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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Visions of female emancipation: three recent films from West Africa
Author:Bisschoff, LizelleISNI
Year:2010
Periodical:Journal of African Cinemas (ISSN 1754-923X)
Volume:2
Issue:1
Pages:37-48
Language:English
Geographic terms:Burkina Faso
Senegal
Subjects:films
women artists
feminism
About persons:Fanta Régina NacroISNI
Katy Léna Ndiaye (1968-)ISNI
Apolline Traoré
Abstract:Although female directors are hugely underrepresented in the West African film industries, as is the case in film industries the world over, an increasing number of women are directing documentaries, shorts and fiction feature films. Female directors from West Africa often foreground female themes in their films and place female characters at the centre of their filmic narratives, focusing on issues such as motherhood, generational knowledge and difference, female solidarity and collectivity, and gender complementarity. This article analyses three recent films from West Africa directed by women - one short, 'Bintou', by Fanta Regina Nacro; one fiction feature film, 'Sous la clarté de la lune' (Under the moonlight), by Apolline Traoré; and one documentary, 'Traces: empreintes de femmes' (Traces: women's imprints), by Senegalese director Katy Léna N'diaye - which are all set in rural Burkina Faso. The article proposes that the central focus on women in the three films should be regarded as significant progressive acts that ultimately become visions of female emancipation in West Africa. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]
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