AFRICAN WOMEN IN CINEMA BLOG: 2026

The purpose of the African Women in Cinema Blog is to provide a space to discuss diverse topics relating to African women in cinema--filmmakers, actors, producers, and all film professionals. The blog is a public forum of the Centre for the Study and Research of African Women in Cinema.

Le Blog sur les femmes africaines dans le cinéma est un espace pour l'échange d'informations concernant les réalisatrices, comédiennes, productrices, critiques et toutes professionnelles dans ce domaine. Ceci sert de forum public du Centre pour l'étude et la recherche des femmes africaines dans le cinémas.

18 October 2026

Film Africa : African Women and Cinema, centrepiece symposium - 24 October

Film Africa :

African Women and Cinema, centrepiece symposium

24 October @ 8:00 am - 12:00 pm

https://www.filmafrica.org/event/twende-african-women-and-cinema-symposium/

Description:

Twende (let’s go): African Women and Cinema is the centrepiece symposium of Film Africa 2026, presented with BFI Southbank. Filmmakers, producers, curators, archivists and cultural practitioners come together for five public conversations:

-Reclaiming the History: African Women Who Shaped Cinema

-Who Owns the Story? Women, Authorship and Representation

-From Africa to the World: Funding, Festivals and Power

-The Archive Is Not Neutral: Preserving African Women's Cinema

-A New Generation: Where Does African Women's Cinema Go From Here?

Symposium

The past: Salem Mekuria, Moderator: Audrey Brown

The image: Rama Thiaw, Moderator: Desta Haile

The industry: Virginie Besson-Silla, Moderator: Abiba Coulibaly

The archive: Zineb Sedira, Anita Afonu, Moderator: Esi Eshun

The future: Olive Nwosu, Jihan K, Moderator: Nadia Denton

17 October 2026

The African Women in Cinema Blog celebrates International Day of the Intangible Cultural Heritage - 17 October

The African Women in Cinema Blog celebrates International Day of the Intangible Cultural Heritage - 17 October

UNESCO describes the “intangible cultural heritage” as practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills – as well as the instruments, objects, artefacts and cultural spaces associated therewith – that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage. This intangible cultural heritage, transmitted from generation to generation, is constantly recreated by communities and groups in response to their environment, their interaction with nature and their history, and provides them with a sense of identity and continuity, thus promoting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity. For the purposes of this Convention, consideration will be given solely to such intangible cultural heritage as is compatible with existing international human rights instruments, as well as with the requirements of mutual respect among communities, groups and individuals, and of sustainable development. https://ich.unesco.org/en/convention

African women, cinema and cultural heritage

African women screen practitioners have played an important role in the promotion and preservation of African cultural heritages. Moreover, their engagement as cultural producers of screen culture ensures the visualization of the vast cultural treasures of the African continent.

Following are relevant articles on practices of cultural heritage on the African Women in Cinema Blog:

https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2010/01/horria-saihi-portrait.html

Chantal Bagilishya: "Special Tribute to one of Africa’s treasures in the world of cinema" by Seipati Bulane Hopa
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2009/10/seipati-bulane-hopa-chantal-bagilishya.html

16 October 2026

Miu Miu présente Geste de consolation, un projet imaginé par Alice Diop | Gesture of consolation, a project by Alice Diop

Miu Miu présente Geste de consolation, un projet imaginé par Alice Diop

https://www.miumiu.com/fr/fr/miumiu-club/special-projects/geste-de-consolation.html

Image: Miu Miu

Description :

« Geste de Consolation » se concentre sur une seule question qui traverse l’ensemble de l’œuvre de Diop en tant que cinéaste, la déployant ici sous la forme d’une scénographie multimédia. « Je souhaite que l’exposition que j’organise en tant que commissaire soit centrée sur les actes de consolation conçus par des artistes femmes noires, chacune dans sa propre discipline, afin de réparer les torts causés par le regard fétichisant auquel des siècles d’histoire de l’art nous ont confinées », déclare Diop. « Geste de Consolation » devient un chœur qui célèbre la créativité noire et s’interroge sur la manière dont le regard s’est constitué à partir des représentations mêmes qu’il affronte, images qui continuent de hanter et de façonner le moment présent.

"Geste de Consolation" focuses on the one question that traverses Alice Diop’s corpus of work as a filmmaker; deploying it here in the form of a multimedia scenography. "My desire is that the exhibition that I curate centers on the acts of consolation conceived by black women artists, each in their own discipline, in order to repair the wrongs caused by the fetishizing gaze in which centuries of art history have confined us," declares Alice Diop. "Geste de Consolation" becomes a choir that celebrates black creativity and questions the manner in which the gaze was constructed from the very representations that confronts it, images that continue to manifest itself and hence, shape the present moment.

Le Monde: At the Palais d'Iéna, filmmaker Alice Diop showcases the black women artists who have "strengthened" her

From October 21 to 25, the filmmaker Alice Diop will be entrusted with the keys to the Palais d'Iéna, an invitation by Miuccia Prada [head designer of Prada and founder of Miu Miu], as part of the Art Basel Paris contemporary art fair. Intermingling the intimate and the collective, her exhibition is dedicated in large part of black women, such as the sculptor Simone Leigh.

"I turned to the women who have inspired me over the past three years, a pivotal period for me. I had constructed my cinema on the desire to make a case for my formative years growing up as a black woman in France. I needed to be heard, to render justice to this violence, this anger. However, now, I no longer need to convince. I have been strengthened by the works of these women. To showcase them is for me a gesture that is at the same time very personal and very collective."

Source, translated from French: https://www.lemonde.fr/m-styles/article/2026/10/18/au-palais-d-iena-la-cineaste-alice-diop-met-en-lumiere-les-artistes-noires-qui-l-ont-fortifiee_6797043_4497319.html

15 October 2026

The African Women in Cinema Blog celebrates International Day of Rural Women - Oct 15

The African Women in Cinema Blog celebrates

International Day of Rural Women - Oct 15

Achieving gender equality and empowering women is not only the right thing to do but is a critical ingredient in the fight against extreme poverty, hunger and climate change.

Women are responsible for half of the world’s food production while working as environmental and biodiversity stewards.

Under the theme “The Rise of Rural Women: Building Resilient Futures with Beijing+30,” this International Day promoted by UN Women seeks to shed light on the inequalities they still face; advocate for their recognition and participation in decision-making; demand stronger social protection systems; and reduce the digital divide. The commemoration aligns with the spirit of Beijing+30, a global plan for gender equality focused on eradicating poverty, achieving climate justice, and ensuring the full participation of all women and girls in sustainable development. Wherever they live. (https://www.un.org/en/observances/rural-women-day)

Safi Faye, ethnologist, cineaste, peasant, mother—she claims these intersecting selves with pride. This simultaneity of identities exemplifies the multiplicity of her life in the same way that she reflects them in her films and their characters. Hence, such a portrait shows the interconnection of her experiences—whether in Africa, the countryside, Europe, while demystifying conceptions of African women as a whole—and in particular rural-dwelling African women. Throughout her life and through her films, empowering, giving voice, has been her leitmotif.

What her films show is that the lives of peasants do matter. They have agency, a voice, stories to tell and ideas about life and living. When Safi went there to study and film in the 1970s, she went as a native daughter, as she proudly states, “je suis paysanne” (I am a peasant). During the film production process she integrates the camera into the scene. The native daughter has come to film, she sits in her place and listens. And so does the camera.

She ends Kaddu Beykat (1975) in this way: “This letter is from me, all the rest is from my farmer family; I want to thank them…These are the words of the peasant, kaddu beykat. I dedicate my film to my grandfather, who was a farmer all of his life and who died eleven days after the shooting. I end my letter with a warm farewell.”

Safi Faye’s films are first and foremost a homage to the peasantry, the rural world, of people whose tool for survival and making a living is the land: to work is to draw from and replenish the earth, the terrain, the soil.

Excerpted from:“I dared to make a film”: A Tribute to the Life and Work of Safi Faye by Beti Ellerson, Black Camera: An International Film Journal 15. 1 (Fall 2023).

11 October 2026

UN : International Day of the Girl Child | Journée internationale de la fille - Oct 11

UN : International Day of the Girl Child | Journée internationale de la fille

The day aims to highlight and address the needs and challenges girls face, while promoting girls' empowerment and the fulfillment of their human rights.

Cette Journée vise à mettre en lumière les besoins des filles et à répondre aux défis auxquels elles font face. Cette Journée promeut également l'autonomisation des filles et l'exercice de leurs droits fondamentaux.

The girl-child as main protagonist in a selection of recent films by African women

La petite fille comme protagoniste principale dans une sélection de films récents par les réalisatrices africaines

Source: African Women in Cinema Blog

[English]

The filmmakers' message of tolerance and universal humanism comes through the children…child characters are represented as the hope for the desirable gender relations. (Sr. Dr. Dominica Dipio)

In the selection of films that follow, the girl-child plays the main protagonist. This representation of the girl character is an empowering practice as she deals with complex issues regarding her family and the world around her: Five-year-old Nadia lives in the slums of Casablanca where she is surrounded by a wall that separates her from the rest of the city; Elikia, is a five-year old with albinism, which is considered a stereotype by her neighbors; nine-year-old Zeinab opposes moving to Canada because she hates the snow; ten-year-old Mouna who copes with the death of her mother, almost never separates from her doll Ashia; ten-year-old Godelive attends a Catholic convent school in the Congo. However, the strict western education collides with her own memories of the traditions of her grandmother; eight-year-old Aida attempts to ease the suffering of her mother after her father brings a second wife into the household; after being accused of being a witch and placed in a "witches camp", 9-year-old Shula longs for freedom. Seven-year-old Aya lives with her Salafist parents, Mariem and Youssef. For fear of being banished by his Salafist community, Youssef is obliged to impose the wearing of Niqab on his wife. One day, Aya commits an act that will disrupt forever the fate of her family. Casablanca of the late 1970s. Eleven-year-old Hiba is fascinated with the cinema at a time in the history of Morocco where this space is still closed to women. Despite her mother’s interdiction, in order to enter the movie house, Hiba is ready to sell the object of her other passion, her books. Eleven-year-old pre-teen Amy discovers in her new elementary school a group of dancers called: “Les Mignonnes”. Fascinated, she begins a sexy dance, the twerk, hoping to join their band and escape a family upheaval.

[Français]

Le message de tolérance et d'humanisme universel des cinéastes passe par les enfants ... les personnages d'enfants sont représentés comme l'espoir des relations de genre souhaitables. (Sr. Dr. Dominica Dipio)

Dans une sélection de films récents ci-dessous, la petite fille joue le rôle principal. Cette représentation cinématographique nous montre une image forte et valorisante de la petite fille, lorsqu’elle confronte des questions complexes concernant sa famille et le monde qui l’entoure : Mouna, 10 ans, qui fait face à la mort de sa mère, ne se sépare presque jamais de sa poupée Aisha ; Elikia, 5 ans, est atteinte d’albinisme que son voisinage considère comme un stéréotype ; Nadia, 5 ans, vit dans les bidonvilles de Casablanca où elle est entourée d'un mur qui la sépare du reste de la ville ; Godelive, 10 ans, vit dans un pensionnat catholique en Congo y recevant une éducation occidentale. Mais le souvenir de sa grand-mère s’interpose ; Zeinab, qui a neuf ans, ne veux pas vivre au Canada parce qu’elle n’aime pas la neige; Aida, 8 ans, tente de soulager la souffrance de sa mère après que le père amène une seconde femme à la maison; Shula, qui a neuf ans, accusée de sorcellerie et mise dans un camp de sorcières, rêve de liberté. Aya, 7 ans, vit avec ses parents salafistes, Mariem et Youssef. Par peur d'être banni par sa communauté salafiste, Youssef est contraint d'imposer le port du Niqab à sa femme. Un jour, Aya commet un acte qui bouleversera à jamais le destin de sa famille. Casablanca, fin des années 70. Hiba, âgée de 11 ans, est fascinée par le cinéma à un moment de l'histoire du Maroc où ce lieu est encore fermé à la gente féminine. Malgré l'interdiction de sa mère, elle est prête à revendre l'objet de son autre passion, ses livres, pour y entrer. Amy, 11 ans, rencontre un groupe de danseuses appelé : « Les Mignonnes ». Fascinée, elle s’initie à une danse sensuelle, dans l’espoir d’intégrer leur bande et de fuir un bouleversement familial.

Maïmouna Doucouré: « Mignonnes » selected at | sélectionné à Sundance 2020

Ashia by/de Françoise Ellong Cameroon |Cameroun)

A Place for Myself | Une place pour moi by/de Marie Clémentine Dusabejambo (Rwanda)

Les Mignonnes | Cuties by/de Maïmouna Doucouré (France-Senegal)

Maman(s) by/de Maïmouna Doucouré (France-Senegal)

Riad de mes rêves | Riad of my dreams by/de Zineb Tamourt (Morocco | Maroc)

Soeur Oyo | Sister Oyo by/de Monique Mbeka Phoba (Belgium-DRC)

Zaineb Hates the Snow | Zaineb n’aime pas la neige by/de Kaouther Ben Hania (Tunisia |Tunisie)

See other Blog posts relating to the empowerment of the girl-child:

African girls, women, education and cinema
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2009/09/african-women-education-and-cinema.html

Rural to city migration and the plight of girls? - Aïssata Ouarma: The Silence of Other
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2012/10/aissata-ouarma-silence-of-others.html

The girl-child as main protagonist in a selection of recent films by African women
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2018/10/11-october-octobre-2018-international.html

Girlpower: African Black Girl Magic through Cinema & Animation Storytelling
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2022/03/girlpower-african-black-girl-magic.html

The making of: Aïcha Macky, empowering girls through participatory video training | l’autonomisation des filles à travers la formation en vidéo participative
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2023/12/the-making-of-aicha-macky-empowering.html

Aïcha Macky: using the power of the camera to give voice to her community and her country, Niger | se servir du pouvoir de la caméra pour faire entendre des voix de sa communauté et de son pays
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2023/12/aicha-macky-using-power-of-camera-to.html

10 October 2026

The African Women in Cinema Blog celebrates World Mental Health Day - Oct 10

The African Women in Cinema Blog celebrates World Mental Health Day:

African women addressing mental health issues in Africa and throughout the African Diaspora

In Une fenêtre ouverte (An open window, 2005) Khady Sylla's camera is the mirror into which she gazes directly as she addresses the viewers, interrogating their own sense of sanity. She asks: "You look at yourself in a broken mirror. You see pieces of your face. Your face is crumbling. And whoever looks at you in the broken mirror, sees pieces of images of your face. Which of you will come to reconstruct the puzzle? Are you not, perhaps, on the same side of the mirror?" She continues the monologue with the disquieting admission of her own mental illness. The film is a space in which Khady Sylla tries to open for Aminta Ngomgui, the protagonist of the story, as well as for herself, and for the public, on the world of mental illness.

Similarly, Ledet Muleta, a psychiatric nurse in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area addresses the ways that mental illness is stigmatized in Africa and in African diaspora communities. The objective of her film project is to empower those who are affected, to build awareness and to find more effective solutions.

In the same way, Rumba Katedza explores the inner world of a young woman whose traumatic experiences of war continue to haunt her, even in the “safe” country where she finds “refuge": I saw a news piece on refugees in the UK. What struck me about the stories was how so many of the people still experienced fear every day of their lives because they were still haunted by the experiences they went through. Unfortunately, no one seemed to be helping them psychologically.

Alice Diop’s On Call takes the viewer, huit clos, into a small room in the hospital where newly-arrived migrants may seek consultation, during which the patient has access to the doctor, assisted by a psychiatrist and a social worker: as they reveal the psychological toll of the precariousness of their existence.

The purpose of Noëlle Kenmoe's film is to raise awareness and to challenge societal perceptions regarding the realities of another mental health issue, autism in children in Africa. Because of this disorder, they are often marginalized and rejected. Based on their behavior they are viewed as crazy, as reincarnations of the devil, among other damning perceptions. Hence, beyond being a handicap or disorder, autism becomes a social condemnation.

The issues around social exclusion are recurring themes in Nathalie Pontalier's film projects. In her film Le maréchalat du roi-Dieu (The Marshal of the God-king, 2012), the protagonist André Ondo Mba suffers from acute paranoid schizophrenia and has become deaf. For the past twenty years he writes on walls, facades, and other parapets of Libreville, the Gabonese capital. The contents of his messages often remain obscure to the viewers who venture there. His two sons who care for him attempt to navigate his world of the imaginary.

In the short fiction, Taajabone, Fatoumata Bathily highlights the debilitating effects of depression that traumatize a young woman, who is consumed with guilt after the death of her husband. While Aisha Jama, relates the coping mechanisms that a young Black Muslim woman employs to confront anxiety in the film Neefso (Breathe). Nora Awolowo challenges the perception of the elated mother after the birth of her child. In Baby Blues she tackles the hidden issue of postpartum depression.

Tracing memories at the onset of cognitive decline, a mental health issue that family's face throughout the globe as an elder reaches her or his golden age, though for many, even before, is an increasingly visible theme in films. Karima Saïdi focuses the camera on her own mother Aïcha who develops Alzheimer’s. She constructs a film portrait journeying with her mother back into her past. More broadly, Mmabatho Monthsho addresses the mulitple issues around cognitive decline especially in the context of caregiving, in the "hope of inspiring support and conversations about condition and the physical, psychological, and social burden on female family caregivers."

A selection of articles on the African Women in Cinema Blog regarding African women addressing mental health issues in Africa and throughout the African Diaspora:

#Alzheimers

Karima Saidi: Dans la maison | A Way Home

https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2021/04/artetv-karima-saidi-dans-la-maison-way.html

#anxiety

Aisha Jama: Neefso | Breathe

https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2020/08/recent-films-aisha-jama-neefso-breathe.html

#autism

Noelle Kenmoe: Deux avril

https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2021/01/raising-awareness-noelle-kenmoes-deux.html

#bipolar

Ledet Muleta: Chula

http://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2016/07/producer-ledet-muleta-launches.html

#PTSD

Alice Diop: On Call

https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2016/04/alice-diop-la-permanence-on-call.html

#PTSD

Rumba Katedza: Asylum

http://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2012/02/conversation-with-rumbi-katedza.html

#dementia #caregiving

Mmabatho Montsho: Desmond doesn't live here anymore

https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2022/02/mmabatho-montsho-desmonds-not-here.html

#postpartum #depression

Nora Awolowo: Baby Blues

https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2021/10/nora-awolowo-baby-blues.html

#schizophrenia

Yveline Nathalie Pontalier : Le marechalat du roi-Dieu | The Marshal of the God-king

https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2013/02/fespaco-2013-yveline-nathalie-pontalier.html

#mentalillness

Maïmouna Ndiaye: Le fou, le génie et le sage (The crazy, the genius, the sage)

https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2019/02/fespaco-2019-le-fou-le-genie-et-le-sage.html

Hawa Aliou Ndiaye : Kuma!

#rehabilitation

https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2020/02/festival-films-femmes-afrique-2020-hawa.html

Mai Mustafa Ekhou: It's not over yet

#storytelling

https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2020/05/recent-films-mai-mustafa-ekhou-its-not.html

02 October 2026

Enduring Color lines and the Fact of Blackness: Films from the African Diasporas in France and Italy

Enduring Color lines and the Fact of Blackness: films from the African Diasporas in France and Italy

Peaux noires : quel héritage ? by Estelle Ndjandjo et Johanna Boyer-Dilolo (2026)
Crossing the color line/Crossing the color line healing from the past by Sabrina Onana (2022)
«La Ligne de couleur» by Laurence Petit-Jouvet (2014)

W.E.B. Du Bois’s declaration in the ground-breaking The Souls of Black Folks in 1903, “the problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line,” continues to resonate some 125 years into the twenty-first century. Fifty years later in 1952, Frantz Fanon’s seminal work, Black Skin, White Masks, interrogates the racial epidermal schema of the "fact of blackness." The question of color probed in this selection of films demonstrates its enduring presence through time and its implications for diaspora-born afrodescendents who call these locations home.

Peaux noires : quel héritage ? by Estelle Ndjandjo et Johanna Boyer-Dilolo. Between memory, struggles and pride, this documentary series gives voice to those who live it. Through personal testimonies, conversations with specialists and creative mis en scène, the project explores the historical and cultural evolution of the representation of blackness – from a past where it was both a source of fascination and oppression to a contemporary era where self-affirmation and self-love take on their full meaning.

The 2-part documentary Crossing the color line. Crossing the color line healing from the past by Sabrina Onana explores the experiences of young Afro-Italians who were born or grew up in Italy. Probing myriad questions of belonging, African-ness, Italianity, citizenship, representation, racism, the roots of their immigration history. Part 2, frames Italian history especially in the context of early Italian immigration juxtaposed to present discourse on immigration in Italy. In addition, Part 2 highlights African and Diasporan contributions to world history and culture.

La Ligne de couleur by Laurence Petit-Jouvet, the nine-part series of lettres-filmées, originally produced in 2014, revealed a renewed interest in the context of the Black Lives Matter movement that spread across the globe. For this reason, in 2020, filmmaker Laurence Petit-Jouvet decided to make the series, which deals with issues of police violence, systemic racism, racial discrimination and experiences of racialized identities in France, accessible to a wider public through the YouTube video-sharing platform. Among the nine film-letters are those of Fatoumata Diallo and Alice Diop. For a long time actress Fatoumata Diallo suffered because of her Afro-hair. With time she learned how to coiffe it, to bring out its beauty, but more importantly, to love it and in turn, to love herself. Through a hairdressing ritual with her daughter, she relays her story to her, which is that of so many other Afro-descendant women. The lesson she wants to pass on to her daughter is to assume her Afro beauty. In dialogue with her young bi-racial son, Tidiane, filmmaker Alice Diop addresses issues around race, exclusion and belonging, while her son raises the issue of color, and his place as a brown child in-between the identities of black and white.

Peaux noires : quel héritage ? (The heritage of blackness)

Crossing the Color Line - Part 1

Crossing the Color Line - healing from the past - Part 2

La ligne de couleur by Laurence Petit-Jouvet

20 September 2026

France Culture - L'Instant poésie (Instant poetry) of Séphora Pondi, actress, novelist and theater director

France Culture

L'Instant poésie (Instant poetry)

of Séphora Pondi, actress, novelist and theater director

Text adapted from French and image from France Culture. Included is the French-language podcast of the 20 episodes

https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceculture/podcasts/serie-l-instant-poesie-de-sephora-pondi#about

Between poetry, theater and autofiction, the actress, novelist and theater director Séphora Pondi, of the Comédie-Française, presents a selection of poetic texts that reflects her, inspires her and drives her passion.

Born in Gennevilliers in 1992 to parents of Cameroonian origin, Séphora Pondi often says that she grew up between several cities, moving as many as ten times before she was eighteen years old. She was six years old when she stepped on the stage for the first time, at the MJC du Val-de-Marne: at that moment her passion for theater was born. The defining experience that set in motion the evolution of her career took place in high school when attending a theater workshop. After completing her baccalaureate, she devoted herself to the stage, which include several professional theater training programs. Marked by many pivotal artistic encounters, notably with Julie Berès, Valérie Dréville and Éric Ruf, Séphora Pondi envisions theater as a place of exacting transformation where the body, language and the imaginary are intimately linked.

It was in 2021 that she joined the prestigious Comédie-Française as a resident member, where she quickly established herself in essential roles in the repertoire, such as Kent in William Shakespeare's King Lear directed by Thomas Ostermeier, and in the title role of Medea—a dream role since adolescence. Séphora Pondi is also making her mark in cinema: in Mémoire de fille by Judith Godrèche—adapted from the work of Annie Ernaux, in theaters on September 30, and Soudain by Ryūsuke Hamaguchi, in theaters since August 12.

Parallel to her career as actress, she has long cultivated a passion for reading and for literature: her first novel, Avale, published by Grasset, was released in September 2025, and which received the Prix Roman des étudiants France Culture. And it is this devouring passion [to note, avale translates to devour, to swallow from French] that she shares in L'Instant Poésie, through its "carte blanche". For Séphora Pondi, poetry is above all an experience at the intersection of sound, movement, and rhythm.

In this selection are: her foundational poems by Henri Michaux, André Breton, Sylvia Plath, Léon Gontran Damas, René Despestre, Vladimir Maïakovski, the theatrical texts that continue to inspire her, ranging from Peter Handke, to Seneca, to Anton Chekhov. But there are also novels that skirt the edges of autofiction with authors such as Maryse Condé, Nelly Arcan, Constance Debré, Annie Ernaux. Also included are the prose of James Joyce, of Aimé Césaire as well as the romantic poetry of Victor Hugo and Baudelaire.

19 September 2026

Le Podcast de Rokhaya Diallo avec Annie Ernaux: « Je porte la mémoire du stigmatisé » (I carry the memory of the stigmatized)

En Bonne Voix - le pouvoir de la parole. Le Podcast de Rokhaya Diallo

Avec Annie Ernaux: « Je porte la mémoire du stigmatisé » (I carry the memory of the stigmatized)

Publié sur YouTube le 16 septembre 2026, Rokhaya Diallo parle de l’invitée exceptionnelle, Annie Ernaux :

"Dans cet épisode spécial, j’ai l’immense honneur de recevoir une légende vivante: la romancière Annie Ernaux. Une femme de convictions d’une humilité confondante. Prix Nobel de littérature, elle est une subtile chroniqueuse de l’époque contemporaine. Son style souvent péjorativement qualifié de « simple » ce qui l’indiffère au plus haut point - a su rendre lisible des phénomènes sociaux complexes avec une fluidité rare. Dans notre entretien, elle revient sur son parcours de jeune normande filles de commerçants confrontée à la domination de classe: sur les bancs de l’école déjà, elle « comprend sa place ». Notre conversation révèle d’ailleurs une impressionnante mémoire des détails tant elle égrène les petites phrases stigmatisantes, les remarques blessantes restées vives dans esprit malgré les décennies écoulées. Le le thème d’une honte sociale longtemps d’ailleurs un fil très présent dans ses récits constelle notre conversation. Et Annie Ernaux étant une femme très engagée, nous avons parlé de politique. Celle qui était adolescente pendant la révolution algérienne, évoque sa sensibilité ancienne."

Translation to English:

"In this special episode, I have the great honor of receiving a living legend: the novelist Annie Ernaux. A woman of conviction, of an astonishing humility.

Laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature (2022) she is a skillful chronicler of the contemporary era. Her style has been described by some pejoratively as "simple". A description to which she is manifestly indifferent. To the contrary her writing has been able to make complex social phenomena readable with a rare fluidity. During the interview, she reflects on her journey as a young Normand daughter of shopkeepers, confronted with class domination: on the school bench she already "knows her place". Moreover, throughout the conversation there is an impressive memory of the details regarding small yet stigmatizing comments, the hurtful remarks, all of which remain alive, vivid in her mind, despite the passing of decades. The theme around social shame, very much present in her work, navigates throughout the conversation. And as Annie Ernaux is very politically and socially engaged, politics is part of the conversation. Having been a teenager during the Algerian revolution, she revives these sentiments from the past.

14 September 2026

Réparer le visible : La Cinémathèque Afrique, histoire et devenir d'une collection sous la direction de Farah Clémentine Dramani-Issifou (Repairing the visible: La Cinémathèque Afrique, history and futurity of a collection)

Réparer le visible : La Cinémathèque Afrique, histoire et devenir d'une collection sous la direction de Farah Clémentine Dramani-Issifou

(Repairing the visible: La Cinémathèque Afrique, history and futurity of a collection)

Résumé :

Réparer le visible (Repairing the visible) est la première histoire critique de la Cinémathèque Afrique. Cette collection exceptionnelle de films africains, conservée, restaurée et diffusée par l’Institut français, circule à des fins non commerciales dans le monde entier, auprès des festivals, des cinémathèques et du réseau culturel français. L’ouvrage retrace la généalogie d’un fonds né du Bureau du cinéma de la Coopération française, dispositif créé en 1961, qui a accompagné l’émergence des cinéastes africains tout en prolongeant des logiques de dépendance postcoloniale. Ce faisant, il explore les mémoires vivantes portées par plus d’un demi-siècle de cinémas africains et esquisse les devenirs d’une collection. Préfacé par Bénédicte Savoy, il croise les voix d’historiennes et d’historiens du cinéma, critiques, archivistes, cinéastes, programmateurs, fédérations de ciné-clubs, chercheuses et chercheurs africains et diasporiques, et propose des voies nouvelles pour des devenirs possibles et des futurs réparateurs. À l’heure où la restitution du patrimoine culturel africain reconfigure les rapports entre institutions du Nord global et du continent africain, les voix qui exigent l’accès à ces images depuis soixante ans réaffirment ici leur souveraineté culturelle. En s’associant à Marest Éditeur pour cette coédition, l’Institut français inscrit la Cinémathèque Afrique dans le champ de la recherche et de la critique, et ouvre ce patrimoine partagé aux publics des deux continents. Cet ouvrage a été réalisé avec le soutien du ministère de l’Europe et des Affaires étrangères. Réparer le visible est la première histoire critique de la Cinémathèque Afrique.

Summary:

Réparer le visible (Repairing the visible) is the first critical history of the Cinémathèque Afrique. This exceptional collection of African films, preserved, restored and distributed by the French Institute, circulates around the world for non-commercial purposes, at festivals, film libraries and the network of French cultural centres. The book traces the genealogy of a collection that emerged from the Bureau du cinéma de la Coopération française, a system created in 1961, which at the same time supporting the emergence of African filmmakers, promulgated the logic of postcolonial dependence. In so doing, the book explores the lived memories of African cinemas, transmitted for more than half a century; while outlining the futurity of a collection. Prefaced by Bénédicte Savoy, it intertwines the voices of film historians, critics, archivists, filmmakers, programmers, film club groups, African and diaspora researchers; proposing new paths for future possibilities and reparations. At a time when the restitution of African cultural heritage is reconfiguring the relations between institutions of the global North and the African continent, the voices that have demanded access to these images for the past sixty years are now reaffirming their cultural sovereignty. By partnering with Marest Éditeur for this co-edition, the French Institute inscribes the Cinémathèque Afrique in the field of research and criticism, and opens this shared heritage to audiences on both continents. This book was produced with the support of the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs. Réparer le visible (Repairing the visible) is the first critical history of the Cinémathèque Afrique.

09 September 2026

African Women in Cinema Dossier by Beti Ellerson: a regular feature of Black Camera, An International Film Journal

African Women in Cinema Dossier by Beti Ellerson:

a regular feature of Black Camera, An International Film Journal

Black Women at the Louvre, Practices of Worldmaking, and the Rehabilitation of Disfigured Images: Reflections on Alice Diop's Fragments for Venus by Beti Ellerson (Spring 2026)
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2026/06/black-women-at-louvre-alice-diop-fragments-for-venus.html

"Faire boutique": Reframing Safi Faye's Place in Petit à Petit, by Jean Rouch
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2026/01/black-camera-faire-boutique-reframing-safi-faye-petit-a-petit.html

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://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2025/06/black-camera-reading-writing-researching-african-women-in-cinema.html

Closeup: The Africas/Diasporas of Women in the Evolution of a TransAfrican Film Practice and Critical Inquiry
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2024/06/closeup-africas-diasporas-of-women-black-camera.html

“I dared to make a film”: A Tribute to the Life and Work of Safi Faye
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2023/12/safi-faye-i-dared-to-make-a-film-tribute-to-her-life-and-work.html

Exploring African Women’s Cinematic Practice as Womanist Work (Spring 2023)
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2023/03/exploring-african-womens-cinematic-practice-womanist-work.html

La noire de..., La passante and Many Others: Framing Cinematic Representations of Afro-Descendant Women, Identity, and Positionality in France (Fall 2022)
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2022/08/black-camera-afro-women-france-beti-ellerson.html

African Women Professionals In Cinema: Manifestos, Communiqués, Declarations, Statements, Resolutions by Beti Ellerson (Spring 2021)
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2021/06/black-camera-african-women-manifestos.html

Fifty Years of Women's Engagement at FESPACO. IN Part I: Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO): Formation, Evolution, Challenges (Fall 2020)
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2021/05/black-camera-fespaco-fifty-years-of-womens-engagement.html.html

African Women, Cinema, and Leadership: Empowerment, Mentorship, and Role-Modeling (Spring 2020)

https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2020/06/black-camera-african-women-cinema-and.html

African Women on the Film Festival Landscape: Organizing, Showcasing, Promoting, Networking (with Falila Gbadamassi) Fall 2019

https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2020/01/black-camera-african-women-on-film.html

Safi Faye's Mossane: A Song to Women, to Beauty, to Africa (Spring 2019)

https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2019/05/black-camera-safi-fayes-mossane-song-to.html

African Women of the Screen as Cultural Producers: An Overview by Country (Fall 2018) https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2018/11/black-camera-african-women-of-screen-as.html

On-screen Narratives, Off-screen Lives: African Women Inscribing the Self (Spring 2018) https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2018/05/black-camera-on-screen-narratives-off.html

Traveling Gazes: Glocal Imaginaries in the Transcontinental, Transnational, Exilic, Migration, and Diasporic Cinematic Experiences of African Women (Spring 2017) https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2017/05/black-camera-spring-2017-beti-ellerson.html

African Women and the Documentary: Storytelling, Visualizing History, from the Personal to the Political (Fall, 2016) https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2016/10/african-women-and-documentary.html

Teaching African Women in Cinema, Part Two (Spring 2016) https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2016/06/teaching-african-women-in-cinema-part.html

Teaching African Women in Cinema, Part One (Fall 2015) https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2016/02/teaching-african-women-in-cinema-part.html

06 September 2026

Pocas Pascoal : Internazionale di arene decoloniali - 8 settembre

Pocas Pascoal

Internazionale di arene decoloniali

8 settembre

Time to Change (documentario breve, Angola/Portogallo, 2024, 7’

Por aqui tudo bem (fiction/drama, Portogallo, 2011, 94’

Testo & immagine:

https://unponteper.it/it/arene-decoloniali-programma-2026/

Regista, direttrice della fotografia e sceneggiatrice, Pocas Pascoal è nata in Angola e ha studiato cinema a Parigi.

Il suo lavoro attraversa i temi dell’esilio, della memoria collettiva e delle conseguenze della guerra e della colonizzazione. Ha realizzato documentari e cortometraggi e partecipato a numerose esposizioni internazionali.

Con il suo film Alda e Maria, acclamato dalla critica, ha ricevuto diversi riconoscimenti internazionali. Nel 2024 ha inoltre partecipato al progetto collettivo GREENHOUSE, presentato alla Biennale di Venezia.

05 September 2026

Black Gaze – Mostra de Cinema Negro em Portugal | Showcase of Black Cinema in Portugal - 08, 09, 15, 16 nov

Black Gaze – Mostra de Cinema Negro em Portugal | Showcase of Black Cinema in Portugal

08, 09, 15, 16 nov

https://gulbenkian.pt/cam/en/black-gaze-showcase-of-black-cinema-in-portugal/

Construídas em torno dos temas Entre-Lugar, Memória e Ancestralidade, Ecologia e Feminismo, Antirracismo – Família e Rua, as sessões contam com a presença de cineastas para conversar com o público sobre as obras apresentadas.

A seleção inclui obras de Denise Fernandes, Fábio Silva, Falcão Nhaga, Lolo Arziki, Melissa Rodrigues, Mónica de Miranda, Pocas Pascoal, Raquel Lima, Silas Tiny, Vanessa Fernandes e Welket Bungué.

O título deste ciclo, que tem curadoria de Kitty Furtado, parte da ideia de que to gaze não é o mesmo que olhar (to look), implica uma relação de poder assimétrico entre quem olha e quem é objeto desse olhar. É possível adquirir um passe diário ou um passe geral, para além do bilhete individual de cada sessão.

***

This exhibition aims to showcase the cinema of afrodescendant people produced in Portugal in recent decades and to contribute to the emerging critical discourse. Structured around the themes ‘In-between places’, ‘Memory and Ancestry’, ‘Ecology and Feminism’, and ‘Anti-racism – family and neighborhood’, the sessions are followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers and audience.

The selection includes films by Denise Fernandes, Fábio Silva, Falcão Nhaga, Lolo Arziki, Melissa Rodrigues, Mónica de Miranda, Pocas Pascoal, Raquel Lima, Silas Tiny, Vanessa Fernandes and Welket Bungué.

The title of this cycle, Black Gaze, organized by Kitty Furtado, has as a point of departure, the idea that “to gaze” is not the same as looking (to look), hence, it implies an asymmetrical power relationship between the one who looks and the one who is the object of this gaze.

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