The Films of Ousmane Sembène: Discourse, Politics, and Culture By ...

These articles, most of which were authored by former collaborators of Sembène—journalists, film scholars and professionals, and other artists—provide a wide range of perspectives and testimonies as well as an extensive overview of Sembène’s life and works. Whereas the chapters are by no means connected in a linear fashion, they are filled with anecdotal stories from personal interactions or interviews with Sembène that make for a better understanding of both the man and his work. “Letter to Ousmane Sembène,” by Clarence Delgado, Sembène’s longtime personal assistant, movingly and eloquently summarizes the uncompromising spirit of the artist.

Similarly, Samba Gadjigo and Sada Niang edited a volume in Sembène’s memory, Un viatique pour l’éternité: Hommage à Ousmane Sembène (2010). Composed of twenty-four chapters written by individuals including Sembène’s former collaborators, film technicians, film scholars, and literary critics, this volume offers a multilayered perspective on Sembène’s life and work and provides the reader with a variety of angles from which to start making sense of Sembène’s impressive legacy. Although there is no clear thematic linkage between the chapters, they all reveal in some way the authors’ personal affinity with Sembène or his work.

A few single-author books examine Sembène’s work, focusing either on his novels exclusively, on his written works and films, or on just his films. Paulin Soumanou Vieyra’s Sembène Ousmane Cinéaste (1972) is a good example. Given that Vieyra was himself a film professional, a personal friend of Sembène’s, and a production manager for three of Sembène’s films, Vieyra’s book contains insider information and stands as an example that inspires scholars of Sembène. Vieyra is regarded as the first Senegalese film critic and “L’âme pensante du cinéma africain” (the thinking soul of African cinema),²⁰ and although dated, his work on Sembène and African cinema still resonates among African film scholars. His book is composed of two parts uneven in length, which complement each other quite well in their attempt to contextualize