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HOUSTON
Anita Long - Interviewer and
Filmmaker; Linda Wuest
and Natashia Clarke:
AL: Why a festival about West Afri-
can films, not just African films?
LW:
Because the film industry in
Africa actually began in West Africa.
The rise of the African film industry
can be traced back to the decoloni-
zation period of the continent. De-
spite the prior existence of such an
industry under foreign rule, the Af-
rican film industry did not reflect an
accurate portrayal of the cultures it
was intending to represent. Instead,
the film industry was permeated by
stereotypes and Africa was utilized
merely as an “exotic” background for
Western cinema. However, this un-
derwent a significant change during
the 1960s, when numerous African
countries obtained their indepen-
dence. This is especially true of the
former French colonies, whose local
filmmakers received technical and
financial support from the French
Ministry of Cooperation.
Spearheaded by individuals such as
François Mitterand, efforts to en-
courage the integration of African
38 iF Magazine | April 2018
film production as a part of the cul-
tural, political and economic devel-
opment of the continent were fur-
ther strengthened in the 1980s. Also,
as the vast majority of films made
before the countries´ decolonization
were explicitly racist, many African
directors who gained prominence
post-independence, such as Ousmane
Sembene and Oumarou Ganda, used
the art of filmmaking as a political
instrument in order to rightly restore
their image which had been wrongly
depicted by Westerners. Thus, Afri-
can cinema came to strongly feature
social and political themes and the
neo-colonial condition.
However, 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 thousand ways in their films.
In discussing what is unique about
African films, perhaps it’s better to
start with what is universal to film,
including African films. All films are
voices of culture, the choices that
make us human, the challenges that
bring us down, and the joys that lift
us up. For example, some of the
sweetest comedies are now being
produced in Sierra Leone. Despite
of all the country has gone through
recently, their artists find a human-
ity that would be recognized any-
where in the world. Boy meets girl,
girls parents don’t approve … it’s a
common story. You can get a little
window into the daily life of a Sierra
Leonian in some of their comedies
and short films.
But there is something unique about
African film because the history of
the continent is unique. Nollywood
films often touch on ancient fears and
superstitions. Divisions also come to
light in film. There have been some
great documentaries about elections
in Africa as Africa has come a long
way in recent years in free and fair
elections.
The Potential of the African
Film Industry.
The African cinema industry ac-
knowledges undeniably the need to
develop its own way of making films,
support their local initiatives, and
invest in cinematic cultures such as
films festivals. Although the African
film industry does not currently at-