Born in Ziguinchor in 1923 and dying in Dakar in 2007, Ousmane Sembène fought for the French army in the Second World War, worked as a docker in Marseille and became a novelist (God's Bits of Wood) before turning to film in his forties, because, he said, cinema could reach the many people who could not read. Black Girl (La Noire de..., 1966) is the first major feature from sub-Saharan Africa. His films criticise colonialism, corruption and the African elites. Xala (1975), Ceddo (1977), Camp de Thiaroye (1988) and Moolaadé (2004), about female genital cutting, which won the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes, are among his best. He is called the father of African cinema.
Filmography
- Borom Sarret (1963)
- Black Girl (1966)
- Mandabi (1968)
- Emitaï (1971)
- Xala (1975)
- Ceddo (1977)
- Camp de Thiaroye (1988)
- Guelwaar (1992)
- Faat Kiné (2000)
- Moolaadé (2004)