Cinema of Africa
African cinema spans diverse industries from Egypt to Nigeria.
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Cinema of Africa refers to the film industries and films produced on the African continent, covering both history and present-day production and screening. It dates back to the late 19th century, with Cairo serving as the capital of African film since the early 20th century. There is no single 'African cinema' due to major regional differences between North African and sub-Saharan cinemas and among different countries.
Quick Facts
- Earliest known screening
- 1896 (Lumière films in Alexandria, Cairo, Tunis, Susa, Libya, Hammam-Lif)
- First indigenous producer
- Albert Samama Chikly (short documentaries, December 1905)
- First film produced
- Barsoum Looking for a Job (Egypt, 1923)
- First feature-length film
- Laila (Egypt, 1927)
- Largest industry by revenue
- Egyptian film industry
- Largest industry by volume
- Nigerian film industry (second largest film producer in the world)
Facts from the source article.
Background
During the colonial era, Western filmmakers depicted Africans as exoticized or savage. The 1934 Laval Decree prohibited Africans in French colonies from making films. Paulin Soumanou Vieyra shot Afrique-sur-Seine (1955) in Paris, considered the first film directed by a black African.
After independence, filmmakers like Ousmane Sembene used cinema to rectify African images. Sembene's La Noire de... (1966) won the Prix Jean Vigo. The festival FESPACO was created in 1969, and the Pan African Federation of Filmmakers (FEPACI) formed the same year.
Did You Know?
- The Nigerian film industry contributed 2.3% to Nigeria's GDP in 2016.
More in Film History & Movements
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Cinema of Africa (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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