Gender and Women's Studies
When Newsreel launched this collection, it was the first and largest collection of African cinema in the United States — and it remains an unmatched resource today. African cinema offers what mainstream Western media rarely does: Africa rendered in its own complexity, beauty, and contradiction, by filmmakers who know it from the inside. Spanning documentary and fiction, master filmmakers and emerging voices, from Francophone and Lusophone countries to Nigeria's Nollywood to post-apartheid South Africa, these films explore women's rights and gender, the legacies of colonialism, political corruption and civil war, cultural identity, sexuality, and the tensions between tradition and modernity. Many titles come with discussion guides and articles by African filmmakers and scholars, making this an essential resource for African Studies, Cinema Studies, and anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the continent and its people.
Articles to help you view and teach African cinema written by African filmmakers and scholars are also available.
The Gender and Women's Studies collection includes the following titles:
Ainsi Meurent Les AngesMoussa Sene Absa's work pushes the formal boundaries of African cinema.
DakanThe first feature film on homosexuality from sub-Saharan Africa.
Everyone's ChildA feature film examining the plight of Africa's 10,000,000 children orphaned by AIDS.
Faat KineIn Dakar, Senegal Faat Kine, an independent, single mother and successful business owner looks back over twenty years of triumphs and hardships - including the betrayals by men in her life. A dramatic tribute to the strength and resilience of African women by Ousmane Sembene, the father of African cinema.
Femmes Aux Yeux OuvertsWomen in four African countries are shown organizing around issues of marital rights, reproductive health, female genital mutilation, and entrepreneurship.
FinzanCheick Oumar Sissoko explores the status of African women in two interlocking stories of traditional village society.
FlameThe role of women in guerrilla struggles and in post-liberation societies is depicted in a story of the women freedom fighters of the Zimbabwean liberation struggle.
Karmen GeiLike every Carmen, Karmen Geï is about the conflict between infinite desire for freedom and the laws, conventions, languages, the human limitations which constrain that desire. Since this is an African Carmen, freedom necessarily has a political dimension.
Monday's GirlsThe conflict between modern individualism and traditional society is seen through the eyes of two young Niger Delta women involved in a five-week long women's initiation ceremony.
Tableau FerrailleThe story of an idealistic young politician's rise and fall in a small town, Tableau Ferraille ("scrap heap") paints a picture of a corrupt post-colonial elite.
Visit the title page to preview any of the titles above.
