‘African people should not see themselves... in the sensationalist pictures shot for the consumption of outsiders' - Obed Nkunzimana, Journal of African Cinemas

Intellect are delighted to announce the launch of the Journal of African Cinemas at the African Film in the Digital Era Conference, on Sunday 29 November at the University of Westminster.

The inaugural issue of the Journal of African Cinemas explores African film from an African and international perspective. The articles examine cinemas in countries including Nigeria, Cameroon, Senegal, Rwanda and Congo, exploring a range of genres and media including videos, documentaries and musicals.

Articles focus on African-made films for African audiences, while also examining the colonial legacy of sensationalist representations of Africa and Africans made by western directors for western consumption (still a feature of many western-made films about Africa). In his article, ‘Beyond colonial stereotypes: reflections on postcolonial cinema in the African Great Lakes region', Obed Nkunzimana refers to the number of films made about the Rwandan genocide, observing that ‘never before had Rwanda's five-century-long history attracted so much attention from European and North American film-makers'. Nkunzimana argues that ‘the problem is that some western funding agencies, which remain the major and often only African cinema sponsors, still impose topics which are to be treated in the films they financially support'. Nkunzimana expounds the need for political, financial and technical support for African cinemas which is not dependent on western tastes for sensationalist cinema, and the usual depictions of misery, poverty and violence, but rather on providing support for films which show characters and situations African audiences can identify with.

This first issue also shows that specific genres are not limited to particular themes. Genres like popular video or musicals, which are usually associated with entertainment, may serve political purposes such as combating corruption or exposing gender inequality. Other articles address the difficulties of distribution and reception of films in Africa, given lack of funding, the vast number of languages in Africa and the difficulties of subtitling in areas with low literacy rates as well as the scarcity of movie theatres.

Explore the first issue FREE online on:
http://www.atypon-link.com/INT/toc/jac/1/1

List of contents, issue 1:

Not Another Media Journal?
Authors: Keyan Gray Tomaselli

Renewal in African cinema: genres and aesthetics
Authors: Blandine Stefanson

Globalization and African cinema: distribution and reception in the anglophone region
Authors: Martin Mhando

Home video films and the democratic imperative in contemporary Nigeria
Authors: Gbemisola Adeoti

Reframing African cinema and democracy: the case of Cameroon
Authors: Jean Olivier Tchouaffe

Beyond colonial stereotypes: reflections on postcolonial cinema in the African Great Lakes region
Authors: Obed Nkunzimana

The rise of the African musical: postcolonial disjunction in Karmen Geï and Madame Brouette
Authors: Sheila Petty

Reviews

ZIFF, Zanzibar International Film Festival
Author: Paulo Portugal

'Local is lekker': Piggs,pirates and policy. A report on the Southern African Communications for Development Forum 2007
Author: Keyan Gray Tomaselli

Bashed by Booms: The 2008 Bafundi Film and TV Festival
Author: Keyan Gray Tomaselli

Fit for the Small(er) Screen: Film, Mobile TV and the new Individual Television Experience (Presentation prepared for 2008 Film Indaba:'Beyond 2010' Gauteng Film Commission, Sandton, 12 November)
Authors: Keyan Gray Tomaselli and Jonathan Dockney


The Journal of African Cinemas

Editors: Keyan G. Tomaselli, University of KwaZulu-Natal and Martin Mhando, Murdoch University
Guest Editor: Blandine Stefanson, University of Adelaide

ISSN: 1754-9221
Online ISSN: 1754-923X
Published by Intellect, November 2009
Subscriptions: £33 (Personal)/ £180 (Institutional)/ £147 (Online only) (2 issues per year)

For further information, please contact Nicola Reisner on: nicola@intellectbooks.com

More information is also available on the following link:
http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Journal,id=158/