“We want to tell our stories” - Beti Ellerson on African women in cinema

“We want to tell our stories”

Beti Ellerson on African women in cinema

Complete interview (22-09-2022) with the defunct YAZA Africa (yaza.co.za) republished on the African Women in Cinema Blog.*

Give us a brief introduction of who you are and your career - how did you get here?

I am currently an independent researcher as well as activist, who operates outside of the framework of academia. However, from the mid-1990s until the mid-2010s, I taught on the faculty at several universities, notably Howard University in Washington DC, where I received a PhD in African Studies as well as completed post-doctoral research. It is during the post-doctoral fellowship that I began my journey on the study and research of African women in cinema. It is also at Howard University that I engaged in film studies—film history, film analysis, film criticism—during which I focused on African Cinema—a course in which I also enrolled, and the catalyst for my journey. I am especially privileged to have studied and worked with some of the pioneers in the field of African Cinema Studies who were based at Howard University.

In addition, it is in Washington DC, that I developed my film activism by engaging with the local Public Access TV station, DCTV. My initial interest was to acquire skills in video technique to visually document my academic research. There I enrolled in courses in scriptwriting, TV production, editing—which allowed the participants to become familiar with the entire process of TV production—handling the camera, lighting, audio, etc. We participated mutually in each other’s production, which prepared me to produce my own show, Reels of Colour which I also hosted. The purpose of the series was to profile filmmakers, critics and scholars, as well as actors, cinematographers, producers, resource persons and organizers. I tapped into the wealth of people and knowledge in independent cinema in the Washington, DC area, having as guests, these locally-based film professionals, as well those who passed through while touring their film or participating in the various film festivals. We explored various perspectives, aspects and interests within independent cinema by people of color, including production, distribution and exhibition. On a few occasions I covered events that took place on location or outside of Washington DC.  During the production of this 27-episode program which aired locally from 1998-2000, I acquired the requisite skills to produce the documentary film, Sisters of the Screen, African Women in the Cinema, released in 2002—the companion book, Sisters of the Screen, Women of Africa on Film, Video and Television, was published by Africa World Press in 2000. And here I am continuing on this journey.

What appeals to you when it comes to film and particularly African women in film?

In fact, I am not a film buff, per se. It was through my interest in African cinema, both academically and through activism, that I developed a keener interest in the world of cinema as a site of critical inquiry. And my interest at the intersection of African cinema, women’s studies and womanism as a conceptual framework drew me to my very specific focus on African women in cinema.

You run the Centre for Study and Research of African Women in Cinema, why did you start it?

In 2008, the Centre for the Study and Research of African Women in Cinema was launched, enlarging and deepening the original initiative, the African Women in Cinema Project, created in 2004. While the African Women in Cinema Project was an academic-based website funded by a Howard University Faculty Research Grant, the Centre is a not-for-profit organization with both a scholarly and general-public focus. One of the objectives is to reach a broader audience beyond academia—where much of the discourse on African women in film has been focused. The Internet-based Centre has the potential to access a wider range of people in the way that scholarly journals have not. Moreover, the fact that scholarship on the subject is often confined to classrooms, seminars and conferences, especially in the United States, means that other sectors of the population are not readily exposed to the rich experiences of African women in cinema. And while the name of the Centre invokes a location of serious study, its diverse features, notably the African Women in Cinema Blog, make information accessible to people who are seeking information for various reasons and on many different levels. I am excited about the immense possibilities of new media technologies that allow me to continue this journey.

In your research on African women in film, what are the major themes that emerge and how are they being addressed?

Perhaps I could expand the question to also include: who determines these themes? who decides the importance of the questions that are asked? And in so doing, it would empower women themselves to determine their own place in film history and the role they will play in the production of knowledge. To address your specific question with this in mind, I would say that African women asserting their own agency, claiming their voice, telling their own history have been recurrent “themes” in the sense of issues, matters of concern/importance that are fundamental to their cinematic vision and filmmaking practice. It is interesting to note that since the early cinematic experiences of African women makers to the present, in terms of the subjects that they address or on which they focus, there has been an amazing level of consistency: the environment, the effects of colonization, resistance, reconciliation, African cultural heritage, identity, rural sustainability, migration, literacy and girls’ education, women’s health and bodily integrity, women’s empowerment, and autobiographical stories that relate family and very personal lived experiences.

Definitely contemporary stories and how they are told reflect the realities of the time: such as mental health, including issues around PTSD, gender-based violence in the time of #metoo, coping with COVID. Regarding other developments reflective of current phenomenon: African women are increasingly visible in animation cinema, they are taking full advantage of web-based and transmedia storytelling and actually include these themes in their work—intrigues around social media, blogging and texting; a documentary about influencers; a visual/audio website about Ghana diasporans returning to Ghana.

One element that has also been consistent is the transnational nature of African women’s cinematic practice, the local/global experience of navigating multiple spaces in order to study, live, work. And for the current generation, many have inherited their parents’ exilic, diasporic identity and they tell stories of their dual homelands, which involve belonging and the search for ancestral identities, and, for the generation of the elders and those who have joined the ancestors, having passed the torch, safeguarding their legacy becomes increasingly relevant. There are so many intersectional themes which make for fascinating stories!


You’ve worked (in what capacity was this and for how many years?) with the International Images Film Festival for Women, what are your reflections on it?

I was invited to serve on the jury at the 2011 edition of IIFF, but what I did not know, was that I had been selected to receive The Distinguished Woman of African Cinema Award—I was amazed that it was kept a big secret until the IIFF closing day, imagine! Inaugurated by Women Filmmakers of Zimbabwe (WFOZ), it is presented to a woman of African descent anywhere in the world who has made and continues to make a significant contribution to the African film industry within any of its areas. It was quite an honor, and I continue to be humbled by this recognition of my work. I regularly feature the activities and events of IIFF, WFOZ and ICAPA on the African Women in Cinema Blog and other Centre-related social media as well as staying in touch with Tsitsi Dangarembga, as she has been an important artistic and intellectual sister of cinema to me.

My reflections of IIFF? Well, I have only attended one edition but I have continued to follow it from afar. As a participant of the 2011 edition, I was truly impressed with the quality of the film selection and the level of professionalism and organization throughout the festival. As an afro-descendant woman, I felt truly welcomed and appreciated as a cohort of African women in cinema. I was also inspired by the inclusion of so many stakeholders who were integral to the promotion of culture and women’s empowerment in Zimbabwe. I was privy to the behind the scenes activities and I continue to give kudos to these amazing women in their capacity to pull off such a feat—with so little means. Which shows what African women can do as a result of perseverance, determination and firmness of purpose, bravo!


Are you in a position to assess the impact of such festivals on women in the African film industry?

Well, I have been to many festivals in Africa and beyond. In addition, in 2019, I wrote an article entitled, ‘African Women on the Cinematic Landscape’. So I will use those findings as a basis to address your question. I noted that a vital role of the film festival is the potential to showcase and promote the works of African women, to provide an environment for networking, as well to facilitate the professionalization their experiences as film practitioners. As is evident with the IIFF, African women are leading the way in this regard.

There’s also a discussion about who is African when you talk about African Women in film. How do you distinguish that and is it necessary to do that?

Good question that I am grappling with in my own work. In an increasingly trans-diasporic world among “African” women in cinema, which include “African” women who are born outside of the continent from African immigrant/transnational parents, this may be a relevant question. I say “may” because with it comes issues around identity and who is doing the naming. There are women who are born and raised in their parents’ diasporic “hostland”, whose films focus on identities within that space rather than those of their ancestral homeland. Others focus on both environments, while still others embrace whatever subject matter may interest them. The question of subject matter, what themes African women address, has already been part of the discussion. If it is not “African” in the sense of location and people, is it considered an “African” film, for instance. I tried to address this in an article I wrote called, ‘Traveling gazes: Glocal imaginaries in the transcontinental, transnational, exilic, migration and diaspora cinematic experiences of African women’. That’s a mouthful, but the purpose of the article was to attempt to engage all these questions around identity, geography and one’s position within these spaces.

As a participant and researcher of the African women in film, how has it evolved over the years?

Well definitely we are seeing more women makers in the area of the moving image, when the VHS became mainstream and presently in the era of digital technology—since in both cases these technologies have been more accessible. The global focus on gender parity in the media has also contributed to empowering women to advance into filmmaking as directors and the technical areas that have long been the purview of men.

In terms of studying African women in film, I would say that by naming the field of study: African women in cinema studies, which is what I have done, gives it a legitimate place as a site of inquiry. Whether others follow suit or take on this work is perhaps not the real point, but that it is has a name, that there are efforts in establishing a historiography, methodology and theoretical framework within which to study and research is an essential part of the process. Hence, as more African women enter the area of filmmaking and make more films,  providing content to be critiqued and studied, and as more African women take an interest in film criticism and research, African women in cinema studies will grow exponentially.

Is film the ultimate game-changer for African women?

African women change makers, have long engaged with the media as a clarion call for change, whether through the moving image, print, or radio. These media have been the vehicle for awareness building, women’s empowerment and literacy and health education, to name a few. I am not sure that I would say that it is film, specifically. However, I would venture to say that since the past two decades, the ubiquity of new technologies and social media has been the ultimate game-changer for African women who, of course have access to these technologies—to get their message across to an audience beyond the gatekeepers of information and knowledge production.  


Thank You for your time.

Thank you for your questions and your interest in including my voice on this important topic!

*Revised from the announcement of interview on Yaza website.