{"id":6761,"date":"2017-07-07T15:00:48","date_gmt":"2017-07-07T19:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=6761"},"modified":"2025-10-10T11:21:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T15:21:12","slug":"preserving-african-cinema","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/preserving-african-cinema\/","title":{"rendered":"Preserving African Cinema"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
\n\n \n \n \n \n
\n\n \n
\n
\n\n

\n Preserving African Cinema\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

Aboubakar Sanogo<\/a> is a scholar of African cinema and works for the Pan African Federation of Filmmakers (FEPACI<\/a>), but it took him years to see one of the major films from the continent: Med Hondo\u2019s Soleil O<\/em>, a 1969 portrait of a black immigrant in Paris, was long revered but widely unavailable. Sanogo didn\u2019t see it until a print surfaced in Paris in 2006.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\n

\u201cEven in Burkina, the capital city of African cinema, it wasn\u2019t available,\u201d Sanogo said in New York in early June. \u201cIt\u2019s a huge problem.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Sanogo was addressing a broader challenge facing the preservation of African film history \u2014 and one that might be facing a brighter future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Left to right: African cinema scholar, Prof. Aboubakar Sanogo, celebrated film director Martin Scorsese, and UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova. Photo courtesy of Dave Allocca\/Starpix Courtesy of The Film Foundation.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On June 7, FEPACI, UNESCO<\/a> and Martin Scorsese<\/a>\u2019s Film Foundation World Cinema Project<\/a> signed a letter of agreement formalizing their partnership on the African Film Heritage Project<\/a>, a joint initiative to preserve African cinema. But their work has already shown major results, with Soleil O<\/em> screening in the Cannes Classics section last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project \u201cwill restore, disseminate \u2026 in Africa and around the world, a collection of the films from Africa that are historically, artistically and culturally significant,\u201d Scorsese said at the event in New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later, he explained how his interest in African cinema grew out of his passion for Souleymane Ciss\u00e9\u2019s 1987 sorcerer drama Yeelen<\/em>, which he saw on television. Eventually, he formed a relationship with Ciss\u00e9 and visited him in Mali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was struck by a comment that Ciss\u00e9 made when they were both in Cannes for a different partnership in 2007.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\n

\u201cHe said: \u2018If we don\u2019t try and restore African cinema \u2014 made by Africans about Africans \u2014 then future generations will never know who they are,\u201d Scorsese said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cCinema is a perfect way to open up the mind, curiosity for other cultures.\u201d (For more on Scorsese\u2019s efforts to support the international film community, go here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n

Broadening Awareness
\nfor African Cinema<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For Sanogo, the new initiative opens up an opportunity to broaden awareness for African film history that has been marginalized for decades. With historical context, the older films can enjoy a new life in the classroom and repertory cinemas around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\n

\u201cIn many ways, the auteurist tradition in Africa is an experimental cinema,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cThat is part of its problem \u2014 experimental cinema and audience appreciation don\u2019t always go hand in hand. So we are trying to bring these images back, not only to filmmakers but Africans in general.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n