Black Camera: Reading, Writing, Researching African Women in Cinema—Reflections on Sisters of the Screen-25 years and the African Women in Cinema Dossier 10 years onward by Beti Ellerson

Black Camera an International Film Journal

Volume 16, Number 2 Spring 2025

Reading, Writing, Researching African Women in Cinema

Reflections on Sisters of the Screen-25 years

and

the African Women in Cinema Dossier 10 years onward

by Beti Ellerson

https://muse.jhu.edu/issue/55047

pp. 181-222
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2979/blc.00066 

 

This project has as purpose to trace the journey of Sisters of the Screen twenty-five years onward and the trajectory of the African Women in Cinema Dossier from its inception ten years ago to the present. Sisters of the Screen, the title of the book, and the film—released two years later—was conceived as a critical inquiry into all manner of African women of the moving image. Shortly afterward, the Center for the Study and Research of African Women was established as a virtual environment in which to channel and disseminate the knowledge production of this ever-growing field. With the emergence of social media, the African Women in Cinema Blog has served as a public forum in which to disseminate these ideas. Similarly, the Dossier has been the conduit for the publication of research, as well as a space to develop and share theories and concepts.

 

African Women in Cinema Blog celebrates World Environment Day

 

African Women in Cinema: 

Caring for the Environment

Energy - Trees - Earth - Soil

My metaphor about Pumzi is life and sacrifice and that we ourselves have to mother mother nature--Wanuri Kahiu

Tout est lié - It’s all connected, is about raising awareness among young audiences of the complexity of our terrestrial ecosystem and to inspire action by encouraging inventiveness and collaboration—Nadine Otsobogo

Safi Faye’s Kaddu Beykat (1975) highlights the problems engendered by groundnut monoculture, neocolonial exploitation, the difficulties of making a living, the abuse by the State. She also underscores the significance of the raised consciousness of the farmers, who, aware of the deterioration of the soil, decided to no longer cultivate groundnuts, but rather to produce what they needed to live. The government, alarmed by their reaction, made concessions in an attempt to attenuate their anger. Her observation in the early 1980s, when discussing the censorship of Kaddu Beykat by the Senegalese government, confirms the above assertions: “I think the film will survive the time . . . It will be used to compare ‘what was’ and ‘what is.’”

Kaddu Beykat (1975) has been considered a harbinger among the films that brought into focus the socioeconomic consequences of soil degradation. As contemporary debates on the environment highlight the importance of healthy soil by proper use and management, comparisons of “then and now” bring the film back into the spotlight. Advocating for the sustainable management of soil resources, the UN General Assembly designated 5 December 2014 as the first official World Soil Day. Moreover, at the time of the COP 21 Paris Climate Conference in 2015, the film garnered a great deal of interest in Europe. Safi Faye had already raised these ecological concerns forty years before.

Selected African Women in Cinema posts related to the environment:

#technology
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2023/01/kantarama-gahigiri-terra-mater.html
#resistance
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2022/10/afridocsanytime-women-hold-up-sky-film.html
#Environmental #Awareness
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2022/02/yamina-benguigui-dernier-poumon-ffa.html
#climate #water
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2021/07/cannes-2021-aissa-maiga-marcher-sur.html
#pollution
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2014/04/julie-djikey-performance-ozonisation.html