Ousmane Sembène’s First Feature, Black Girl, To Have New York Debut Run In MayPosted by Wilson Morales
April 25, 2016
The New York theatrical premiere run of the new 4K restoration of Ousmane Sembène‘s classic of Senegalese cinema, Black Girl (1966), screening with his extraordinary 1963 short, Borom Sarret, will play at BAMcinematek from Wednesday, May 18, through Tuesday, May 24.
Both a landmark of world cinema and a devastating indictment of colonialism’s tragic legacy, Black Girl was the first African film to receive international acclaim. Senegalese housemaid Diouana (Mbissine Thérèse Diop) is brought to France by the white family she works for, finding herself isolated in an unfamiliar country and trapped in a life of domestic servitude, a situation that the dignified Diouana refuses to accept.
Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembène’s feature debut is one of the most important films ever made about race, with Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader proclaiming, “for all the simplicity of the materials and the fablelike aspects of the story, a complex and passionate intelligence is shaping the meaning in every scene.” Sembène’s luminous black and white images have a direct expressive power, gleaming anew in this restoration, which was made possible through the use of the original camera and sound negative provided by INA and the Sembène Estate and preserved at the CNC – Archives Françaises du Film.
Black Girl screens with Borom Sarret (1963), Sembène’s first film, also restored in 4K from the original camera and sound negatives, a neorealist look at the hardscrabble life of a wagon driver who encounters a cross-section of Dakar’s inhabitants as he makes his rounds through the city.
Restored by the Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project, in collaboration with Sembène Estate, Institut National de l’Audiovisuel, INA, Eclair laboratories and Centre National de Cinématographie. Restoration carried out at the Cineteca di Bologna/ L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory.
