Film: Writer Vamba Sherif on Imgages of Africa

Writer and film critic Serif tells us, via excerpts, about filmmakers like Sembène, Haroun and Sissako

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Information

Date and time Friday 17 January 2020 21:20 tot 22:10 uur
Location Filmhuis - zaal 1



In this film programme with moderator Gerlinda Heywegen writer Vamba Sherif talks about the work of Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembène, who is seen as a key figure in post-colonial African cinema.
Sherif about Sembène: "His films were a way not only to decolonise the African spirit but also to point out and criticize the relationship between Africa and the West with a keen eye. The excerpts are from the documentary made by Kenyan literary and social activist Ngūgi wa Thiong'o, whose work plays a central role in this edition of Winternachten, about Sèmbene's life. Furthermore, clips from films such as Abouna (2002) by the Chadian filmmaker Mahamat-Saleh Haroun and Med Hondo's Soleil Ō will be shown.
This programme is followed by the screening of the film choice of Sherif, Heremakono by Abderrahmane Sissako.

Line-up

Gerlinda Heywegen

(1968) is a programmer, writer, organizer, lecturer and podcaster, mainly on the subject of film and often in combination with literature. Koning Film is the collective of speakers on film that she established. Heywegen's books include The Other Director, about directors of photography; she collaborated with Frans Westra on Passie voor Cinema (Passion for Cinema), which highlights four decades of film screenings in the Netherlands; and she edited and wrote for the film magazine Skrien. Currently, she writes regularly for the websites of the Netherlands Society of Cinematographers and literary magazine Elders.
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Vamba Sherif

(Liberia, 1973) is a novelist, essayist, journalist and film critic. His debut novel Land of the Fathers (1999) is partly based on his grandmother's stories and deals with the clash between slaves returning from the US and other Liberians. The novel The Black Napoleon (2015) portrays Samori Touré, who founded the Wasulu-empire in western Africa in the 19th century. His journalism, including film reviews, appears in publications such as The New York Times, Trouw and One World. Together with  Ebissé Rouw he compiled Zwart (Black, 2018), a collection of stories by Afro-European authors from the Low Countries. Ongekende liefde (Unprecedented Love), in which he tells his life story to his ten-year-old daughter Bendu, was published in 2021. Sherif's historical novel The Emperor’s Son (2023) follows Zaiwulo, a young prodigy who trains under sage Talata of the Haidarah family in Musadu. Entangled in the intrigues of Emperor Samori, the 'Black Napoleon,' Zaiwulo matures into a formidable soldier.
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