Film Number

7512

Title

A CELEBRATION OF AFRICAN CULTURE: HISTORY OF FILM IN AFRICA; ALTERNATIVES, AFTERNOON SESSION

Producer

WFA

Date

1983

Gauge

U-matic HB

Colour

colour

Sound

sound

Running Time

62 mins 54 secs

Description

The eighth session of a 10 week Celebration of African Culture, held at WFA Media and Cultural Centre in Manchester between February and May 1983. Gareth Richards chairs panel, including Terence Ranger and Kareen, and audience discussion after the screening of Osman Sembene's film 'Ceddo'. Kareen talks about the false conclusion western women make in their interpretation of the film, as one about women's liberation, and she quotes from Sembene to clarify the meaning of the film. Terence Ranger speaks about the importance of understanding Senegal, with its Muslim majority and process of 'Islamisation,' of which the film is a critique. After 7 minutes, contributions are opened to the floor with Gus John talking about women and Islam, and then much more discussion about these issues.
This is followed by the evening session, chaired by Gareth Richards and panel including Terence Ranger, Gus John and Angela Martin, who gives the background to Haile Gerima's making of the film 'Harvest'. She talks about the devices he uses in the film, which are different to conventional western ones. Gus John talks about the position of Rastafarians and the current Ethiopian situation, and Terence Ranger about the many stages of the Ethiopian revolution.

[Catalogued as part of 'Revitalising the Regions' a Screen Heritage UK project, 2011]