Art, digital age and trends in Africa Berjo Ange-Ernest Moudilou-Mouanga Bakalářská práce 2011 UTB ve Zlíně, Fakulta multimediálních komunikací 2 UTB ve Zlíně, Fakulta multimediálních komunikací 3 UTB ve Zlíně, Fakulta multimediálních komunikací 4 UTB ve Zlíně, Fakulta multimediálních komunikací 5 ABSTRAKT Tento projekt je zaměřený na kinematografii Afriky a diaspory. Práce začíná stručným představením koninentu, jelikož to u něj vše začlo. Africkým filmařům se podařilo dosáhnout úspěchu na mezinárodním poli, přes veškeré nesnáze kterými museli projít. Část mého projektu se zabývá filmovou reklamou v podobě plakátů. Jsme představení něčemu co je docela jiné od upoutávek ke kterým jsme denně vystaveni. Tento rozdíl vytváří především původnost a rozmanitost. Setkejte se s vyznamnými filmovými režiséry jako jsou Oscar Micheaux, Spike Lee, Raoul Peck, Sebastien Kamba a Ralph Nwadike. Klíčová slova: Afrika, Umění, Film, Plakát, Grafický design. ABSTRACT This project is focused on the African and diaspora cinematography. The work starts with a brief introduction of the continent. Despite all the obstacles Black filmmakers had to go through, they have managed to rich a high level of success internationally. A part of the project touches film advertisement(movie posters), we are introduced to something that is quite different from what we are used to. The diversity and originality is what makes African and diaspora posters different. Meet Some of most significant filmmakers like Oscar Micheaux, Spike Lee, Raoul Peck, Sebastien Kamba and Ralph Nwadike. Keywords: Africa, Art, Motion picture, Poster, Graphic design. UTB ve Zlíně, Fakulta multimediálních komunikací 6 I would like to dedicate this to all the people who have helped and supported me during my research, specifically my parents Jean-Claude and Natalia, doc. PaeDr. Jiri Eliska, The African American Cinema Museum in Harlem, Jepchumba, CEO of African Digital Art, NYSYMB LASCONY, John Van Means, Barbara Muriungi, Gaetano Gualdo and Nathan Collett “With confidence you have won, before you have started” Marcus Garvey UTB ve Zlíně, Fakulta multimediálních komunikací 7 UTB ve Zlíně, Fakulta multimediálních komunikací 8 CONTENT 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 11 1.1 HISTORY OF AFRICAN AND DIASPORA CINEMA ...................................................... 11 1.2 MY FIRST CONTACT WITH THE AFRICAN FILM ........................................................ 12 1.3 FESTIVAL DE CINE AFRICAN TARIFA ...................................................................... 13 1.4 MY RESEARCHES ................................................................................................... 13 2 CONGO BRAZZAVILLE ....................................................................................... 15 2.1 HISTORICAL OVERVIEW ........................................................................................ 15 2.2 UN VOYAGE AU CONGO ......................................................................................... 15 2.3 LA RANCOND D´UNE ALLIANCE ............................................................................. 16 2.4 THE 1970´S AND ON .............................................................................................. 17 2.5 LES ENFANTS DE LA RUE / STREET CHILDREN ........................................................ 19 2.6 NDAKO YA BANDEKO ............................................................................................ 19 2.7 ROD KABA ............................................................................................................ 20 2.8 INTERVIEW WITH NYSYMB LASCONY .................................................................... 22 3 NIGERIA .................................................................................................................. 26 3.1 THOUGHTS ON NOLLYWOOD ................................................................................. 26 3.2 PRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 26 3.3 INTERVIEW WITH GAETANO GUALDO .................................................................... 28 4 GHANA ..................................................................................................................... 30 4.1 TRAIN KINO........................................................................................................... 30 4.2 UPS AND DOWNS, SMILES AND FROWNS ................................................................ 30 4.3 HAND PAINTED VS PRINTED .................................................................................. 31 4.4 INTERVIEW WITH NATHAN COLLETT ..................................................................... 31 5 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ......................................................................... 44 5.1 OSCAR MICHEAUX ................................................................................................ 44 5.1.1 Early life ....................................................................................................... 44 5.1.2 Marriage ....................................................................................................... 45 5.1.3 Novelist, writer, filmmaker .......................................................................... 45 5.1.5 Legacy .......................................................................................................... 46 5.2 SPIKE LEE ............................................................................................................. 49 5.2.1 Early life ....................................................................................................... 49 5.2.2 She´s gotta have it ........................................................................................ 49 5.2.3 Mars Blackmon ............................................................................................ 50 5.2.4 Mo´ better blues ........................................................................................... 52 5.2.4 Legacy .......................................................................................................... 54 5.3 1124 DESIGN ........................................................................................................ 56 5.3.1 Bennings ....................................................................................................... 56 5.3.2 First film posters .......................................................................................... 57 5.3.3 Working with Spike Lee .............................................................................. 57 5.3.5 Legacy .......................................................................................................... 58 UTB ve Zlíně, Fakulta multimediálních komunikací 9 5.4 INTERVIEW WITH GREGORY JAVAN MILLS ............................................................. 67 II PROJECT ................................................................................................................. 70 6 DOCUMENTATION ................................................................................................. 71 6.1 ILLUSTRATIONS .................................................................................................... 71 6.2 T-SHIRT ................................................................................................................ 73 6.3 WOODEN BADGES ................................................................................................. 73 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................. 75 BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................................. 77 LIST OF IMAGES ............................................................................................................. 78 UTB ve Zlíně, Fakulta multimediálních komunikací 10 I. TEORETICAL PART UTB ve Zlíně, Fakulta multimediálních komunikací 11 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 The history of African and diaspora cinematography To fully understand the African cinematography we have to go through the history of its continent. In this case we are talking about the sub saharan zone. For more than four hundred years a large number (four million) of sub saharan African men and women were displaced to North America and Carribean Islands in the Atlantic slave trade. Caught from home and forever split from their families they were inslaved in a new world without any familiar customs. Despite all difficulties and hardships they managed to keep their traditions and identities in the new world. Culture, religion and folklore has been preserved as an evidence of their past lives. [1] Nowadays the term African Diaspora is also applied to the ones who have migrated from the continent to get education, working opportunity and a better life for themselves and their families. There is not a huge difference between films made by Africans in and outside of the continent when it comes to socioeconomic and political issues. They point out the position of the black man in society in various aspects (history, culture, customs, social and political issues). African filmmakers all over the world are not possessed with themselves or their race, however they are still discovering different ways to preserve the history that was interrupted by colonialism and slave trade. With a rich visual culture and history that has