Cinema of Africa covers both the history and present of the making or screening of films on the African continent, and also refers to the persons involved in this form of audiovisual culture. It dates back to the early 20th century, when film reels were the primary cinematic technology in use. During the colonial era, African life was shown only by the work of white, colonial, Western filmmakers, who depicted Africans in a negative fashion, as exotic "others". As there are more than 50 countries with audiovisual traditions, there is no one single 'African cinema'. Both historically and culturally, there are major regional differences between North African and sub-Saharan cinemas, and between the cinemas of different countries.
Jean-Pierre Bekolo is a Cameroon film director.
Thérèse Sita-Bella, born Thérèse Bella Mbida, was a Cameroonian film director who became the first woman filmmaker of Africa and Cameroon.
Africa in Motion (AiM) is an annual African film festival which takes place in Edinburgh, Scotland, in late October/early November. The primary aim of the festival is to offer audiences in Scotland the opportunity to view the best of African cinema from across the continent. AiM 2021 will be the 16th edition showcasing African cinema, the main hosting venue being Edinburgh's Filmhouse Cinema. The festival was founded in 2006 by Lizelle Bisschoff, a South African researcher based in the UK.
Flora Gomes is a Bissau-Guinean film director. He was born in Cadique, Guinea-Bissau on 31 December 1949 and after high school in Cuba, he decided to study film at the Instituto Cubano del Arte y la Industria Cinematográficos in Havana.
The Cassava Metaphor is a 2010 film.
Monique Mbeka Phoba is a filmmaker whose family comes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) but who now lives in Benin. Her films have won a number of awards.
For the Best and for the Onion is a 2008 Nigerien documentary film about onion farmers in Galmi, Niger, written and directed by Sani Elhadj Magori.
Rencontres du Film Court Madagascar is the only film festival in Madagascar.
Taïeb Louhichi was a Tunisian film director, screenwriter, producer and filmmaker. His best known works include his debut feature film, Shadow of the Earth (1982), Layla, My Reason (1989), and La Danse Du Vent (2004).
Osvalde Lewat is a Cameroonian filmmaker and photographer best known for her sociopolitical documentaries.
The Central African Republic is one of the world's poorest countries and the film industry is correspondingly small. The first film made in CAR appears to have been Les enfants de la danse, a short French-made ethnographic documentary of 1945. Joseph Akouissone was the first Central African to make a film in the country, with his 1981 documentary Un homme est un homme; he was followed by the documentaries made in the 1980s by Léonie Yangba Zowe. Since then a series of ongoing conflicts and economic crises have severely limited the potential growth of film-making in the country. The first feature-length drama made in the country was Le silence de la forêt, a 2003 CAR-Gabon-Cameroon co-production about the Biaka people.
Lova Nantenaina is a Malagasy film director.
Ousmane William Mbaye, is a Senegalese filmmaker. Mbaye is best known as the director of the critically acclaim documentary Mère-Bi and films Doomi Ngacc, Fresque and Kemtiyu, Cheikh Anta. Apart from filmmaking, he is also an executive producer, line producer, screenwriter, foreign producer, director of photography, sound recordist, production manager, editor, and producer.
Gahité Fofana is a Guinean film director, producer, editor, actor and screen writer who studied literature and filmmaking in Paris. Starting out as a creator of documentary films, he later wrote, directed and produced feature films.
Moustapha Ndoye was a Senegalese photographer, film director and screen writer.
Clarence Thomas Delgado is a Senegalese film director, film producer, screenwriter and camera operator.
The Festival des Cinémas d'Afrique du pays d'Apt (FCAPA) is an annual international film festival on African cinema organised since 2003 in Apt, Vaucluse, France.
Laza Razanajatovo is a Malagasy filmmaker, film producer, screenwriter and film festival organiser of the Rencontres du Film Court Madagascar.
