By Awa Cheikh Faye and Gaure Mdee
Ousmane Sembène was known as much for his strong stance on political and social issues as for his abundant and timeless literary and cinematographic work.
The man many consider as one of the masters of art on the African continent, passed away exactly 16 years ago. He is often described as the ''father of African cinema.''
Ousmane Sembène was a writer, director, actor, screenwriter and playwright as well as a major figure in contemporary Africa, who was born in 1923 in Senegal. He died on June 9, 2007.
Having tried his hand at literature, Sembène came to cinema late in life, and used his art to call for a better post-colonial Africa as well as speak against racism and oppression.
His films are now a source of inspiration for many African filmmakers. Tanzanian screenwriter, director and film producer Amil Shivji discovered Sembene’s work at university.
"What I saw before me was my culture, my people and experiences that I consider close to home," Shivji told TRT Afrika.
A path way
"I immediately found an affinity with his films and began to follow his work, to study his cinema, which really sums up the struggles, joys and fears of the African people and African art,’’ he adds.
Sembène has inspired many Africans through his works. ‘’I knew straight away that I wanted to follow the same path and tell honest stories about marginalised communities on the continent, particularly in Tanzania," the Tanzanian film director says.
A committed artist, Ousmane Sembène has never ceased to denounce social injustice through his literary and cinematic work.
Filmmaker Amil Shivji explains that Sembene was known for his mobile cinemas, where he screened his films throughout the country and ensured that every village had the opportunity to see them.
"He made sure that the films reached the right people and that the right eyes had access to his work. For me, it's a reminder of the kind of stories we need to tell on the continent, for whom we need to tell them and to remind ourselves that we are in charge of our destinies," Amil Shivji says.
Pan-African
The Senegalese director's work shows an Africa beyond the clichés. "What we call impact production today is essentially what he was doing in the sixties," Shivji points out. His first feature film, La noire de, made in 1966, won the Prix Jean Vigo.
Ousmane Sembène left behind a body of work that includes a dozen novels and essays and some fifteen films.
Amil Shivji's latest film, Vuta Nk'vute, is a direct reflection of the issues Sembène drew on, highlighting the revolution and rebellion on the east coast of Zanzibar.
"His films resonate with me to this day, they give me courage and are almost a springboard for filmmakers of my kind, of my generation, to have the ability to tell these stories, not just because they need to be told, but so that they reach the right people," concludes Amil Shivji.
In a media interview following this award, Ousmane Sembène said that he made films to "speak to people, not just in my own country, but elsewhere, about problems that concern us all. The problems of developing countries, the problems of the past, present and future.’’
Sembène was the author of numerous novels and short stories, including Le Docker noir, inspired by his experience as a docker in Marseille.
Les Bouts de bois de Dieu, published in 1960, tells the story of the railway workers' strike on the line between Dakar and Bamako between 1947 and 1948.
Exposing France
This was followed in 1968 by Le Mandat, which won the International Critics' Prize at the Venice Film Festival that year. He also made Camp Thiaroye, a film about the massacre of Senegalese Tirailleurs by French officers in 1944 at the Thiaroye military camp on the outskirts of the Senegalese capital Dakar.
On its release, the film was censored in France. His last film, Moolaadé, released in 2004, won the American critics' prize for best foreign film, the "Un certain regard" prize at Cannes, and the special jury prize at the Marrakech International Film Festival.
