Ousmane Sembene (1923-2007)

Ousmane Sembene, the Senegalese film-maker and writer , and certainly one of the major African artists of the second part of the 20th century, died yesterday at age 84. Here the wikipedia entry and here the more substantial California Newsreel article by Samba Gadjigo which opens with the following quote by Mel Hondo: “Of all African film directors, Sembene is the first to confer value to images.”

Here, a list of his films & books:

• Borom Sarret (1963)
• Niaye (1964)
• La Noire de…(1966)
• Mandabi (1968)
• Xala (1974)
• Ceddo (1977)
• Camp de Thiaroye (1988)
• Guelwaar (1992)
• Faat Kiné (2000)
• Moolaadé (2004)

and a list of his books:

• Le docker noir (Paris: Debresse 1956), novel, new edition: Présence Africaine, Paris, 2002, engl. The Black Docker (London: Heinemann, 1987).
• O pays, mon beau peuple! (1957)
• Les bouts de bois de Dieu, 1962, engl. God’s Bits of Wood, London : Heinemann, 1995
• Voltaïque, Paris: Présence Africaine, 1962, short stories
• L’Harmattan (Paris: Présence Africaine, 1964), novel.
• Le mandat, précédé de Vehi-Ciosane (Paris: Presence Africaine, 1966), engl. The money-order : with, White genesis, London : Heinemann, 1987
• Xala, Paris : Présence africaine, 1973
• Le dernier de l’Empire, L’Harmattan 1981, – “a key to Senegalese politics” (Werner Glinga), engl. The last of the Empire: A Senegalese Novel (London: Heinemann, 1983).
• Niiwam (Paris: Presence Africaine, 1987), engl. Niiwam and Taaw: Two Novellas ( Oxford and Portsmouth, N. H.: Heinemann, 1992).