Senegalese director Ousmane Sembène was the first sub-Saharan African filmmaker to achieve international recognition and is widely regarded as 'the father of African cinema'.

His first major work, Black Girl, is a sophisticated drama which won the 1966 Prix Jean Vigo, and which tells the story of Diouanne (Thérèse M'Bisine Diop), a young Senegalese woman eager to find a better life and who takes a job as a governess for a bourgeois French family. Mistreated by her employers, Diouanne’s hopes turn to disillusionment and she descends into a state of isolation and despair. Sembène draws from the Nouvelle Vague, but the film’s heart and soul is most definitely African.

Sembène's directional debut, the short Borom Sarret, was the first ever indigenous black African film. An allegorical tale exploring poverty and inequality, it follows the difficult life of a hard-up cart driver in Dakar.

Extras:

• Sembene: The Making of African Cinema (Manthia Diawara, Thiong'o Ngugi-wa, 1994)
• Interview Thérèse M’Bissine Diop, star of Black Girl (14 mins)
• Profile of Ousmane Sembene (12 mins)
• Ousmane Sembène interviewed at the National Film Theatre (2005, audio only)

Cast and Crew:

Director - Ousmane Sembene (Moolaadé, Xala, Guelwaar)

Awards and Reviews:

• ‘Packs an emotional wallop in its tragedy’ – New York Post
• ‘The greatest of all African filmmakers’ – Film Comment