Traditions in World Cinema Series Editors: Linda Badley and R. Barton Palmer Founding Editor: Steven Jay Schneider R This new series introduces diverse and fascinating movements in world cinema. Each volume O concentrates on a set of films from a different national, regional or, in some cases, cross-cultural Y cinema which constitute a particular tradition. Volumes cover topics such as Japanese horror cinema, new punk cinema, African cinema, Italian neorealism, Czech and Slovak cinema and the A Italian sword-and-sandal film. R M E AFRICAN FILMMAKING S North and South of the Sahara ROY ARMES African Filmmaking: North and South of the Sahara is the first comprehensive study in English AFRICAN FILMMAKING linking filmmaking in the Maghreb (Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia) with that in francophone West Africa and examining the factors (including Islam and the involvement of African and A North and South of the Sahara French governments) which have shaped post-independence production. The main focus is the F R development over forty years of two main traditions of African filmmaking: a social realist strand N o examining the nature of postcolonial society and a more experimental approach where emphasis I C r ROY ARMES is placed on new stylistic patterns able to embrace history, myth and magic.The work of younger t h A filmmakers born since independence is examined in the light of these two traditions. a N n Features: d S F o u • An overview of the socio-political context shaped by Islam and French colonialism. I t L h • A look at filmmaking in Africa before the mid-1960s. M o f t • An examination of the inputs of African and French governments into post-independence M h developments North and South of the Sahara. e A S • A historical survey of the two major tendencies in African film production over the past 40 years. a K h a I • A detailed analysis of the work of five talented young filmmakers, representative of those born r a since independence. N G Roy Armes is Emeritus Professor of Film at Middlesex University and author of numerous books on cinema including Arab and African Film Making (with Lizbeth Malkmus), Dictionary of North African Film Makers and Postcolonial Images: Studies in North African Film. His work has been translated into fourteen languages, including Bengali, Hebrew, Chinese, Japanese and Arabic. Cover design: River Design, Edinburgh Cover image: Nja Mahdaoui Nja Mahdaoui is a painter, designer and artist who lives and works in Tunis (http://nja-mahdaoui.com). barcode E Edinburgh University Press d i 22 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9LF n b www.eup.ed.ac.uk u r g ISBN 0 7486 2124 5 h AFRICAN FILMMAKING TRADITIONS IN WORLD CINEMA General Editors Linda Badley (Middle Tennessee State University) R. Barton Palmer (Clemson University) Founding Editor Steven Jay Schneider (New York University) Titles in the series include: Traditions in World Cinema by Linda Badley, R. Barton Palmer and Steven Jay Schneider (eds) 0 7486 1862 7 (hardback) 0 7486 1863 5 (paperback) Japanese Horror Cinema by Jay McRoy (ed.) 0 7486 1994 1 (hardback) 0 7486 1995 X (paperback) New Punk Cinema by Nicholas Rombes (ed.) 0 7486 2034 6 (hardback) 0 7486 2035 4 (paperback) African Filmmaking: North and South of the Sahara by Roy Armes 0 7486 2123 7 (hardback) 0 7486 2124 5 (paperback) Forthcoming titles include: American Commercial-Independent Cinema by Linda Badley and R. Barton Palmer 0 7486 2459 7 (hardback) 0 7486 2460 0 (paperback) Italian Neorealist Cinema by Peter Bondanella 0 7486 1978 X (hardback) 0 7486 1979 8 (paperback) The Italian Sword-and-Sandal Film by Frank Burke 0 7486 1983 6 (hardback) 0 7486 1984 4 (paperback) Czech and Slovak Cinema: Theme and Tradition by Peter Hames 0 7486 2081 8 (hardback) 0 7486 2082 6 (paperback) AFRICAN FILMMAKING North and South of the Sahara Roy Armes EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY PRESS © Roy Armes, 2006 Edinburgh University Press Ltd 22 George Square, Edinburgh Typeset in 10/12.5 Adobe Sabon by Servis Filmsetting Ltd, Manchester, and printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin, Cornwall A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN-10 0 7486 2123 7 (hardback) ISBN-13 978 0 7486 2123 1 ISBN-10 0 7486 2124 5 (paperback) ISBN-13 978 0 7486 2124 8 The right of Roy Armes to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. CONTENTS Acknowledgements vii List of Acronyms viii INTRODUCTION 1The African Experience 3 PART I CONTEXT 2 Beginnings 21 3African Initiatives 36 4 The French Connection 53 PART II CONFRONTING REALITY 5 Liberation and Postcolonial Society 67 6 Individual Struggle 87 PART III NEW IDENTITIES 7 Experimental Narratives 109 8 Exemplary Tales 122 AFRICAN FILMMAKING PART IV THE NEW MILLENNIUM 9The Post-Independence Generation 143 10 Mahamat Saleh Haroun (Chad) 158 11 Dani Kouyaté (Burkina Faso) 167 12 Raja Amari (Tunisia) 176 13 Faouzi Bensaidi (Morocco) 183 14 Abderrahmane Sissako (Mauritania) 191 Bibliography 201 Index 215 vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Here, as with all my writings about African filmmaking, I owe a huge debt to Guido Aristarco, who organised a series of conferences in Bulgaria in 1978–9 in connection with a projected General History of World Cinema. This was the context in which I first met Ousmane Sembene, Paulin Soumanou Vieyra and Ferid Boughedir and discovered, much to my surprise, that there was indeed an African cinema, made by African filmmakers, happily far removed from the Tarzan films I had devoured as a child. The encounter with what was still unproblematically called ‘third world cinema’ changed for ever my hitherto wholly Euro-centric approach to writing about film. This book owes its immediate existence to the persuasive powers of Steven Jay Schneider and R. Barton Palmer, the patience of Sarah Edwards and my own dislike of prime numbers (I have previously published seventeen books). My thanks go to John Flahive of the BFI for a VHS copy of Aristotle’s Plot, to Dominique Sentiles of Médiathèque des Trois Mondes, Cornelius Moore and Gene Sklar of California Newsreel, and Renald Spech of ArtMattan for help in purchasing video tapes. I am also very grateful to Jeanik Le Naour for arrang- ing Paris screenings at ADPF and to Kevin Dwyer for his invaluable support on many aspects of Moroccan cinema. I must also thank the following individuals and organisations for permission to reproduce stills: the Montpellier International Festival for Bye Bye Africa, Duo Films for Abouna, La Vie sur terre (© Marie Jaoul de Poncheville and Anaïs Jeanneret) and Heremakono (© Kranck Verdier), California Newsreel for Keita, L’héritage du griot, ArtMattan Productions for Sia, Dani Kouyaté for Ouaga Saga (© Didier Bergounhoux), Nomadis Images for Satin Rouge, and Optimum Releasing for Mille mois. vii LIST OF ACRONYMS ACCT Agence de Coopération Culturelle et Technique France ACE Atelier du Cinéma Européen France ACT Association des Cinéastes Tunisiens Tunisia ADCSud Appui au Développement des Cinémas du Sud France ADPA Association pour la Diffusion de la Pensée France Française AJCT Association des Jeunes Cinéastes Tunisiens Tunisia ALN Armée de Libération Nationale Algeria ANAF Agence Nationale des Actualités Filmées Algeria ANPA Agence Nationale de Promotion de Tunisia l’Audiovisuel BFI British Film Institute UK CAAIC Centre Algérien pour l’Art et Industrie Algeria Cinématographiques CAC Centre Algérien de la Cinématographie Algeria CAI Consortium Audiovisuel International France CAV Centre Audio-Visuel Algeria CCM Centre Cinématographique Marocain Morocco CDC Centre de Diffusion Cinématographique Algeria viii LIST OF ACRONYMS CENACI Centre National du Cinéma Gabon CIDC Consortium Interafricain de Distribution Burkina Faso Cinématographique CIPROFILM Consortium Inter-Africain de Production de Burkina Faso Films CIVCA Compagnie Ivoirienne de Cinéma et Ivory Coast d’Audiovisuel CLCF Conservatoire Libre du Cinéma Français France CNC Centre National de la Cinématographie France CNC Centre National du Cinéma Burkina Faso CNCA (1) Centre National du Cinéma Algérien Algeria (1964–7) (2) Centre National du Cinéma et de Algeria l’Audiovisuel (2004) CNPC Centre National de Production Mali Cinématographique CNSAD Conservatoire National Supérieur d’Art France Dramatique COMACICO Compagnie Africaine Cinématographique France Industrielle et Commerciale DEA Diplôme d’Etudes Approfondies France DEFA Deutsche Film-AG Germany DNC Direction Nationale du Cinéma Burkina Faso ENADEC Entreprise Nationale de Distribution et Algeria d’Exploitation Cinématographiques ENAPROC Entreprise Nationale de Production Algeria Cinématographique ENPA Entreprise Nationale de Productions Algeria Audiovisuelles ENTV Entreprise Nationale de Télévision Algeria ERTT Etablissements Radio-Télévision Tunisiens Tunisia ESEC Ecole Supérieure des Etudes France Cinématographiques ESRA Ecole Supérieure de Réalisation Audiovisuelle France FACC Fédération Algériennne des Ciné-Clubs Algeria FACISS Fédération Africaine des Ciné-Clubs au Sud Black Africa du Sahara ix AFRICAN FILMMAKING FAMU Filmov Akademie Múzickych Umení (Film & Czech Television Faculty of the Academy of Republic Performing Arts) FAPCN Fonds d’Aide à la Production Morocco Cinématographique Nationale FAS Fonds d’Action Sociale France FED Fonds Européen de Développement EU FEMIS Fondation Européenne des Métiers de l’Image France et du Son FEPACI Fédération Panafricaine des Cinéastes FESPACO Festival Panafricain du Cinéma de Ougadougou Burkina Faso FIFAK Festival International du Film Amateur