Thirty-first session, Cine_ilegal

Screening proposed by Jesús Ahedo, followed by a debate.

Moi, un noir (Jean Rouch, 1958, 70 min.)

Afrique 50 (René Vautier, 1950, 17 min.)

This session offers a view of documentary filmmaking in France during the late colonial period through two historical makers of the genre: Jean Rouch (1917-2004) and René Vautier (1928). Moi, un noir, by Rouch, one of the founders of cinéma-vérité, shows the ups and downs of a group of young people from Niger who decide to leave their homeland in search of greener pastures, and head to Abidjan, the flourishing capital of Côte d’Ivoire. Vautier’s Afrique 50 was the first anti-colonial film to have been made in France and was censored for forty years. Vautier, the father of filmmaking for social intervention, was commissioned to film prosperity and progress in the colony of French Sudan, but after seeing reality there he ended up portraying its true face.

Jesús Ahedo (Bilbao, 1969) directs the gallery Kalao Panafrican Creations, which has been focusing on contemporary African creation since 2005.