ABSTRACT
In 1975, the African federation of filmmakers (FEPACI) produced the Algiers Charter, which (in)famously identified a shared ideological project for African cinema. The charter enjoined African filmmakers to be militant, creative, anti-imperialist, nationalist teachers for their respective peoples. However, if (for the sake of argument) we grant that the mid-1950s witnessed the birth of francophone African cinema, we can affirm that, from the very beginning, African cinema was already both aesthetically diverse, and very much part of the world heritage of the seventh art. The short documentary film Afrique-sur-Seine by Paulin Soumanou Vieyra and Mamadi Touré’s Mouramani, both made in that ‘foundational’ period, are well known to critics the world over: these were ‘serious’ films made with artistic and educational aims. Less well known, though, are popular productions such as those by the Cameroonian Alphonse Béni: Fureur au poing (1971), Un Enfant noir (1972), Black Love (1973). Amongst the popular pioneers of early francophone West African filmmaking, Moustapha Alassane, from Niger, is perhaps the most important but also one of the most neglected figures.
