Black Girl (60th Anniversary)
The feature debut of the most renowned African filmmaker of the twentieth century is a harrowing drama about the experiences of the Senegalese housekeeper of a French family.
Diouna has arrived in Antibes from Senegal and starts to work as a domestic helper for a French family. She struggles to adapt to her new surroundings; the small apartment in which she works is gradually becoming a prison. Her employers treat her like a piece of furniture and show no interest in her problems.
Ousmane Sembène began his artistic career as a novelist. In his debut novel The Black Docker (1956), he recounts his experiences as a dock worker in the port of Marseilles. His work focuses on social themes such as colonialism, racism and women’s rights. His feature debut Black Girl is based on a short story from his collection of short stories Voltaïque and criticizes the colonialist mindset of so-called post-colonial France. The film was restored in 2016 and subsequently rediscovered. The film managed to secure a spot in British film magazine Sight & Sound’s prestigious ‘Greatest Films Of All Time’ poll.