Patrick Williams & David Murphy 
Postcolonial African cinema 
Ten directors

This is the first introduction of its kind to an important cross-section of postcolonial African filmmakers from the 1950s to the present. Building on previous critical work in the field, this volume will bring together ideas from a range of disciplines – film studies, African cultural studies, and, in particular, postcolonial studies – in order to combine the in-depth analysis of individual films and bodies of work by individual directors with a sustained interrogation of these films in relation to important theoretical concepts.

Structurally, the book is straightforward, though the aim is to incorporate diversity and complexity of approach within the overall simplicity of format. Chapters provide both an overview of the director’s output to date, and the necessary background – personal or national, cultural or political – to enable readers to achieve a better understanding of the director’s choice of subject matter, aesthetic or formal strategies, or ideological stance. They also offer a particular reading of one or more films, in which the authors aim to situate African cinema in relation to important critical and theoretical debates.

This book thus constitutes a new departure in African film studies, recognising the maturity of the field, and the need for complex yet accessible approaches to it, which move beyond the purely descriptive while refusing to get bogged down in theoretical jargon. Consequently, the volume should be of interest not only to specialists but also to the general reader.

Inhoudsopgave

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Availability of African Films
Introduction
Chapter 1: Youssef Chahine
Chapter 2: Ousmane Sembene
Chapter 3: Med Hondo
Chapter 4: Djibril Diop Mambéty
Chapter 5: Souleymane Cissé
Chapter 6: Flora Gomes
Chapter 7: Idrissa Ouédraogo
Chapter 8: Moufida Tlatli
Chapter 9: Jean-Pierre Bekolo
Chapter 10: Darrell James Roodt
Bibliography

Over de auteur

David Murphy is Senior Lecturer in the School of Languages, Cultures and Religions at the University of Stirling