This module studies African cinema as a political space. From colonial images to postcolonial films, African filmmakers have often had to answer a fundamental question: who has the right to represent Africa, its peoples, struggles, contradictions and futures?
Learning goal
Analyze African cinema in relation to colonization, decolonization, censorship, memory, national identities, Pan-Africanism and critique of postcolonial elites.
Completed lessons
0/3
Course
Introduction to African Cinema
Lesson list
Lesson 1
Understand decolonization as a struggle over images, languages, narratives and circulation, not only as political independence.
Estimated duration
60 minutes
Learning goal
Understand decolonization as a struggle over images, languages, narratives and circulation, not only as political independence.
Reading sections
1
Resources
1
Lesson 2
Identify political film forms and understand censorship as official, economic, social or archival control.
Estimated duration
60 minutes
Learning goal
Identify political film forms and understand censorship as official, economic, social or archival control.
Reading sections
1
Resources
1
Lesson 3
Analyze how African films use memory, war, satire, allegory, archive, silence and landscape to critique power.
Estimated duration
60 minutes
Learning goal
Analyze how African films use memory, war, satire, allegory, archive, silence and landscape to critique power.
Reading sections
1
Resources
1
Open only when you are ready to apply this module. The complete prompts are preserved here.
Analyze a movement scene in Borom Sarret by identifying spaces crossed, spaces forbidden, camera distance, city sounds and what the scene reveals about independence.
Expected output
A political reading of one movement scene with spatial and sonic evidence.
Classify forms of censorship: official ban, imposed cuts, lack of screenings, social pressure, economic blockage and archival invisibility.
Expected output
A censorship map showing how control can operate before, during and after circulation.
Quiz structure
4 questions are prepared to validate the core concepts of this module.
Source to review before public screening or classroom projection.
Open resourceSource to review before public screening or classroom projection.
Open resourceSource to review before public screening or classroom projection.
Open resourceSource to review before public screening or classroom projection.
Open resource