African Diasporic Cinema: Aesthetics of Reconstruction by Daniela Ricci

African Diasporic Cinema: Aesthetics of Reconstruction by Daniela Ricci

Translated from French by Melissa Thackway

Michigan State University Press (August 1, 2020)

304 pages

African Diasporic Cinema: Aesthetics of Reconstruction analyzes the aesthetic strategies adopted by contemporary African diasporic filmmakers to express the reconstruction of identity. Having left the continent, these filmmakers see Africa as a site of representation and cultural circulation. The diasporic experience displaces the center and forges new syncretic identities. Through migratory movement, people become foreigners, Others—and in this instance, black. The African diasporic condition in the Western world is characterized by the intersection of various factors: being African and bearing the historical memory of the continent; belonging to a black minority in majority-white societies; and finally, having historically been the object of negative, stereotyped representation. As a result, quests for the self and self-reconstruction are frequent themes in the films of the African diaspora, and yet the filmmakers refuse to remain trapped in the confines of an assigned, rigid identity. Reflecting these complex circumstances, this book analyzes the contemporary diaspora through the prism of cultural hybridization and the processes of recomposing fragmented identities, out of which new identities emerge.

Related links on the African Women in Cinema Blog

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

Claire Diao : Double Vague, le nouveau soufflé du cinéma français (Double wave, the new energy of French cinema) 2017

https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2017/05/claire-diao-double-vague-le-nouveau.html

Dynamiques culturelles dans les cinémas africains du XXIe siècle. Acteurs, formats, réseaux | Cultural Dynamics in African Cinemas of the 21st Century. Agents, Formats, Genres

Dynamiques culturelles dans les cinémas africains du XXIe siècle. Acteurs, formats, réseaux | Cultural Dynamics in African Cinemas of the 21st Century. Agents, Formats, Genres

ed.: Fendler, Ute ; Vatter, Christoph . Universaar 

Saarbrücken : Saarland University Press , 2018

Abstract

Depuis les années 2000, le cinéma africain est marqué par de nombreuses évolutions nouvelles avec un impact considérable sur son positionnement dans le paysage cinématographique international, notamment concernant sa présence dans les festivals, mais aussi aux niveaux de la production et de la distribution. Ces dynamiques culturelles sont au centre de l’intérêt de cet ouvrage qui est le fruit d’une rencontre de chercheurs africains et européens pour explorer ces nouvelles tendances du cinéma africain principalement selon trois perspectives : le rôle des cinéastes comme agents dans les dynamiques culturelles, les genres, formats et formes esthétiques émergents, et l’influence des grands réseaux de production cinématographique (populaire) en Afrique subsaharienne.

Since the 2000s, African cinema has been marked by many new developments with a considerable impact on its positioning on the international cinematic landscape, in particular regarding its presence in festivals, but also in terms of production and distribution. These cultural dynamics are the main focus of interest of this work, which is the result of a meeting of African and European researchers to explore these new trends in African cinema mainly from three perspectives: the role of filmmakers as agents in cultural dynamics, emerging genres, formats and aesthetic forms; and the influence of extensive (popular) film production networks in sub-Saharan Africa.

Les noirs dans le cinéma français (Blacks in French cinema) - Régis Dubois

Les noirs dans le cinéma français de Joséphine Baker à Omar Sy (Blacks in French cinema from Josephine Baker to Omar Sy) - Régis Dubois, Edition LettMotif, France, 2016.

Source: http://www.edition-lettmotif.com/produit/noirs-cinema-francais/

[English]

This book has two objectives. On the one hand, to analyse the image of the "Black" and its evolution in the French cinematic imagination from the past century. On the other hand, to highlight the presence of Blacks and mixed-race people in French cinema since the first projections of the Lumière Brothers, to the successful Intouchables. Particularly evoking the roles played by Josephine Baker, Habib Benglia, Darling Légitimus, Robert Liensol, Isaac de Bankole, Firmine Richard, Jacques Martial, Alex Descas, Mouss Diouf, Aïssa Maïga, Edouard Montoute, Stomy Bugsy, Eriq Ebouaney, Joeystarr, or Omar Sy.

This book also devotes a chapter to "Black French cinema" in an attempt to understand why and how a cinema of identity (not to say specifically communitarian)--created by filmmakers of African ancestry since the past thirty years, has been shaped. (Translation from book description in French).

[Français]

Cet ouvrage poursuit deux objectifs. D'une part analyser l'image du "Noir" et son évolution dans l'imaginaire cinématographique français depuis un siècle. D'autre part, mettre en lumière la présence des Noirs et Métisses dans le cinéma hexagonal depuis les premières vues des frères Lumière jusqu'au triomphe d'Intouchables, en évoquant notamment les rôles interprétés par Josephine Baker, Habib Benglia, Darling Légitimus, Robert Liensol, Isaac de Bankolé, Firmine Richard, Jacques Martial, Alex Descas, Mouss Diouf, Aïssa Maïga, Edouard Montoute, Stomy Bugsy, Eriq Ebouaney, Joeystarr ou Omar Sy.

Ce livre consacre par ailleurs un chapitre au "cinéma noir français" pour essayer de comprendre pourquoi et comment s'est constitué un cinéma identitaire, pour ne pas dire communautaire, réalisé par des cinéastes afro-ascendants depuis une trentaine d'années.

Table des matières (Table of contents)

Avant-propos 11

Du Clown Chocolat au Nègre gourmand 15

Premières images, premiers stéréotypes (1895-1914)

Joséphine Baker 19

Première star noire du cinema

Habib Benglia, Darling Légitimus 27

et les indigènes du cinéma colonial (1930-1960)

L’après-guerre : vers un changement ? 35

Orfeu Negro, Moi, un noir, J’irai cracher sur vos tombes

Les revendications isolées des années 60 41

Les Lâches vivent d’espoir, Les Verts pâturages, La Noire de…, Soleil Ô, La Permission

Les « étalons noirs » du cinéma érotique des années 70 49

Alphonse Béni, Manu Pluton, Désiré Bastareaud

Ils arrivent ! La génération 80 59

Isaac de Bankolé, Alex Descas, Jacques Martial, Pascal Légitimus, Firmine Richard, Mouss Diouf

Années 2000 : quels progrès ? 67

Hubert Koundé, Stomy Bugsy, Eriq Ebouaney, Aïssa Maïga, Édouard Montoute, JoeyStarr, Omar Sy…

Le cinéma noir de France 81

Christian Lara, Euzhan Palcy, Guy Deslauriers, Jean-Claude Barny, Marc Barrat, Lucien Jean-Baptiste, Djinn Carrénard, Rachid Djaïdani, Fabrice Eboué, Thomas N’Gijol, Abd Al Malik…

Noirs et Blacks au cinéma : regards croisés France/États-Unis 97

Post-scriptum

À propos du succès d’Intouchables 107

Post-scriptum 2

À propos de la réception médiatique de Bande de filles (2014) 117

Paroles d’acteurs (1989-2015) 123

Dictionnaire des acteurs et réalisateurs 133

Liste complémentaire des acteurs et actrices 235

Bibliographie sélective 237

LINK OF INTEREST ON AFRICAN WOMEN IN CINEMA BLOG

Zélie Asava: mixed-race identities and representation in Irish, U.S. and French cinemas

Women and Media in the Twenty-First Century (Alphaville Journal of Film and Screen Media) Issue 10, 2016

Women and Media in the Twenty-First Century (Alphaville Journal of Film and Screen Media) Issue 10, 2016

http://alphavillejournal.com/Issue10.html 

Editorial

by Abigail Keating and Jill Murphy, University College Cork (Issue Editors)

01 The Gendered Politics of Sex Work in Hong Kong Cinema: Herman Yau and Elsa Chan (Yeeshan)’s Whispers and Moans and True Women for Sale

by Gina Marchetti, University of Hong Kong

02 Girlhood, Postfeminism and Contemporary Female Art-House Authorship: The “Nameless Trilogies” of Sofia Coppola and Mia Hansen-Løve 

by Fiona Handyside, University of Exeter

03 Femininity, Ageing and Performativity in the Work of Amy Heckerling

by Frances Smith, University College London

04 Motherhood in Crisis in Lucrecia Martel’s Salta Trilogy

by Fiona Clancy, University College Cork

05 Female Stardom in Contemporary Romanian New Wave Cinema: Unglamour?

by Andrea Virginás, Sapientia University

06 “Nice White Ladies Don’t Go Around Barefoot”: Racing the White Subjects of The Help (Tate Taylor, 2011)

by Marie-Alix Thouaille, University of East Anglia

07 Pocahontas No More: Indigenous Women Standing Up for Each Other in Twenty-First Century Cinema

by Sophie Mayer, Independent Scholar

08 The Feminist Cinema of Joanna Hogg: Melodrama, Female Space, and the Subversion of Phallogocentric Metanarrative

by Ciara Barrett, National University of Ireland, Galway

09 African Women of the Screen at the Digital Turn

by Beti Ellerson, Centre for the Study and Research of African Women in Cinema

The Lumière Galaxy: Seven Key Words for the Cinema to Come, by Francesco Casetti (2015)

Reviewer: Niall Flynn, University of Lincoln

Decades Never Start on Time: A Richard Roud Anthology, edited by Michael Temple and Karen Smolens (2014)

Reviewer: Laura Busetta, Sapienza University of Rome

Film & Making Other History: Counterhegemonic Narratives for a Cinema of the Subaltern, by Alejandro Pedregal (2015)

Reviewer: David Brancaleone, Limerick Institute of Technology

Journeys in Argentine and Brazilian Cinema: Road Films in a Global Era, by Natália Pinazza (2014)

Reviewer: Jamie Steele, University of Exeter

TV Museum: Contemporary Art and the Age of Television, by Maeve Connolly (2014)

Reviewer: Erica Levin, Ohio State University

Book Reviews Editor: Marian Hurley

John Di Stefano: Bandiera Nera

Sydney College of the Arts, Sydney, 23 January–21 February 2015 

Reporter: Aleksandr Andreas Wansbrough, University of Sydney 

Reports Editor: Stefano Odorico


Also see on the African Women in Cinema Blog :

African Women of the Screen at the Digital Turn | Écrans d’Afrique au féminin au tournant numérique by/de Beti Ellerson

"Under and through the celluloid ceiling", a review by Sophie Mayer with comments by Beti Ellerson

"Under and through the celluloid ceiling", a review by Sophie Mayer

Women filmmakers, past and present, have been the subject of recuperative catalogues since the 1970s, and Celluloid Ceiling is a new entry into this heroic history of rediscovery and advocacy.

Sophie Mayer reviews the recent publication Celluloid Ceiling: Women Film Directors Breaking Through, edited by Gabrielle Kelly and Cheryl Robson.

IN: The F Word, Contemporary UK Feminism

http://www.thefword.org.uk/reviews/2014/07/Celluloid_ceiling_review

COMMENTS FROM BETI ELLERSON (02 January 2015)

When Sophie Mayer's review of Celluloid Ceiling was published--and the link posted here, I had not yet received my copy of the book.

Since recently receiving a copy, I have read the contribution by Maria Williams-Hawkins entitled: "Speak Up! Who's Speaking?: African Filmmakers Speak for Themselves". Her chapter, under the section on Africa, immediately follows mine.

I must say that I am extremely disappointed in what in fact is a mere adaptation of my chapter, “Africa through a woman’s eyes: Safi Faye’s cinema,” published in Focus on African Films, Françoise Pfaff, ed. (Indiana University Press, 2004).

The subchapter of Williams-Hawkins' article, “Safi Faye, Ph.D.: La Grande Reference” is not only a complete adaptation—though badly interpreted—of my article, but in the many instances where my ideas and analyses are brought out they are presented as if they were her own. When comparing my chapter with that of Williams-Hawkins’, it is, from my point of view, straight out plagiarism. Quite frankly, I think the article is not well written and am surprised that it did not go through a peer review.

If anyone is looking for information regarding African women in cinema this is definitely not a source to use.