In the memory of Sembene Ousmane the African Studies Centre is screening three of his films:

14.00-14.20 Borom Sarret
14.20-14.30 Coffee and tea break
14.30-14.55 Taaw
14.55-15.00 Coffee and tea break
15.00-17.00 Moolaade

Senegalese film director Sembene Ousmane is generally considered to be the father of African film although he started his career as a writer. His first novel Le docker noire (1956) was based on his experiences as a dock worker in Marseilles. At the beginning of the 1960s however, he realized that his written works would only be read by a small cultural elite in his native land and so, at the age of 40, decided to become a filmmaker in order to reach a wider African audience. His first film in 1963 was a short documentary on the history of the Songhaï Empire but it was never distributed commercially. Several of his films were based on his own novels, such as Mandabi, Xala and Taaw. Sembene Ousmane died on 9 June 2007. In his memory, the African Studies Centre is screening three of his films: two from Sembene's early days as a director and his last film.

Place: Room 0A47 (ground floor), African Studies Centre, Pieter de la Court building, Wassenaarseweg 52, Leiden, a 5-minute walk from Leiden CS.

Read more about the films on our website: http://www.ascleiden.nl/GetPage.aspx?datastore=1&url=/events/event1182519665