Writing a book on African cinema, just like making a film in the Black Continent, is an act which sense is immediately subject to a big question mark. What meaning could it have in a context where the image is almost non-existent: indigent production with a more and more idle pace, a worse situation concerning distribution with the number of cinemas soon to be reduced to zero, a young generation of filmmakers without structural support, without points of reference and therefore with no ideas? When the primary need is expressed in terms of survival, when the first things one could think about, whenever it is about Africa, are still: food, health care, education... invest in art, especially in an art as expensive as film, or in a so "useless" art like writing becomes a luxury that Africans cannot or should not afford. That remains the prerogative of the rich clubs.
Is the cause of African cinema really wasted? The existence of this book in itself would make some adjustments and provide some nuances. The filmmakers to whom the critic wants to give some visibility are part of this fight for an image which, if nothing is done, would be confiscated forever. By disappearing, it is not only a continent that would be prohibited from the right to speak, but the whole world will lose a part of its imagination.
Title : L’Image confisquée: le cinéma du Sud, ce cinéma (de) subalterne
Author : Hassouna Mansouri
Publisher : From the South, Amsterdam (http://vanuithetzuiden.blogspot.com)
Year : 2010
ISBN : 978-90-9025819-5
Distributor : Sillat Media, Amsterdam
www.sillatmedia.com
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