The story of independent filmmaker Senegal's Ousmane Sembene, providing an alternate history of contemporary Africa and a window into world cinema.

A freedom fighter who used stories as weapons: meet Ousmane Sembene, the father of African cinema.

When Ousmane Sembène first picked up a movie camera in the early 1960s, no African had ever made a movie in Africa before. Africa's film-going diet consisted entirely of American and European movies. By the time of his death in 2007, this sixth-grade dropout, against incredible odds, had turned African cinema into its own distinctive storytelling form, inspiring a generation of artists. Sembene, perhaps Africa's most important cultural figure of the past 50 years, also proved himself one of history's greatest revolutionary artists.

Using a weave of handcrafted collage animation, new and archival footage and clips from Sembene's films, SEMBENE! takes the form of a tale being told by a wise elder, following as Sembene transforms himself from young dockworker into novelist, filmmaker and cultural icon, one who dedicated his life to telling stories that promote social justice and build a stronger Africa.

As it explores Sembene's life and work, SEMBENE! also reveals the mechanics of the modern, corporate- and government-controlled media, and presents Africa as few of us have seen it before.

A documentary film by Samba GADJIGO & Jason SILVERMAN

Senegal/USA, 2015, Documentary, 1h27, portrait

Countries : Senegal/USA
Year: 2015
Duration: 87 minutes
Type: Documentary

"Whether it's DeMille, Hitchcock, the Senegalese filmmaker Sembene … we're all walking in their footsteps, all of us…"
-Martin Scorsese, the 2010 Golden Globes

THE CREW
Samba Gadjigo (writer/producer/director).
Jason Silverman (writer/producer/director).
Edwina White (art director, art director/visual development).
Ricardo Acosta (editor).
Rose Kuo (co-producer).
Boubacar Boris Diop (story consultant).
Jean-Marie Teno (consultant).
Abdoul Aziz Cisse (associate producer).
James Dunlap (animator/visual development).
James Jenkins (animator).

Composers
Ken Myhr
Chris Jonas

Producers
Jason Silverman
Samba Gadjigo

Executive Producers
Impact Partners
New Mexico Media Partners
SNE Partners


Galle Ceddo Projects, LLC was founded in 2008 to create projects that, in the spirit of Ousmane Sembene, encourage the use of modern storytelling tools to galavanize and liberate the disempowered.

To speak of African cinema is to speak the name of Ousmane Sembene. Known as "the father of African film," this was no easy title to bear, as shown in this personal essay about one of the world's greatest artists.

Sembene! takes you from Dakar, Senegal, to the docks of Marseille, France, to New York City. In a career spanning 40 years, Sembene tasted the highs and the lows, only to re-invent himself with a powerful blend of documentary, French New Wave, and Realism, creating films that shocked the sociopolitical power structures of the day. Classics like Xala, Black Girl, and Moolaade established his cinematic vision and made him an international emissary who presented the inner lives of his people on film.

Told by those who knew him best and with fascinating archival interviews, Sembene! constructs a revealing portrait of a curious, cantankerous, and deeply intellectual artist. Sembene promoted a new vision of Africa, and his films injected that vision into the world. Sembene! is a testament to the power of story, highlighting how it can plant a seed of thought that crosses generations. -H.C. (Sundance 2015, USA)
www.sundance.org/projects/sembene-f0f2cced-7d7c-4fd5-9ea6-b81456b43731


FESTIVALS / AWARDS

2016 | Newark Black Film festival, New Jersey, USA.
* Paul Robeson Award - Honorable Mention (Prix Paul Robeson (Mention Honorable)

2016 | Emerge Film Festival, Maine (Maine, USA)
● Won: Jury Prize - Best Documentary (Prix du meilleur documentaire)

2016 | Luxor African Film Festival - LAFF 2016 | (LUXOR, Égypte) | 17/03 - 23/03/2016
* Paulin Vieyra Award (Panafrican Critics Prize)

2015 | MVFF - Mill Valley Film Festival (CA, USA)
● Nominated: Best documentary
* FILM SCREENING: October 13, 2015 @ 5:45 pm, at Sequoia Theater
25 Throckmorton Ave, Mill Valley, CA 94941, USA
* FILM SCREENING: Thursday, OCTOBER 15. @ 3:15PM, @ Smith Rafael Film Center 1118 4th St., San Rafael
www.moadsf.org/event/film-screening-sembene/

2015 | Cannes Film Festival - Festival de Cannes (Cannes, France)
● Selection: Cannes Classics

2015 | Sundance Film Festival (USA)
* Selection - WORLD CINEMA DOCUMENTARY
● Nominated
www.sundance.org/projects/sembene-f0f2cced-7d7c-4fd5-9ea6-b81456b43731

HOTDOCS
* Documentary Forum Participant

TRIBECA ALL ACCESS
* Participant

Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program 2009
* Fund recipient (GRANT)