The revolution was filmed — and these women were holding the cameras.
Exploring the extraordinary contributions of women filmmakers from Africa and the diaspora, Beti Ellerson’s engaging debut intersperses interviews with such acclaimed women directors as Safi Faye, Sarah Maldoror, Anne Mungai, Fanta Régina Nacro and Ngozi Onwurah with footage from their seminal work. With power and nuance, Ellerson also confronts the thorny question of cultural authenticity by revisiting the legendary 1991 FESPACO (Pan-African Festival of Cinema and Television of Ouagadougou), in which diasporian women were asked to leave a meeting intended for African woman only. This film is both a valuable anthology and a fitting homage to the pioneers and new talents of African cinema.
Direction
Ellerson builds radical intimacy by letting women speak for themselves.
Editing
Seamless weave of archival footage and contemporary testimony.
Production
Essential preservation of voices almost erased from cinema history.
Director
Beti Ellerson
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
FESPACO remains the largest African film festival; the 1991 'African women only' meeting exposed raw fault lines between continental and diasporic Black women that still fracture discussions today.
Sarah Maldoror's Sambizanga (1972) — featured here — was the first feature-length film by an African woman, yet she's often omitted from 'first woman director' conversations that center European cinema.
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