Contemporary African Cinemas: New genres, aesthetics and themes

The contemporary era shows a proliferation of film production from all over the African continent, from the development of Nollywood to the emergence of industries in countries which have had very little film production in the past.

In this talk I will look at some of the most significant developments in narrative styles, genres, themes and aesthetics in contemporary African cinemas. Topics include the low-budget video-film industries spearheaded by Nollywood; new African documentaries that move beyond the NGO-funded development or wildlife documentaries; the use of digital technologies in African film production and dissemination; the rise of new genres such as sci fi, fantasy and film noir; the growth of diaspora African cinema telling stories inflected by experiences of displacement and exile; and new cinematic developments in regions such as North and East Africa. These new developments will be discussed alongside an understanding of the historical and industrial development of African cinemas in the post-colonial era.

Lizelle Bisschoff is a researcher in African film and the founder of the Africa in Motion (AiM) Film Festival, an annual African film festival taking place in Scotland, founded in 2006 (www.africa-in-motion.org.uk). Lizelle holds a PhD in African cinema from the University of Stirling in Scotland, in which she researched the role of women in African film. She has published widely on sub-Saharan African cinema and regularly attends African film festivals worldwide as speaker and jury member. She is currently a lecturer in Film and Television Studies at the University of Glasgow, where she teaches African cinema and continues her research on classic and contemporary African film.

Speaker: Lizelle Bisschoff (University of Glasgow)

Part of the Africa Talks Seminar Series Autumn 2017.

All welcome. 

• Full seminar programme