African cinemas : decolonizing the gaze / Olivier Barlet ; translated by Chris Turner.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [291]-298) and index.

Machine generated contents note: PREFACE viii PART I THE ORIGIN, AKIN TO A PASSAGE --1 HUMAN BEINGS, NOT ANTS! 3 -- Black is black Colonial projections The ethnographic gate: involvement or -- contempt? African responses Being on the same wavelength The politics -- of everyday life Founding figures Class struggle without placards The -- novelistic path Africa first English-speaking Africa: educational cinema -- and the Hollywood dream French guardian angels Revolutionary -- filmmakers? --2 DECOLONIZING THOUGHT 34 -- Africa betrayed Unspoilt Africa Pointing the finger The mirror-space -- The primacy of the collective The freedom to say no The duty to show? --3 'PROVERBS WERE FLESH AND BLOOD': THE REFERENCE TO THE PAST 47 -- Necessary memoty Black pharaohs The struggle with oneself African -- recalcitrance History as nostalgia Legend, afalse trail? 'Shelling' -- history The African cry --4 CLOSING YOUR EYES 72 -- The refusal to mimic the West Optingfor openness Torn asunder -- by modernity 5 OPENING UP T.HE CRACKS IN IDENTITY 82 -- A unified world Symbols in motion * Reading with the heart * Passing on -- knowledge * Blocked transmission * Drawing strength from the source * An -- alternative development * The origin in doubt * Infidelities * The Marabouts' -- projective mechanism * From nudiy to modesty --6 AN OPENNESS OF APPROACH 109 -- South African introspection * Afro-American rites of passage ' Hybridized -- identity French assimilationism * Farewell to negritude * The anxiety of -- integration * A cinema of revelation --PART II AT THE WELLSPRINGS OF NARRATION --7 BLACK HUMOURS 129 -- A politicaly committedpastiche Laughing at oneself Derision as a -- strategy * A vital laughter * A cathartic parody --8 'MEN DIE, BUT WORDS REMAIN': AT THE ORIGIN OF NARRATION, ORALITY 143 -- First, silence The path of simple self-evidence The primacy of orality -- Contrapuntal symbols Cultural specifcities of the image Griots of a -- new kind The voice-off. the consciousness of the filmmaker Theatre is a -- mere waystation * Letting them tell you stories What slowness? -- Space-time A cyclical composition * Rather than heroes, the art of -- the paradox * The topicality of myth --9 'IF YOUR SONG IS NO MPROVEMENT ON SILENCE, KEEP QUIET!' 183 -- Dances of resistance * Talkingdrums The song of thepeople -- African sound --10 SPEAKING YOUR OWN LANGUAGE 195 -- The expression of lived experience * A revisited French -- Failing to reach your audience? Prioriy to the emotions * Opening up -- to multiculturalism * Is dubbing the answer? * Save the actor! --11 TOWARDS A CRITICISM BASED ON THE NEED TO EXIST 210 -- The Western diktat Towards a subjective criticism * The dead -- weight of criticism African criticism --PART III BLACK PROSPECTS? 12 'HE WHO WANTS HONEY HAS THE COURAGE TO CONFRONT THE BEES': THE DIFFICULTY OF MAKING FILMS 221 -- The trials and tribulations of filming * The dream of financial autonomy -- The trials and tribulations offunding The trials and tribulations of -- production --13 THE AFRICAN AUDIENCE IS ANYTHING BUT HOMOGENEOUS 232 -- The agonies of distribution Dilapidated auditoriums The video monster -- Accompanying one's film A pluralistic audience ' A school of life --14 A FICKLE AUDIENCE IN THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE 251 -- Aiming true ' A limited audience Promotion through festivals --15 'WHEN YOU'VE GOT MEAT TO COOK, YOU GO AND FIND SOMEONE WITH FIRE': THE LOGICS OF WESTERN AID 260 -- The heart and the head Giving and after The internationalization -- option ConsolidatingprofessionaliZation Wrestling with the blank -- page The 'Ecrans du Sud' experience A key ministry Surviving -- Planet Atria --16 TELEVISUAL STRATEGIES 278 -- Africa can make it! Getting beyond the passive 'waiting game' -- Taking television by storm --CONCLUSION 288 BIBLIOGRAPHY 29 1 APPENDIX: WHERE TO SEE BLACK AFRICAN FILMS 299 --INDEX 306.