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Innis Library, University of Toronto

Cinema Studies Resources

African Cinema

(See also: Race and Representation: Cinemas of the Black Diaspora)

Finding Books on African Cinema
Finding Journal Articles
Bibliography of Print Material in U of T Libraries
Media Commons (formerly Audiovisual Library) (University of Toronto)
Film Reference Library (Cinematheque Ontario)
Other Resources

Finding Books on African Cinema

The subject headings below were obtained from the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) available at/near the reference desk of every Library. The main LC Subject Heading for the more commonly used terms like "film" or "movies" or "cinema" is motion pictures, under which you'll find narrower headings such as Silent films or Women in motion pictures.

Books on any of the topics listed below can be found by entering the appropriate LC Subject Heading, exactly as it appears, in the UTCat search box, then choosing subject from the drop-down menu. Use a subject search also to find material on individual directors, e.g. Sembene, Ousmane (last name, first name) and films, e.g. (La) Noire de . . . (do not use articles).

• Africa Civilization 20th Century
• Blacks Africa
• Feminism and motion pictures Africa
• Imperialism in motion pictures
• Motion picture industry Africa
• Motion picture industry Gabon, etc.
• Motion picture producers and directors Africa
• Motion picture producers and directors Zaire, etc.
• Motion pictures and literature Africa
• Motion pictures Africa
• Motion pictures Africa, Sub-Saharan
• Motion pictures Belgium (Portugal, etc.) Colonies History
• Motion pictures Senegal, etc.
• Motion pictures Political aspects Africa
• Motion pictures Political aspects Developing countries
• Motion pictures Political aspects Zimbabwe, etc.
• Motion pictures Social aspects Africa

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Bibliography

The following is a selective list of material about and/or related to the study of African film. All are available at the University of Toronto Libraries. Additional material on African film and culture is listed under Other Resources below.

Reference and Background Reading

• Appiah, Kwame Anthony and Henry Louis Gates, eds. Africana: the encyclopedia of the African and African American experience.
  DT 14 .A37435 1999 ERIN REF, SCAR, VUPR, GENR
• Africa on film and videotape: a guide to audio-visual resources available in Canada. Produced by IDERA Films and Carrefour International.
  DT 19.8 .Z9A47 1990 AVL
  960.016 .A258 OISE/UT REF
• Boughedir, Ferid. African cinema from A to Z.
  PN 1993.5 .A35B6813 1992 ROBA
• Dictionnaire du cinéma africain.
  PN 1993.5 .A35D53 1991 ROBA
• Gray, John. Blacks in film and television: a Pan-African bibliography of films, filmmakers, and performers.
  Z 5784 .M9G72 1990 ROBA
• International dictionary of films and filmmakers. 3rd ed.
  PN 1997.8 .I6 1997X GENR
  PN 1997.8 .I58 1997 VUPR
  International in scope. Presented in four volumes dedicated (in order) to: Films; Directors; Actors and Actresses; and Writers and Production Artists, this work offers encyclopedic and bibliographic information about selected members of the aforementioned professions.
• Leaman, Oliver, ed. Companion encyclopedia of Middle Eastern and North African film. 2001.
  PN 1993.5 .A65C66 2001 INNR, GENR
• Middleton, John. Encyclopedia of Africa south of the Sahara. 1997.
  DT 351 .E53 1997X GENR
• Nowell-Smith, Geoffrey, ed. The Oxford history of world cinema. 1996. (See p. 667-72, The Cinemas of Sub-Saharan Africa).
  PN 1993.5 .A1O96 1996 INNC, GENR, TRIN, VUPR
• Oshana, Maryann. Women of color: a filmography of minority and Third World women.
  Z 5784 .M9O84 1985 ROBA
• Russell, Sharon A. Guide to African cinema. 1998.
  PN 1993.5 .A35R87 1998 INNR, ROBA, VUPR
• Schmidt, Nancy J. Sub-Saharan African films and filmmakers : a preliminary bibliography.
  Z 5784 .M9S32 1986 ROBA
• ---. Sub-Saharan African films and filmmakers: an annotated bibliography = Films et cineastes africains de la region subsaharienne: une bibliographie commente.
  Z 5784 .M9S33 1988 ROBA
• ---. Sub-Saharan African films and filmmakers, 1987-1992: an annotated bibliography.
  Z 5784 .M9S332 1994 ROBA
  "Schmidt's bibliographies contain more than 7,000 entries of English- and French-language books, monographs, academic theses, reviews, pamphlets, and other resource materials on filmmaking in sub-Saharan Africa. The most recent of the bibliographies includes a reprint of an essay by Schmidt, "Visualizing Africa: The Bibliography of Films by Sub-Saharan African Filmmakers," that describes the nature and scope of printed resources on this topic." (from AFRICAN CINEMA: Africa through an African lens in AFRICA: Africa World Press Guide, compiled and edited by WorldViews.)
• Shiri, Keith, ed. Directory of African film-makers and films.
  PN 1993.5 .A35S48 1992 ROBA, ERIN REF
• Stevens, Warren Douglas. African film bibliography 1965.
  PN 1998 .S73 ROBA
• Udeman, Adrienne. The history of the South African film industry, 1940-1971; a bibliography.
  Z 5784 .M9U34 ROBA
• Wiley, David J. Africa on film and videotape, 1960-1981; a compendium of reviews.
  DT 20 .W9 AVL

Theory, analysis, criticism

Books

• Anyidoho, Kofi and James Gibbs, eds. FonTomFrom: contemporary Ghanaian literature, theatre and film.
  PR 9379 .F66 2000 ROBA
• Armes, Roy. Third World film making and the West.
  PN 1993.5 .D44A76 1987 INNC, ROBA, VUPT
• Bachy, Victor. Le cinéma au Gabon.
  PN 1993.5 .G25B3 1986 ROBA
• ---. Le cinéma au Mali.
  PN 1993.5 .M35B3 1983 ROBA
• ---. Le cinéma en Cote d'Ivoire.
  PN 1993.5 .I95B24 1983 ROBA
• ---. La Haute-Volta et le cinéma.
  PN 1993.5 .U83B24 1983 ROBA
• Bakari, Imruh and Mbye Cham, eds. African experiences of cinema. 1996.
  PN 1993.5 .A35A46 1996 INNC, ROBA
  
• Barlet, Olivier. African cinemas: decolonizing the gaze. 2000.
  PN 1993.5 .A35B313 2000 INNC, ROBA
• Botha, Martin. Images of South Africa : the rise of the alternative film.
  PN 1993.5 .S6B68 1992X ROBA
• Cameron, Kenneth M. Africa on film: beyond black and white.
  PN 1995.9 .A43C36 1994 ROBA, SCC
• Cham, Mbye B. and Claire Andrade-Watkins, eds. Blackframes: critical perspectives on Black independent cinema. 1988
  PN 1995.9 .N4B43 1988 INNC, ROBA
  PN 1995.9 .N4B56 1988 VUPT
  
• Convents, Guido. A la recherche des images oubliées.
  PN 1993.5 .A35C65 1986 ROBA
• Davis, Peter. In darkest Hollywood: exploring the jungles of cinema's South Africa.
  PN 1995.9 .S655D38 1996 ERIN, VUPT, ROBA
• Diawara, Mantha. African cinema: politics and culture. 1992.
  PN 1993.5 .A35D5 1992 INNC,ROBA
• Ekwuazi, Hyginus and Yakubu Nasidi, eds. Operative principles of the film industry: towards a film policy for Nigeria.
  PN 1993.5 .N55O64 1992 ROBA
• Gabriel, Teshome H. (Teshome Habte). Third cinema in the third world: the aesthetics of liberation.
  PN 1993.5 .A35G3 1982 SCC
• Gadjigo, Samba ... [et al.], eds. Ousmane Sembene: dialogues with critics and writers.
  PN 1998.3 .S397O88 1993 ROBA
• Gardies, André. Cinéma d'Afrique noire francophone : l'éspace-miroir.
  PN 1993.5 .A35G36 1989X ROBA
• --- et Pierre Haffner. Regards sur le cinéma négro-africain.
  PN 1993.5 .A35G37 1987 ROBA
• Givanni, June, ed. Remote control: dilemmas of Black intervention in British film & TV: report from the BFI African & Caribbean Unit Black & White in Colour Conference: prospects for Black intervention in television, held at the ICA, November 1992.
  PN 1993.5 .G7B55 1995 ROBA
• ---. Symbolic narratives/African cinema: audiences, theory, and the moving image.
  PN 1993.5 .A35S95 2000 INNC, ROBA
• Gutsche, Thelma. The history and social significance of motion pictures in South Africa, 1895-1940.
  PN 1993.5 .A35G8 1972 ROBA
• Harrow, Kenneth W., ed. African cinema: postcolonial and feminist readings. 1999.
  PN 1993.5 .A35A357 1999 INNC, ROBA
• Khayati, Khemais. Les cinémas Arabes: topographie d'une image eclatée.
  PN 1993.5 .A65K39 1996X ROBA
• Lacassin, Francis. "Tarzan" ou le Chevalier crispe.
  PS 3503 .U687Z75 ROBA
• Maarek, Philippe J., coordinateur. Afrique noire, quel cinéma?: actes du Colloque Université Paris X-Nanterre, décembre 1981.
  PN 1993.5 .A35A8 1981 ROBA
• Malkmus, Lizbeth and Roy Armes. Arab and African film making.
  PN 1993.5 .A65M3 1991 INNC, ERIN
• Mayer, Ruth. Artificial Africas: colonial images in the times of globalization.
  E 169 .04M3694 2002 ROBA
• Maynard, Richard A., ed. Africa on film: myth and reality.
  PN 1995.9 .A43M3 ROBA
• Ngansop, Guy Jeremie. Le cinéma camerounais en crise.
  PN 1993.5 .C25N42 1987 ROBA
• Niang, Sada. Litterature et cinéma en afrique francophone: Ousmane Sembene et Assia Djebar.
  PN 1998.3 .S397L5 1996 ROBA
• Nixon, Rob. Homelands, Harlem, and Hollywood: South African culture and the world beyond.
  DT 1757 .N59 1994 ROBA
• Petty, Sheila, ed. A Call to action: the films of Ousmane Sembene. 1996.
  PN 1998.3 .S397C36 1996 INNC, ROBA
• Pfaff, Francoise. The cinema of Ousmane Sembene, a pioneer of African film.
  PN 1998.3 .S397P4 1984 ROBA
• ---. Twenty-five Black African filmmakers: a critical study, with filmography and bio-bibliography.
  PN 1998.2 .P477 1988 ROBA
• Rigby, Peter. African images: racism and the end of anthropology.
  DT 15 .R55 1996 ROBA
• Same and other: negotiating African identity in cultural production. Edited by Maria Eriksson Baaz and Mai Palmberg.
  NX 587 .S26 2001 ROBA
• Schmitz, Oliver and Thomas Mogotlane. Mapantsula: the book..
  brief PR 075799 ROBA
• Sherzer, Dina, ed. Cinema, colonialism, postcolonialism: perspectives from the French and francophone world.
  PN 1993.5 .F7C4788 1996 INNC, SMC, ROBA
• Slavin, David Henry. Colonial cinema and imperial France, 1919-1939: white blind spots, male fantasies, settler myth.
  PN 1993.5 .F7S587 2001X ROBA
  PN 1993.5 .F7S55 2001 VUPT
• To change reels: film and film culture in South Africa. Edited by Isabel Balseiro and Ntognela Masilela.
  PN1993.5 .S6 T62 2003X ROBA
• Tomaselli, Keyan G. The cinema of apartheid: race and class in South African film.
  PN 1993.5 .S6T58 1988 ROBA, VUPT
• --- ... [et al.]. Myth, race and power: South Africans imaged on film and TV.
  PN 1993.5 .S6M95 1986 ROBA
• Ukadike, Nwachukwu Frank. Black African cinema.
  PN 1993.5 .A35U4 1994 INNC, VUPT, SMC, SCC, ERIN
  PN 1993.5 .A35U53 1994 ROBA
• ---. Questioning African cinema: conversations with filmmakers.
  PN 1993.5 .A35U45 2002 INNC, ROBA
• Vieyra, Paulin Soumanou Le cinéma africain.
  PN 1993.5 .A35V48 ROBA #t.1
• ---. Le cinéma au Senegal.
  PN 1993.5 .S38V54 1983 ROBA
• ---. Le cinéma et l'Afrique.
  PN 1993.5 .A4V5 ROBA
• ---. Ousmane Sembene cinéaste; première periode, 1962-1971.
  PN 1998 .A3O917 ROBA
• ---. Réflexions d'un cinéaste africain.
  PN 1993.5 .A35V55 1990 ROBA

Articles

• IRIS, no. 18 (1995). Entire issue (14 articles) entitled New Discourses of African Cinema.
  Available at Innis Library.

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Other Resources

The following is a selective list of resources related to the study of African film and culture:

• African Cinema (African Studies Centre, Netherlands)
• African Cinema: A Biblio/Filmography (Brown U. Library)
• African Cinema: Africa through an African lens (in AFRICA: Africa World Press Guide, compiled and edited by WorldViews.)
• African Cinema and African Cinematic Representation: A Selected Bibliography/Videography of Materials in the UC Berkeley Libraries Bibliography includes books, journal articles (arranged by author and by individual film title), and reviews.
• African Cinema/Theatrical Movies about Africa (UC-Berkeley Library)
• African Media Program (Michigan State U.). Incl.links to The Bibliography of African Cinema, Film, and Video Studies and The South African Film and Video Project (SAFVP)
• African Studies Quarterly: The Online Journal of African Studies
  • African Cinema in the Nineties (article)
  • CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN FILM AT THE 13TH ANNUAL CARTER LECTURES ON AFRICA: INTERVIEWS WITH FILMMAKER SALEM MEKURIA AND FILM CRITIC SHEILA PETTY (article)
• African Women in Cinema (Beti Ellerson)
• A Confusion of Cinematic Consciousness: Southern Africa on Film in the United States (Tomaselli, Keyan and Arnold Shepperson) IN: Safundi (October 20, 2000)
• Films & Videos on Africa (Columbia U. Library)
• Library of African Cinema (from California Newsreel)
• Southern African Cinema: Towards a Regional Narration of the Nation (Martin Mhando, Murdoch U., Australia)

from H-Net

An international consortium of scholars and teachers, H-Net creates and coordinates Internet networks with the common objective of advancing teaching and research in the arts, humanities, and social sciences.

• Gateway to African Studies (incl. Cinema Studies)
• H-AFRICA encourages the interdisciplinary discussion of Africa's history, culture, and African studies generally.

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Last updated: August 23, 2010.