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African Cinema and Politics

Power, Memory, Censorship, Gender, Publics and Political Form

This course studies African cinema as a political field. It examines colonial images, anticolonial cinema, independence, postcolonial states, bureaucracy, satire, war, genocide, gender, bodies, sexuality, censorship, platforms, archives and final political programming. Learners connect films to Shot Atlas, CineMap, CineUbuntu and festival-facing public debate.

Duration

18 hours

Modules

6

Lessons

18

Curator

Unga Curatorial Desk

Format

6 modules · 3 lessons each · 18 hours total

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Course objectives

What you will build through this learning path

Learning objectives

  • Define African political cinema beyond narrow party or state themes.
  • Analyze colonial images, anticolonial cinema and independence-era counter-gazes.
  • Study postcolonial bureaucracy, corruption, satire, debt and symbolic trials.
  • Read war, genocide, memory and testimony through ethical film analysis.
  • Connect gender, bodies, sexuality, censorship, platforms and archives to political cinema.
  • Create a final political analysis dossier, CineMap entry, Shot Atlas note or programming presentation.

Skills acquired

  • Political film analysis
  • Censorship and circulation analysis
  • Archive and memory ethics
  • Shot Atlas political reading
  • CineMap contextual mapping
  • Programming and public presentation

Audience

Who this course is for

Learners studying African cinema through history, power, public debate and social resistance.
Curators, researchers and festival teams preparing political film programs.
CineMap, Shot Atlas and CineUbuntu contributors documenting political contexts.
Filmmakers and guild members interested in censorship, archives, gender and public circulation.

Module outline

Follow the course pathway module by module

Use this page to understand the sequence, checkpoints and learning rhythm before opening a specific module.

Module 1

What Is African Political Cinema?

The opening module builds the method of the course. It shows that political cinema is not only cinema about governments, but also cinema about gaze, silence, language, memory, bodies, audiences and access.

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Duration

3 hours

Lessons

3

Completed

0/3

Module progress0%
0160 min

Lesson 1

Defining African Political Cinema

Goal: Understand political cinema as a field of power, representation, institutions and public debate.

2 reading sections2 quiz questions1 resources
Not startedOpen lesson
0260 min

Lesson 2

Colonial Images, Counter-Gaze and Censorship

Goal: Analyze how colonial images organized power and how African and anticolonial films challenged that gaze.

2 reading sections2 quiz questions1 resources
Not startedOpen lesson
0360 min

Lesson 3

Method for Political Film Analysis

Goal: Build a practical grid for reading a film politically without reducing it to a message.

2 reading sections2 quiz questions1 resources
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View module Define African political cinema as a relation between power, images, public life, form, censorship and circulation.

Module 2

Colonialism, Anticolonialism and Independence

This module studies how films confront colonial images, anticolonial struggle, exile, soldiers, liberation and the political ambiguities of independence.

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Duration

3 hours

Lessons

3

Completed

0/3

Module progress0%
0160 min

Lesson 1

From Colonial Images to Anticolonial Gestures

Goal: Understand how anticolonial films respond to colonial image systems and official narratives.

2 reading sections2 quiz questions1 resources
Not startedOpen lesson
0260 min

Lesson 2

Algeria, Angola, Diaspora: Struggle and Exile

Goal: Compare films of liberation, diaspora and exile as different political forms.

2 reading sections2 quiz questions1 resources
Not startedOpen lesson
0360 min

Lesson 3

Soldiers, Colonial Memory and Unfinished Independence

Goal: Study colonial soldiers, memory and independence as unresolved political questions.

2 reading sections2 quiz questions1 resources
Not startedOpen lesson
View module Analyze anticolonial cinema, liberation struggles, diaspora, memory and unfinished independence.

Module 3

Postcolonial States, Corruption, Bureaucracy and Satire

This module studies how African films represent postcolonial institutions and social power through administrative absurdity, satire, elite critique and symbolic trial.

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Duration

3 hours

Lessons

3

Completed

0/3

Module progress0%
0160 min

Lesson 1

Bureaucracy, Language and Postcolonial Administration: Mandabi

Goal: Analyze bureaucracy and language as postcolonial political structures.

2 reading sections2 quiz questions1 resources
Not startedOpen lesson
0260 min

Lesson 2

Elites, Corruption, Patriarchy and Satire

Goal: Study satire as a tool for exposing elite power, corruption and patriarchal systems.

2 reading sections2 quiz questions1 resources
Not startedOpen lesson
0360 min

Lesson 3

Debt, Globalization and Symbolic Trial: Bamako

Goal: Analyze global power, debt and public trial as political cinematic structures.

2 reading sections2 quiz questions1 resources
Not startedOpen lesson
View module Read postcolonial power through bureaucracy, language, elites, corruption, patriarchy, debt and satire.

Module 4

War, Memory, Genocide and Political Violence

This module studies civil war, occupation, fundamentalism, genocide, testimony and the ethics of representing political violence.

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Duration

3 hours

Lessons

3

Completed

0/3

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0160 min

Lesson 1

Civil War, Silence and Moral Dilemma

Goal: Study silence, absence and moral dilemma as political forms in films about war.

2 reading sections2 quiz questions1 resources
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0260 min

Lesson 2

Occupation, Fundamentalism and Everyday Resistance: Timbuktu

Goal: Analyze occupation and everyday resistance through public space, sound, rules and gesture.

2 reading sections2 quiz questions1 resources
Not startedOpen lesson
0360 min

Lesson 3

Genocide against the Tutsi, Testimony and Ethics of Memory

Goal: Approach genocide, testimony and memory through ethical analysis rather than spectacle.

2 reading sections2 quiz questions1 resources
Not startedOpen lesson
View module Analyze films about war, occupation, genocide and memory with ethical attention to testimony and representation.

Module 5

Gender, Bodies, Sexualities and Social Resistance

This module studies how African films make bodies, gender, sexuality, maternity, domestic space, secrets and social norms into political questions.

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Duration

3 hours

Lessons

3

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0/3

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0160 min

Lesson 1

Women’s Bodies, Protection and Community: Moolaade

Goal: Analyze women’s bodies, protection and community as political questions.

2 reading sections2 quiz questions1 resources
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0260 min

Lesson 2

Motherhood, Law, Domesticity and Solidarity

Goal: Read motherhood, domestic space and solidarity as political structures.

2 reading sections2 quiz questions1 resources
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0360 min

Lesson 3

Sexualities, Witchcraft, Family Secrets and Censorship

Goal: Analyze sexuality, taboo, witchcraft, family secrecy and censorship as public political issues.

2 reading sections2 quiz questions1 resources
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View module Analyze gender, bodies, sexuality, family law, censorship and social resistance as political cinema.

Module 6

Platforms, Audiences, Censorship, Archives and Final Project

The final module studies how circulation itself becomes political through censorship, audience debate, platforms, archives, restoration, rights and public programming.

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Duration

3 hours

Lessons

3

Completed

0/3

Module progress0%
0160 min

Lesson 1

Censorship, Audiences and Debate

Goal: Understand censorship and audience debate as part of a film's political life.

2 reading sections2 quiz questions1 resources
Not startedOpen lesson
0260 min

Lesson 2

Platforms, Archives, Restorations and Political Economies of Images

Goal: Analyze how platforms, archives, restoration and rights shape political access to images.

2 reading sections2 quiz questions1 resources
Not startedOpen lesson
0360 min

Lesson 3

Final Project: Political Analysis Dossier, Programming and Presentation

Goal: Complete a final political cinema project ready for Unga Learn, CineMap, Shot Atlas, CineUbuntu or festival use.

2 reading sections2 quiz questions1 resources
Not startedOpen lesson
View module Analyze circulation, platforms, archives and censorship, then complete a final political cinema project.