Overview

This is both a personal journey and an introduction to the cinema cultures of Africa. A book about the politics of cultural survival, it is also an overview of African cinema and television. Olivier Barlet traces the development of African cinema from colonization to Afrocentrism. He analyzes specific films, particularly through narrative and in terms of their African specificity - in the use of silence, orality and humour. He explores the social and economic contexts of the African cinema and television industry - including its often vexed relations with the West and the problems of production and distribution that African film-makers face. He also covers the African television industry and African-American cinema. Exploring the achievements and challenges of those who seek to affirm African cultural values through film, the book is ultimately a plea for seeing and respecting the otherness of the Other.

Full Product Details

Author:   Oliver Barlet ,  Chris Turner
Publisher:   Zed Books Ltd
Imprint:   Zed Books Ltd
Edition:   illustrated edition
Dimensions:   Width: 15.60cm , Height: 2.60cm , Length: 23.60cm
Weight:   0.640kg
ISBN:  

9781856497428

ISBN 10:   1856497429
Pages:   288
Publication Date:   01 October 2000
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   No Longer Our Product
Availability:   Out of stock  
The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available.

Table of Contents

Part 1 Early days, first rites: human beings, not ants; decolonizing the imagination; proverbs were once people - referring to the past; closing one's eyes; prizing open the cracked identity; the open gaze. Part 2 The roots of story-telling: black humour; men die but words remain - narrative and the oral tradition; if your song is not more beautiful than the silence, then be quiet; speaking your own language; towards a critique of necessity. Part 3 A black perspective?: if you want honey, you've got to take on the bees - the difficulties of film-making; the African public - diversity itself; northern audiences spinning like a weathervane; when you have meat to cook, you seek out the one who has a fire - the logic of Western aid; televisual strategies. Annex - where is black African cinema heading?

Reviews

. . .the reader will discover the book's depth and a wealth of information on the varied cinemas of Africa. . . -- International Journal of African Historical Studies <br>

"'This is an excellent book: fresh, graceful, perspicacious, intelligent, current, and always alive with passionate sympathy for its subject... Barlet has impressive powers of synthesis, fashioning an insightful and often elegant thematic argument out of a vast quantity of material... It is hard to do justice to the richness of the book in a brief review... This is very much a book about understanding across cultures and the necessity of multiculturalism ... it is an ""invitation au voyage"", as Barlet says, and a singularly attractive introduction to African film' - Jonathan Haynes in Research in African Literatures 'The reader will discover the book's depth and a wealth of information on the varied cinemas of Africa' - International Journal of African Historical Studies"

'This is an excellent book: fresh, graceful, perspicacious, intelligent, current, and always alive with passionate sympathy for its subject... Barlet has impressive powers of synthesis, fashioning an insightful and often elegant thematic argument out of a vast quantity of material... It is hard to do justice to the richness of the book in a brief review... This is very much a book about understanding across cultures and the necessity of multiculturalism ... it is an invitation au voyage , as Barlet says, and a singularly attractive introduction to African film' - Jonathan Haynes in Research in African Literatures 'The reader will discover the book's depth and a wealth of information on the varied cinemas of Africa' - International Journal of African Historical Studies

Author Information

Olivier Barlet is film critic and chief editor of the monthly magazine Africultures (L Harmattan, Paris). He has translated many books about Africa and by African authors.

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