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Major African Filmmakers

Canon, Method, Influence, Diasporas and New Generations

This course studies major African filmmakers through a critical and plural method. It examines pioneers, independence-era counter-gazes, modernists, poets, diasporic and transnational filmmakers, contemporary voices, new generations, canon formation and programming. The course avoids a closed pantheon and teaches learners how to build sourced filmmaker profiles, compare works, question canons and prepare public-facing programs.

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 the idea of a major African filmmaker with critical caution.
  • Study biography, filmography, context, recurring forms and historical influence.
  • Compare pioneers, militant filmmakers, modernists, diasporic voices and contemporary generations.
  • Question canon formation and build more plural filmmaker corpora.
  • Create filmmaker profiles, Shot Atlas notes, CineMap entries and final programming projects.

Skills acquired

  • Filmmaker profiling
  • Canon critique
  • Comparative film analysis
  • Programming rationale
  • Shot and location-based interpretation
  • Curatorial presentation

Audience

Who this course is for

Learners who want to study African cinema through filmmakers and methods.
Curators, programmers and researchers building filmmaker profiles or retrospectives.
Filmmakers and guild members seeking reference points for style, politics and production practice.
Festival teams preparing debates, screenings and filmmaker-focused educational programs.

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

How to Study a Major African Filmmaker

The opening module defines the term major filmmaker through canon, influence, biography, filmography, context, method and plural corpus building.

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Duration

3 hours

Lessons

3

Completed

0/3

Module progress0%
0160 min

Lesson 1

Major Filmmaker: Canon, Influence and Critical Caution

Goal: Define the idea of a major filmmaker while questioning canon, visibility, influence and exclusion.

2 reading sections2 quiz questions1 resources
Not startedOpen lesson
0260 min

Lesson 2

Biography, Filmography, Context and Method

Goal: Build a filmmaker profile that connects life, works, historical context and analysis method.

2 reading sections2 quiz questions1 resources
Not startedOpen lesson
0360 min

Lesson 3

Building a Plural Corpus of African Filmmakers

Goal: Construct a filmmaker corpus that balances regions, eras, genders, diasporas, forms and industries.

2 reading sections2 quiz questions1 resources
Not startedOpen lesson
View module Build a rigorous method for studying major African filmmakers without reducing them to fame, awards or a single film.

Module 2

Pioneers, Independence and Counter-Gazes

This module studies Paulin Soumanou Vieyra, Ousmane Sembène, Sarah Maldoror and Med Hondo as filmmakers who opened ways of seeing, transmitting and contesting colonial or postcolonial power.

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Duration

3 hours

Lessons

3

Completed

0/3

Module progress0%
0160 min

Lesson 1

Paulin Soumanou Vieyra: Pioneer, Historian and Transmitter

Goal: Understand Vieyra as a pioneer, filmmaker, historian and transmitter of African cinema memory.

2 reading sections2 quiz questions1 resources
Not startedOpen lesson
0260 min

Lesson 2

Ousmane Sembène: Popular Auteur, Language and Postcolonial Critique

Goal: Analyze Sembène through popular address, language, social critique and postcolonial politics.

2 reading sections2 quiz questions1 resources
Not startedOpen lesson
0360 min

Lesson 3

Sarah Maldoror and Med Hondo: Militant Cinema, Diaspora and Anticolonialism

Goal: Compare Maldoror and Hondo through militant cinema, diaspora, anticolonialism and formal invention.

2 reading sections2 quiz questions1 resources
Not startedOpen lesson
View module Study early major filmmakers through pioneering work, popular authorship, language, militancy, diaspora and anticolonial counter-gazes.

Module 3

Modernists, Poets and Inventors of Forms

This module focuses on Djibril Diop Mambéty, Souleymane Cissé, Safi Faye and Jean-Pierre Dikongué-Pipa as inventors of forms.

Not started

Duration

3 hours

Lessons

3

Completed

0/3

Module progress0%
0160 min

Lesson 1

Djibril Diop Mambéty: Modernism, Editing, Sound and Wandering

Goal: Analyze Mambéty through modernism, fragmented editing, sound, wandering and urban desire.

2 reading sections2 quiz questions1 resources
Not startedOpen lesson
0260 min

Lesson 2

Souleymane Cissé: Myth, Light, Politics and Transmission

Goal: Study Cissé through myth, light, political conflict, knowledge and transmission.

2 reading sections2 quiz questions1 resources
Not startedOpen lesson
0360 min

Lesson 3

Safi Faye and Jean-Pierre Dikongué-Pipa: Rural Speech, Documentary and Social Critique

Goal: Compare Faye and Dikongué-Pipa through rural speech, documentary practice and social critique.

2 reading sections2 quiz questions1 resources
Not startedOpen lesson
View module Study filmmakers who reinvent cinematic form through modernism, myth, light, rural speech, documentary and social critique.

Module 4

Diasporas, Memory and Transnational Cinemas

This module studies Haile Gerima, Abderrahmane Sissako and Mati Diop as filmmakers who work across diasporas, memory, borders and return.

Not started

Duration

3 hours

Lessons

3

Completed

0/3

Module progress0%
0160 min

Lesson 1

Haile Gerima: Diaspora, Slavery and Independent Black Memory

Goal: Study Gerima through independent Black cinema, slavery memory, diaspora and self-determined production.

2 reading sections2 quiz questions1 resources
Not startedOpen lesson
0260 min

Lesson 2

Abderrahmane Sissako: Exile, Borders, Waiting and Transnational Politics

Goal: Analyze Sissako through exile, borders, waiting, silence and transnational politics.

2 reading sections2 quiz questions1 resources
Not startedOpen lesson
0360 min

Lesson 3

Mati Diop: Return, Ghosts, Youth and Restitution

Goal: Study Diop through return, ghosts, youth, migration, gender and restitution.

2 reading sections2 quiz questions1 resources
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View module Analyze diasporic and transnational filmmakers through memory, return, exile, borders, ghosts and restitution.

Module 5

Contemporary Filmmakers and New Generations

This module studies Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, Alain Gomis, Mati Diop, Rungano Nyoni, Wanuri Kahiu and new generations.

Not started

Duration

3 hours

Lessons

3

Completed

0/3

Module progress0%
0160 min

Lesson 1

Mahamat-Saleh Haroun: Chad, War, Silence and Female Solidarity

Goal: Analyze Haroun through Chad, war, silence, moral tension and female solidarity.

2 reading sections2 quiz questions1 resources
Not startedOpen lesson
0260 min

Lesson 2

Alain Gomis, Mati Diop, Rungano Nyoni: Cities, Music, Ghosts and Taboos

Goal: Compare three contemporary filmmakers through city, music, ghostliness, satire, taboo and social imagination.

2 reading sections2 quiz questions1 resources
Not startedOpen lesson
0360 min

Lesson 3

Wanuri Kahiu and New Generations: Joy, Queer Cinema, Censorship, Platforms and Futures

Goal: Study new generations through joy, queer cinema, censorship, platforms and future imaginaries.

2 reading sections2 quiz questions1 resources
Not startedOpen lesson
View module Study contemporary African filmmakers through war, silence, cities, music, ghosts, taboos, joy, queer cinema, censorship, platforms and future audiences.

Module 6

Canon, Programming and Final Project

The final module asks who becomes a major filmmaker, how festivals and platforms shape visibility, and how learners can build final projects for Unga's ecosystem.

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Duration

3 hours

Lessons

3

Completed

0/3

Module progress0%
0160 min

Lesson 1

Critical Canon: Who Becomes a Major Filmmaker?

Goal: Diagnose how canons select major filmmakers and identify missing voices, regions and forms.

2 reading sections2 quiz questions1 resources
Not startedOpen lesson
0260 min

Lesson 2

Programming African Filmmakers: Festivals, Archives, Platforms and Audiences

Goal: Design a filmmaker program that accounts for audiences, archive access, rights, platforms and public framing.

2 reading sections2 quiz questions1 resources
Not startedOpen lesson
0360 min

Lesson 3

Final Project: Corpus, Filmmaker Profile, CineMap, Shot Atlas and Presentation

Goal: Complete a final project that translates filmmaker study into a publishable Unga artifact.

2 reading sections2 quiz questions1 resources
Not startedOpen lesson
View module Build a critical filmmaker canon, program African filmmakers responsibly and complete a final public-facing project.