Black Girl (Ousmane Sembène Senegal, 1966)

Considered Africa’s first dramatic feature film, Black Girl won Sembène the 1966 Jean Vigo Prize at Cannes. It addresses lingering racism in postcolonial Africa in a visual style reminiscent of the French New Wave. Based on Sembène’s novel Voltäique, the film tells of the exile and despair of a Senegalese domestic servant, Diouana (Mbissine Thérèse Diop), who is taken to the French Riviera by her French employers. “Brimming with tragic wisdom and latent meaning, with finality and promise, with humor and pain . . . It is at this point that African cinema begins” (Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader).

Part of the African Film Festival 2016 at the BAM/PFA.

Free gallery admission with same-day film ticket!