Schirmer Encyclopedia of Film

Africa South of the Sahara
‘‘put filmmakers from the south in contact with professionals
from the north and to promote the emergence of
an African cinema which could meet the demands of the
hour’’ (Barlet, 267). The declared goals of this association
included the development of genuine coproductions
between nations in the Southern Hemisphere, in order to
spur local film industries. The organization was intended
to operate on joint private and public funding, but closed
down after one year due to a lack of private funds. In
1999 the French Ministry of Cooperation merged with
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, marking the end of the
Ministry of Cooperation’s direct financial aid to both
short and feature films of directors from francophone
African nations. Subsidies are now available from
ADCSud (Appui au développement des cinémas du
Sud) for feature films alone by filmmakers from the
South, and competition for funding has intensified.
Alternative funding sources outside Africa include
TeleFilm Canada, Channel 4 (UK), ZDF (Germany),
Canal + (France), and the European Union. Funding
sources south of the Sahara remain limited, forcing filmmakers
to piece together resources in order to complete
their projects, a process referred to by Ousmane Sembène
as ‘‘mégotage,’’ the piecing together of little bits to create a
whole. Directors must often also act as their own producers
and distributors. This situation is further complicated by
the lack of trained African technicians, and filmmakers
often must resort to using Western technicians. In addition,
a lack of postproduction infrastructure in Africa south
of the Sahara means continued reliance on expensive
European laboratories, although some filmmakers are
now accessing Zimbabwean or South African facilities.
Market development is also a crucial concern.
Currently, outside the regions south of the Sahara, the
African film market is often limited to international
festivals and art house cinemas. Even films selected for
Cannes and other prestigious festivals often cannot find
commercial distribution; attempts are made by some
venues to promote African films, most notably by the
US media distributors Artmattan Productions in
New York, California Newsreel in San Francisco, and
Mypheduh Films in Washington, as well as Vues
d’Afrique in Montreal. In addition, filmmakers are also
proactive in foregrounding these concerns. For example,
in 1999 a group of filmmakers living in France established
the African Guild of Directors and Producers in an
effort to promote shared experiences and collective issues.
NATIONAL CINEMAS
Although Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta) is one of
the poorest countries south of the Sahara, its authorities
made an early decision to support their national cinema.
Cinema houses were nationalized in 1970 and the
Burkinabé distribution company SONACIB (Société
Nationale du Cinéma Burkinabé) was established with
the goal of supporting national filmmakers by taxing
foreign films shown locally and then redirecting those
funds into local production. This system paved the way
for the first Burkinabé fiction feature, Le sang des parias
(The Blood of the Pariahs, Mamadou Djim Kola, 1971).
Several other initiatives make this country one of the
most dynamic on the continent in terms of filmmaking
activity. The INAFEC (Institut Africain d’Education
Cinématographique), founded in 1976 and in operation
until 1986, helped foster film production in the nation.
The capital, Ouagadougou, hosts the biannual festival,
FESPACO, along with its parallel international television
and film market. In 1995, Burkina Faso created the
African Cinémathèque of Ouagadougou, which collects
and preserves African films. Gaston Kaboré (b. 1952) is
considered the leading filmmaker in Burkina Faso and
made his debut as a feature filmmaker in 1982 with
Wend Kuuni (God’s Gift). His films draw very heavily
on African oral tradition, as evidenced by his other key
features, Zan Boko (Homeland, 1988) and Buud Yam
(1997). Kaboré is deeply committed to the development
of African film industries and was secretary general of
FEPACI from 1985 to 1997. Other key filmmakers
include Dani Kouyaté (b. 1961), Idrissa Ouédraogo
(b. 1954), Fanta Régina Nacro (b. 1962), and Pierre
Yameogo (b. 1955), the latter three residing in Paris.
In Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire), fiction features for
television preceded feature filmmaking. From 1962 to
1979, the Société Ivoirienne de Cinéma (S.I.C) acted as
the umbrella organization for all national film production.
Timité Bassori directed Ivory Coast’s first fiction
feature, La femme au couteau (Woman with a Knife), in
1969. This psychological thriller was followed by other
films focusing on social and cultural issues such as inheritance
woes, polygamy, and clashes between tradition and
modernity. By 1979 S.I.C. had disappeared, leaving in its
place a system more focused on private interests. In 1993
the Audiovisual and Cinema Company of Ivory Coast
was established with the aim of renationalizing the film
industry. Private production companies suffered greatly
from the 1994 devaluation of the franc CFA, as did all
the rest of the ‘‘zone franc’’ in West Africa. Ivorian
cinema is known for its comedies, such as Comédie exotique
(Exotic Comedy, Kitia Touré, 1984), and Bal poussière
(Dancing in the Dust, Henri Duparc, 1988) and Le
sixième doigt (Sixth Finger, 1990). Key Ivorian filmmakers
include Désiré Ecaré (b. 1939), Kramo Lanciné
Fadika and Roger Ngoan M’bala (b. 1943). M’bala’s
ambitious project Andanggaman (2000) deals with the
role played by indigenous African rulers in the slave
trade. Ivory Coast has produced two noted film actors,
Hanny Tchelley and Sidiki Bakaba, who is also a film
52 SCHIRMER ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FILM