Ellerson, Beti. “African Women of the Screen at the Digital Turn” Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media 10 (2015): 145-159.

https://doi.org/10.33178/alpha.10.09.

When I conceptualised the Sisters of the Screen project as a book and film, I envisioned an “imagined community” of kindred spirits, a “sisterhood” where the screen was their ultimate point of convergence. The screen is where their images are read; whether it’s a movie screen, television set, video monitor, computer screen, tablet or mobile phone, for a director, producer, film festival organizer, actor, critic or spectator the screen is the ultimate site where the moving image is viewed, interpreted and understood. With the phenomenal development of screen culture as a result of the digital turn, I return to the “screen” as a conceptual framework that integrates screen media, and their associated devices and technologies; hence, the concept “African women of the screen” as the organising principle. This report examines the impact of the digital turn on African women of the screen, how their cinematic gaze has evolved, developed, and transformed with the evolution of new technologies such as the Internet and, in particular, the emergence of social media.

[Source: Article abstract].

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Cooke, Paul. “Soft Power and South African Film: Negotiating Mutually Incompatible Agendas?” New Cinemas 14, n^o 1 (2016): 93‑109. https://doi.org/10.1386/ncin.14.1.93_1.

This article offers the first analysis of the role of film as a soft power asset in South Africa. It examines ways in which the policy priorities of the South African government have, until recently, seemed to work against the nation’s strategic aim to use film as a tool to leverage soft power in order to gain political influence across Africa, as well as to maximize the economic potential of globalization. The South African film economy is booming. Cape Town, in particular, has become a key production centre globally. International productions are attracted to the country by the versatility of its locations, its weather and its low cost, high quality, facilities.

[Excerpt from the article abstract].

B, Sar Maty. “Affective Power/Formal Knowledge: Diaspora, African Cinema and Film Festivals Outside Africa”. Film International (Göteborg, Sweden) 8, n^o 5 (2010): 54‑69.https://doi.org/10.1386/fiin.8.5.54.

“I contend that diaspora always already encompasses and transcends nation and that diasporic film festivals are, at best, both lived experiences and imagined communities. Furthermore, the complexities, engagements between diasporians, transnational formations and transcendence of (state) borders that Iordanova and Cheung explore are in fact core constitutive elements of diasporic film festival spaces. In this line of thinking, I adopt a two-pronged approach aimed at suggesting how diasporic film festivals could be perceived anew. First, I correlate two debates: ‘diaspora’ as theoretical construct and the current state of African cinema. Second, by scrutinizing the work of a high-profile Edinburgh-based African film festival (Africa in Motion (AiM)), I identify possible blind spots of an African film festival outside Africa as well as suggest possible ways forward for diasporic (African) film festivals.” [

Source: Excerpt from the article, p. 55].

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Adejunmobi, Moradewun. “Evolving Nollywood Templates for Minor Transnational Film”. Black Camera 5, n^o 2 (2014): 74‑94.

This work examines the implications of partial embeddedness in dominant global networks for minor transnational media industries like Nollywood. It focuses on two aspects of the relationship between Nollywood and global media: the probable outcomes of continuing attempts to generate higher profits for Nollywood’s relationship with dominant global media; and second, the potential impact of growing connection with global networks on the relative autonomy of this minor transnational media practice. I argue that initiatives undertaken by individual entrepreneurs to ensure reliable delivery of film narratives to diasporic audiences using distribution channels tied to dominant global networks currently represent the most immediate opportunity for extracting greater profits from this industry. Partial incorporation of Nollywood distribution into the official global economy by way of increased connection with dominant global networks and infrastructure also enable interested parties to compensate for the regulatory deficiencies of the nation-state and thus generate much higher revenues from a relatively undercapitalized industry. Despite this growing interface with dominant global media networks, however, minor film industries like Nollywood will probably continue to exhibit a high degree of creative and financial autonomy with respect to dominant global media.

[Source: Article abstract].

Harrow, Kenneth W., ed. With Open Eyes: Women and African Cinema. Matatu 19, n° 1 (1997).

"The work of African women filmmakers is relatively unknown, except for local audiences and specialists; and, as a result, there is little recognition for what has become, and what continues to become, a growing, important body of womanist, feminist, or simply female cinema.”

[Source: Excerpt from the introduction, p. vii]

Ukadike, Nwachukwu Frank, and Teshome H. Gabriel, eds. Questioning African Cinema: Conversations with Filmmakers. Minneapolis, MI: University of Minnesota Press, 2002. https://doi.org/10.5749/j.ctttv6tx.

Featuring interviews with key personalities from twelve nations, Questioning African Cinema provides the most extensive, comprehensive account ever given of the origins, practice, and implications of filmmaking in Africa. Speaking with pioneers Med Hondo, Souleymane Cissé, and Kwaw Ansah; renowned feature filmmakers Djibril Mambéty, Haile Gerima, and Safi Faye; and award-winning younger filmmakers Idrissa Ouedraogo, Cheick Oumar Sissoko, and Jean-Pierre Bekolo, N. Frank Ukadike identifies trends and individual practices even as he surveys the evolution of African cinema and addresses the politics and problems of seeing Africa through an African lens. Situating the unique achievement of each filmmaker within the geographic, historical, social, and political context of African cinema, he also explores questions about acting, distribution and exhibition, history, theory and criticism, video-based television production, and television’s relationship to independent film.

[Source: University of Minnesota Press].