiness directed by Abderrahmane Sissako © Arte
France Cinéma, Duo Films, and Artificial Eye 2002. All rights
reserved 155
Figure 4.5 Waiting for Happiness directed by Abderrahmane Sissako © Arte
France Cinéma, Duo Films, and Artificial Eye 2002. All rights
reserved 159
Figure 4.6 Bamako directed by Abderrahmane Sissako © Archipel 33,
Chinguitty Films, Mali Images, Arte France Cinéma, and Artificial
Eye 2006. All rights reserved 166
Figure 5.1 Dakan directed by Mohamed Camara © Film Du 20ème Créations
Cinématographiques, René Féret, and M.F.D 1997. All rights
reserved 184
ILLUSTRATION CREDITS ix