ABSTRACT
Black Panther exemplifies the power and polysemic nature of the image, particularly in collapsing space and time around the sharing of black experience. Before delving into the analysis of African and African-American cinema, it is important to first address the challenges of defining what it means to be black in relationship to creative productions. The birth of African-American cinema can be traced back to the late 1910s with the emergence of race films, while the inception of African cinema is closely connected with African countries gaining their political independence in the 1960s. The study of the cartographies in the cross-pollination of African and American cinema can also help to unearth the multiple lines of connection between the two cinemas. While there should be more college-level courses on African cinema, there are even fewer course offerings on African and African-American cinema in film schools.
