In loving memory

It's not hard to understand why the highly-experienced team at the Middle East International Film Festival (MEIFF) chose to celebrate the life and talents of Ousmane Sembene at this, the inaugural event. Sembene has influenced his people, his nation and the world through the medium of film.

Influential

When Ousmane Sembene died in his home in Dakar, Senegal, on June 9, 2007, he left behind him a bibliography and filmography both modest and immensely influential.

Following years of manual labour, a stint in the French army during WWII and an education and career as a novelist, Sembene turned to filmmaking at the age of 40 citing the need to reach his largely illiterate audience through a more universal medium, whereby he could more effectively promote his message of social justice, freedom, and dignity among his fellow Africans.

Sembene's films reflect the rich history of African storytelling passed through the generations.

So often called the "father of African cinema" it is easy to forget what a subversive and controversial director the Senegalese auteur often was. His films were barbed and satirical — and often far from comfortable to watch.

Famous feature

And it is arguably his most famous feature, Impotence (aka Xala) which has been selected to be shown in his memory at the first MEIFF.

Impotence is a scathing and bitterly-funny drama about an African state shortly after independence. The country has fallen into the grip of a clique of corrupt businessmen every bit as venal as the Westerners they have replaced. When one prominent businessman and politician, El Hadji, buys himself a third wife, he is afflicted with the curse — impotence. His attempts at finding a cure bring him humiliation and ruin.

First love

The film made history as the first black African feature to be shown in Britain. By the time it was released, Sembene was already an experienced director. Not that filmmaking was his first love. At heart, Sembene was a writer. He had turned to making films because he wanted to reach as big an audience as he could.

The son of a fisherman, Sembene was born in Ziguinchor in Casamance to a Muslim Wolof family. He went to an Islamic school (common for many boys in Senegal) and to a French school, learning French and basic Arabic in addition to his mother tongue, Wolof.

Active

Late in 1947, after the war, he stowed away to France, where he worked at a Citroën factory in Paris and then on the docks at Marseille, becoming active in the French trade union movement. Sembene drew on many of these experiences for his French-language first novel, Le Docker Noir (The Black Docker, 1956), the story of Diaw, an African stevedore who faces racism and mistreatment on the docks of Marseille. He gained a good literary reputation which provided him with the financial support to continue writing.

With the 1965 publication of Le mandat, précédé de Vehi-Ciosane (The Money Order and White Genesis), Sembene's emphasis began to shift. Just as he had once vociferously attacked the racial and economic oppression of the colonial government, with this pair of novellas, he turned his sights on the corrupt African elites that followed.

Get involved

Impotence will be screened at 4pm tomorrow (Tuesday) at the Emirates Palace Hotel in the ballroom theatre (EP2). For tickets, which are complimentary as long as they are requested and reserved in advance, visit the main box office in the hotel or www.meiff.com

Sembene's quotable quotes

'I benefited from a synthesis of values — in the house, the compound, the country and Quranic and French schools. We conserved our own culture; we had nightly gatherings with tales. Now I call it my own theatre.'

Death

Ousmane Sembene died this year at the age of 84. He had been ill since December 2006, and died at his home in Dakar, Senegal, where he was buried in a shroud adorned with Quranic verses.

Did you know?

• Ousmane Sembene's father, Mousse, was a fisherman who migrated from Dakar to the southern part of Senegal.
• He fought with the French in WWII.
• He was the first African director to give the director's lesson at Cannes.
• He was a member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1967, at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1977 and at the Venice Film Festival in 1983.