ABSTRACT

On December 11-13, 1973, the Committee on People’s Cinema met in Algiers, Algeria, and drafted the Resolutions of the Third World Filmmakers. The resolution attempted to distinguish Third World cinemas from the neoimperialism of Western cinema and its symbiotic capitalist expansion. The committee sought to enact a policy to “eliminate once and for all the fi lms which the foreign monopolies continue to impose upon us either directly or indirectly and which generate reactionary culture and, as a result, thought patterns in contradiction with the basic choices of our people” (Bakari and Cham 1996, 20). Since that time, Third World cinema, and African cinema in particular, which is my focus here, has faltered, blossomed, and ultimately spread its wings to become a dynamic ding an sich selbst in contrast to the dominance of Western cinema. In the evergrowing landscape of African cinema, two innovative directors, Ousmane Sembène (1923-2007) and Djibril Diop Mambéty (1945-1998), have set the standard for African fi lm’s unique visual style.