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The conferment took place at the National Film Theatre (NFT), London, during the UK premiere of Sembene's "autumnal masterpiece", Moolaade. Multiple screenings of Moolaade coincided with a month-long retrospective dedicated to Sembene. 11 of his movies played to audiences between 3 to 25 June; young film-makers got a rare Masterclass from "the maestro" himself; and there were seminars on his cinematic works. Rounding off the season was a 1994 documentary, Sembene: The Making of African Cinema - co-directed by Ngugi wa Thiong'o and featuring the African American director, John Singleton. Sembene's Borom Sarret formed part of a double-bill with the documentary. Made in 1963, Borom Sarret was the first movie filmed in the region by a Sub-Saharan African - and chronicled a day in the life of a poor cart driver in Dakar. Included in the season were: Mandabi (1968, The Money Order), the first African movie to use an African language - Wolof; and La Noire de… (1966, Black Girl), Sub-Saharan Africa's first full-length feature. Also shown were Xala (1974, The Curse); Ceddo (1976); Emitai (1971, Thundergod); Camp de Thiaroye (1988); and Guelwaar (1992). Actor-director, Mario Van Peebles - in town to promote his film, Baadasssss! - attended the Moolaade premiere, after which Ousmane Sembene took the stage with Fatoumata Coulibaly - star of Moolaade - for an interview with critic Bonnie Greer. The translator was Professor Samba Gadjigo, Sembene's biographer. Moolaade is the second of a loose trilogy that began with Faat Kine (2000), about what Sembene calls "the heroism of daily life." The trilogy will conclude with the The Brotherhood of Rats, which is yet to be filmed. Unlike the rural setting of Moolaade, the planned film will focus on African cities, posing another challenge: "How can I make this film in such a way that a peasant in (the rural area) can understand what's going on, and… raise my voice against the embezzling that's going on in the cities?... I am making this film for the young people… how can I inspire them?" Asked about "the heroism of daily life," Sembene acknowledged the many crises facing the African continent. "But on the other hand, we have… individuals… who are struggling on a daily basis in a heroic way and the outcome of whose struggle leaves no doubt." He believes the continent is still standing because of this struggle, the purpose of which is not to seize power; and "I think the strength of our entire society rests on that struggle… so I've tried in my own way to sing the praises of those heroes, because I am also a witness to that daily struggle." The griot surfaces in a number of Sembene's films. In Borom Sarret, the cart driver gives what little cash he has to a griot who sings to him of his noble ancestry and for a few minutes, he forgets his pathetic life. In Niaye, a griot tells a story of communal wrongdoing involving incest, parricide and a son who returns home "unrecognisable from a war fought for others." Shocked at the silence of the community, the griot decides to go into exile, saying: "As a griot, I can no longer live in a society that has no respect for dignity." Ordinarily, "a griot says what others daren't say"; however he insists that: "one needn't be a griot to be a bearer of truth." Ultimately, he accepts that he is a griot for the community and not for himself - so he returns home and speaks out. Sembene sees a parallel between himself and the griot. In traditional society, the griot "was his own writer, director, actor and musician," he said. "And I think his role was very important in cementing society." From his ocean-front villa in Senegal, 'Galle Ceddo', Sembene the cinematic griot can visualise a film frame by frame - before the actual filming begins. The attentive can spot him in cameo roles in Black Girl and Faat Kine.
The Hollywood actor-producer Danny Glover is currently negotiating for film rights to God's Bits of Wood (1960), Sembene’s breakthrough novel. Known as "the father of African cinema," Sembene-the-writer has been eclipsed somewhat, by Sembene-the-film-maker. In the documentary, he commented on the creative tension: "Me myself, I prefer literature. But in our time, literature is a luxury." Having named his villa - and one of his films - Ceddo, Sembene clearly identifies with the word, which means 'rebel' or 'infidel'. He regularly finds himself at odds with the authorities because: "I say things as I see them, I don't know how to be oblique." In his view, African leaders (particularly those in the Francophone countries) "are the most alienated individuals I have ever seen." Our First Ladies, I call them: Duty-Free Ladies; they only use European perfumes." He is not impressed with the big Africa-centred campaigns currently going on in the West, including, 'Make Poverty History' and 'Live 8'. "I think they are fake! And I think African Heads of State who buy into that idea are liars." Recounting some of the episodes in the film-maker's life, Bonnie Greer told him: "Your life was already formidable even before you began to make cinema." Sembene became reticent. "I don't know my life," he confessed. I've travelled a lot and this is the life that I have lived, but that doesn't mean that I know myself." Similarly, audiences are expected to focus on the works rather than the man. "I am a man of contradictions and equivocations," he declares in the documentary. "I have always said I would sleep with the devil to get my films made." What matters, he stressed, is the message in his work. The full transcript of Ousmane Sembene’s NFT interview is available online at: http://film.guardian.co.uk/interview © 2005 nigeriaworld |
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onferring its highest honour on Ousmane Sembene last month, the British Film Institute (bfi) said the 82-year-old is "the Patron Saint of Black Cinema - to call him a director is a misnomer." Sembene became the 58th recipient of the bfi fellowship; past honourees include Orson Welles and Akira Kurosawa.
