{"product_id":"black-girl-la-noire-de-9781839027352","title":"Black Girl (La Noire De...)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eOusmane Sembène was one of the greatest, most groundbreaking filmmakers in the history of cinema, an acclaimed novelist, and the most renowned African director of the twentieth century. \u003ci\u003eBlack Girl\u003c\/i\u003e was his brilliant, blistering debut. \u003c\/b\u003eReleased in 1966, it won the Prix Jean Vigo at the Cannes Film Festival that year. The film is about a young Senegalese woman, played powerfully by M'Bissine Thérèse Diop, who moves to France to work for a wealthy white family as a nanny, but quickly discovers that life in their apartment is a prison, both figuratively and literally; but it is also a searing, nuanced critique of the lingering colonialism in the supposedly postcolonial world. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Vlad Dima's study of \u003ci\u003eBlack Girl\u003c\/i\u003e argues that the film helped to map the future of African cinema. He situates it within its postcolonial context, considering its adaptation from the eponymous short story first published in 1962. He examines the performances of Mbissine Thérèse Diop (Diouana), Anne-Marie Jelinek (Madame) and Robert Fontaine (Monsieur), considering the ways in which they embody or subvert postcolonial, French archetypes, and then goes on to examine the technical aspects of Sembene's filmmaking, such as his innovative use of framing and aural composition. Finally, he traces the film's lasting influence on African cinema, from Sembène's own \u003ci\u003eXala \u003c\/i\u003e(1975), to Safi Faye's \u003ci\u003eMossane \u003c\/i\u003e(1996), Joseph Gaï Ramaka's \u003ci\u003eKarmen Geï \u003c\/i\u003e(2001), Jean-Pierre Bekolo's \u003ci\u003eSaignantes \u003c\/i\u003e(2005), and Mati Diop's \u003ci\u003eAtlantics \u003c\/i\u003e(2019).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eVlad Dima\u003c\/b\u003e is Professor and Chair of the Department of African American Studies at Syracuse University, USA. His books include \u003ci\u003eSonic Space in Djibril Diop Mambety's Films\u003c\/i\u003e (2017), \u003ci\u003e The Beautiful Skin: Football, Fantasy, and Cinematic Bodies in Africa\u003c\/i\u003e (2020), and \u003ci\u003eMeaninglessness: Time, Rhythm, and the Undead in in Postcolonial Cinema \u003c\/i\u003e(2022). He has published numerous articles, mainly on French and francophone cinemas, but also on Francophone literature, comics, American cinema, and television.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"British Film Institute","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51572466811154,"sku":"9781839027352","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_451604c3-2393-41d3-ba09-d122e5ff6a3b.jpg?v=1755862982","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/black-girl-la-noire-de-9781839027352","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}