Cinema of Africa encompasses the history and present of film production and screening on the African continent, as well as the individuals involved in this form of audiovisual culture. Dating back to the early 20th century, when film reels were the primary cinematic technology, African cinema has evolved through different historical phases, each reflecting the socio-political landscape of the continent.
As there are more than 50 countries with audiovisual traditions, there is no one single 'African cinema'. Africa is a vast continent, and its countries and cultures have their own specific cultural, political and geographical backgrounds and elements that are uniquely expressed in a myriad of manners in their films.
Africa from space
Early Development and Colonial Influences
While Hollywood made thousands of films from the 1920s to the 1960s, the African film industry can only be traced back to the decolonization period of the continent. During the colonial era, Africa was largely represented by Western filmmakers.
In the first decades of the twentieth century, Western filmmakers made films that depicted black Africans as "exoticized", "submissive workers" or as "savage or cannibalistic". Colonial era films portrayed Africa as exotic, without history or culture. Examples abound and include jungle epics based on the Tarzan character created by Edgar Rice Burrou, and the adventure film The African Queen (1951), and various adaptations of H. Rider Haggard’s King Solomon's Mines (first of many film adaptations in 1919).
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Much early ethnographic cinema "focused on highlighting the differences between indigenous people and the white civilised man, thus reinforcing colonial propaganda". Marc Allégret's first film,Voyage au Congo (1927) respectfully portrayed the Masa people, in particular a young African entertaining his little brothers with a baby crocodile on a string. Yet Africans were portrayed merely as human, but not equals; a dialogue card, for example, referred to the movements of a traditional dance as naive.
In the French colonies, Africans were prohibited by the 1934 Laval Decree from making films of their own. The ban stunted the growth of film as a means of African expression, political, cultural, and artistic. Congolese Albert Mongita did make The Cinema Lesson in 1951 and in 1953 Mamadou Touré made Mouramani based on a folk story about a man and his dog.
The Rise of African Filmmakers
The late 1950s and the early 1960s saw a wave of African countries gain independence and with that, the African cinema industry started to develop. The early years of African cinema were heavily influenced by colonialism, with many films produced by European directors who often depicted Africa through a colonial lens. However, the post-independence era saw a surge in films by African filmmakers who sought to portray authentic African stories, often focusing on themes of decolonization, identity, and cultural heritage.
Sembène Ousmane (1923-2007) a Senegalese film director, producer and writer was one of the pioneers of the African film industry and was often referred to as the “Father of African Films”. Initially a writer, Sembène had turned to cinema to reach a wider audience. At a seminar during the 2005 Cannes Film Festival, Sembène said, “I was gripped by the need to discover Africa, not just Senegal but just about the entire continent…I became aware that I had to learn to make films if I had to really reach my people. A film can be seen and understood even by illiterate people, a book cannot speak to the entire population”.
His first feature film, La Noire de…, (1966), based on one of his own short stories was the first feature film ever released by a sub-Saharan African director in 1966. It showed the despair of an African woman who has to work as a maid in France. It won the Prix Jean Vigo in 1966. Sembène’s films were always centered around the history of colonialism, the failings of religion, the critique of the new African bourgeoisie, and the strength of African women. Sembène directed his last film in 2004, a feature titled Moolaade that won multiple awards at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.
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Recognised as one of the pioneers of Senegalese cinema as well as cinema developed on the African continent at large, ethnologist and filmmaker Safi Faye was the first African woman film director to gain international recognition. Faye's first film La Passante (The Passerby) was released in 1972 and following this, Kaddu Beykat (Letter from My Village), the filmmaker's first feature film was released in 1975.
Sarah Maldoror, a French filmmaker and the daughter of immigrants from Guadeloupe has been recognised as one of the pioneers of African cinema in the diaspora. She is the founder of Les Griots (The Troubadours), the first drama company in France made for actors of African and Afro-Caribbean descent. Originally in the theatre, she went on to study filmmaking at the State Institute of Cinematography of the Russian Federation (VGIK) in Moscow.
In 1972, Maldoror shot her film Sambizanga about the 1961-74 war in Angola. Surviving African women of this war are the subject of the documentary Les Oubliées (The forgotten women), made by Anne-Laure Folly 20 years later.
Key Film Industries and Festivals
However, the Egyptian film industry is the oldest industry on the African continent, already producing classic silent films in the ‘20s, like Kiss in the Desert (1927). Cinema of Egypt in particular is the most established and flourishing industry in Africa.
The first film to be produced was the 1923's Barsoum Looking for a Job in Egypt. In 1927, Egypt produced Laila, the first feature-length film produced by Aziza Amir and directed by Stephan Rosti and Wedad Orfi. In 1935, the Studio Misr in Cairo began producing mostly formulaic comedies and musicals, but also films like Kamal Selim's The Will (1939).
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Then, slowly but surely, the Nigerian Film industry emerged as one of the prominent film industries of the world. African cinema came to strongly feature social and political themes and the neocolonial condition. Directors such as Hubert Ogunde and Moses, transitioning into the big screen from the theater, made the Nigerian Film Industry the second largest film industry in the world.
The oil boom of 1973 through 1978 also contributed immensely to the growth of cinema culture in Nigeria, as Nigerians’ purchasing power increased. The popular 2009 thriller film The Figurine is generally considered the game-changer which heightened media attention towards the ‘New Nigerian Cinema‘ revolution. The film was a critical and commercial success in Nigeria, and it was also screened at various international film festivals.
The first African film to win international recognition was Sembène Ousmane's La Noire de... also known as Black Girl. It showed the despair of an African woman who has to work as a maid in France. It won the Prix Jean Vigo in 1966.
In 1969 the Pan-African Film Festival, Fespaco, was created. With the creation of the African film festival FESPACO in today's Burkina Faso in 1969, African film created its own forum. Held in Burkina Faso every two years, it is the biggest film event that is regularly held on the African continent. The Pan African Federation of Filmmakers (Fédération Panafricaine des Cinéastes, or FEPACI) was formed in 1969 to promote African film industries in terms of production, distribution and exhibition.
The last movie theatre in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, shut down in 2004. Many of the former cinemas were converted to churches. A first African Film Summit took place in South Africa in 2006. It was followed by FEPACI 9th Congress. In Algiers in 1975, the Pan African Federation of Filmmakers (FEPACI) adopted the Charte du cinéaste africain (Charter of the African cinéaste), which recognized the importance of postcolonial and neocolonial realities in African cinema.
Ethiopian Cinema: A Closer Look
In December 2019, film connoisseurs in Ethiopia received a rare treat when the Addis Ababa Cinema Houses Administration Enterprise arranged a festival to showcase some of the classic Ethiopian movies made between 1964 and 1992. These films had been largely inaccessible to filmgoers, filmmakers, instructors, and students, for decades. The last time any of them screened was in 2008. The desire to go back in time and see some of these early masterpieces was evident as crowds lined up to enter the Ambassador Theatre in the center of Ethiopia’s capital city. After the screening, audiences expressed joy and amazement at the artistry of these films and wondered why they had not had the opportunity to see them before.
The first film in the line-up was Hirut, abatwa mannew/Hirut, Who is the Father, the first black and white feature film, produced and written by Ilala Ibsa and directed by Lambros Jokaris in 1964. It portrays the story of Hirut, who was forced to become a prostitute, but instead of accepting her fate, she attempts to alter her life by enrolling in school. The film offers a progressive portrayal of Hirut as she grows into a successful, educated, modern woman. The film also has beautiful shots of a modernizing Ethiopia, including the newly constructed African Union building in Addis Ababa and the streets of Asmara in the early 1960s.
For fans of African cinema, this film is significant for a very important reason. Usually, film historians consider Ousmane Sembene’s classic film La noire de… to be the first feature-length African film, produced in 1966, and his later film Mandabi, produced in 1968, to be the first feature-length film in an African language since La noire de… is mostly in French.
The next film was Gouma (usually translated as Blood Ransom), directed by Michel Papatakis in 1974. Unfortunately, some of the celluloid reels of this film have decayed over time, so the audience was unable to see the entire movie. The film is set in Wello and explores Ethiopian indigenous culture. In the story, the main character, Tariku, accidentally kills his friend, and so, instead of the death penalty or retributive justice, the community opts for a traditional, restorative conflict resolution system-the gouma. For this, Tariku travels to several locations to beg for money to donate to Zewudu’s family. Though it appears unusual in Ethiopian films to focus on a single person for an extended period of time, the film’s one-and-a-half-hour story beautifully communicates its theme with good aesthetic and cinematic elements. The film achieves a balance between honoring indigenous traditions and gratifying public interest in a socially conscious, modern Ethiopia.
Another film that screened at this festival was Aster, directed by Solomon Bekele Weya in 1991-1992. Its production was begun under the Derg regime and the film was completed shortly after the Ethiopia People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) came to power. The film, set in the 1960s, is told through a sequence of flashbacks in which the protagonist reveals her life story to a friend at her wedding anniversary dinner party. The film moves between the night Aster delivers her story and flashbacks to her history. There is another feature-length film from this era: Behiwot Zuria (Around Life), produced in 1989. Its story focuses on the psychological decline of Almaz, who loses her husband and then her child. As such, the film critically examines the social construction of gender and reflects on social conventions.
In addition to these fictional dramas, there are numerous documentary and essay films that were not shown at the festival. Among these is the important film, Wondimu’s Memories, directed by Teferi Bizuaehu in 1976-a reflection on the progress of the revolution that was screened at the important Pan-African cultural festival, FESTAC, in Nigeria in 1977.
Internationally, when most people think of Ethiopian cinema before the 21st century, they think of the directors Haile Gerima and Salem Mekuria, who have lived and worked in the US since the late 1960s. The success of this festival in 2019 inspired another festival, Retrospective on Ethiopian Films, in Addis Ababa in March 2021. The success of these retrospective festivals and the work of many Ethiopian scholars and intellectuals, such as Aboneh Ashagrie and Menelik Merid, has inspired a desire to recover these earlier films.
Challenges and Opportunities
Despite its growth, African cinema faces significant challenges, including limited funding, distribution difficulties, and competition with Hollywood and Bollywood. Many African filmmakers struggle to secure financing for their projects, and those who do often face hurdles in distributing their films both within Africa and internationally. The lack of a robust distribution network means that many African films do not reach a wide audience, limiting their impact and profitability.
African cinema undeniably needs to develop its own way of making films, support local initiatives, and invest in cinematic cultures. Several grants have been given by the Nigerian Government, to support quality content in Nigerian films.
Some African countries suffer a lack of freedom of speech, that undermine the film industry. Migration and relations between African and European countries is a common theme among many African films. Africanfuturism and Afrofuturism is a growing genre, encompassing Africans both on the continent and in the diaspora who tell science or speculative fiction stories involving Africa and African people.
The African filmmaker is often compared to the traditional griot. Like griots, filmmakers' task is to express and reflect communal experiences. Patterns of African oral literature often recur in African films.
In 2008, Manouchka Kelly Labouba became the first woman in the history of Gabonese cinema to direct a fictional film. Kemi Adetiba, hitherto a music video director, made her directorial debut in 2016 with The Wedding Party. Wanuri Kahiu is a Kenyan film director, best known for her film From a Whisper, which was awarded Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Picture at the Africa Movie Academy Awards in 2009. Nearly 10 years after the release of From a Whisper, Kahiu's film Rafiki, a coming-of-age romantic drama about two teenage girls in the present-day Kenya. Rungano Nyoni, best known for the internationally acclaimed feature film I am Not a Witch is a Zambian-Welsh director and screenwriter.
African cinema has been a powerful medium for exploring and challenging the representations of African identity. Filmmakers often grapple with the portrayal of African cultures, traditions, and modernity, striving to present a narrative that counters the stereotypical depictions seen in Western media.
The filmmakers start by recalling the neocolonial condition of African societies. "The situation contemporary African societies live in is one in which they are dominated on several levels: politically, economically and culturally." African filmmakers stressed their solidarity with progressive filmmakers in other parts of the world.
Recent Growth and Future Prospects
Although the African film industry does not currently attract the same levels of popularity claimed by the well-developed European and American industries, it has shown significant growth and progress in recent years. The film was a critical and commercial success in Nigeria, and it was also screened at various international film festivals.
Lionheart, a 2018 Nigerian film premiered at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival. Produced by Chinny Onwugbenu and directed by Genevieve Nnaji the film was acquired by Netflix making it the first Netflix original film from Nigeria.
The future of African cinema looks promising with the advent of digital technology and the rise of new platforms for distribution, such as streaming services. These advancements are making it easier for African filmmakers to produce and distribute their films globally. Additionally, there is a growing interest in African cinema from international audiences and film festivals, providing more opportunities for African filmmakers to showcase their work on the world stage.
In October 2021, UNESCO published a report of the film and audiovisual industry in 54 states of the African continent including quantitative and qualitative data and an analysis of their strengths and weaknesses at the continental and regional levels.
Part 1 of the report is titled Pan-African Trends Shaping the Future of the Continent's Film and Audiovisual Sector, Part 2 is Strategic Development and Growth Models, Part 3 presents detailed national mappings of the countries, and an annex lists historical key dates in African cinema from 1896 to 2021.
Here is a list of some film directors in Africa:
- Cameroon: Jean-Pierre Bekolo, Bassek Ba Kobhio, Urbain Dia Moukouri, Bernard Auguste Kouemo Yanghu, Joséphine Ndagnou, Jean-Paul Ngassa, Jean-Pierre Dikongué Pipa, Thérèse Sita-Bella, Francis Taptue, Jean-Marie Teno, Francois L.
- Ghana: Egbert Adjesu, John Akomfrah, King Ampaw, Kwaw Ansah, Jim Awindor, Yaba Badoe, Akosua Busia, Leila Djansi, Kuukua Eshun, Shirley Frimpong-Manso, Chris Hesse, Nii Kwate Owoo, Kwesi Owusu, Tom Ribeiro, Halaru B.
- Zimbabwe: M. K.
In 2025, Angola premiered its first musical film, still one of the few to be shot in Africa.
African cinema, like cinema in other world regions, covers a wide variety of topics.
