Black Girl (1966)

The Story

AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE OF THE 4K RESTORATION

SCREEN WITH THE SHORT FILMS BOROM SARRET & CONTRAS CITY (4K)

"As Westerners, we begin the movie thinking we're watching Africans, but we realize Africans like Sembène have been watching us, too, and know us far better than we know them.” – John Powers, National Public Radio

A Senegalese woman is working for a French colonial couple in a villa in Dakar, when they offer to take her to Antibes, on the French Riviera. She is distressed to find herself isolated in a high-rise apartment, cooking and cleaning and being treated as both an exotic trophy and a slave. Often referred to as the ‘father of African cinema’ Ousmane Sembène – who was also a celebrated novelist - made nine feature films during his forty-year career, most of them dealing with colonialism, religion and African women. 4K restoration.

Screens with Sembème’s restored short film The Wagoner/Borom Sarret (1963) and with Djibril Diop Mambety’s remarkable short documentary on life in the Senegalese capital Dakar Contras City (1969, 4K).

“A razor-sharp dissection of colonialist condescension and dehumanization.” — Emmet Sweeney

“Black Girl has also proved prophetic. With the rise of globalization, millions of women from poor countries have migrated to the global north to become domestic workers.” — Girish Shambu. Film Comment

The 12:45pm screening on Saturday 29 April will be introduced by TBC.

Watch a superb video essay about Ousmane Sembene and Black Girl, here.

Rating

Unclass15

Duration

65 min

Cast

Mbissine Thérèse Diop, Anne-Mare Jelinek, Robert Fontaine

Director

Ousmane Sembène