lectures

La Noire de… at 60. Reflecting on the life and legacy of an African classic

Cambridge University

November 12

Lady Mitchell Hall

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Ousmane Sembène’s La Noire de…/Black Girl (1966) was the first feature-length made by a Black African director. It premiered at the First World Festival of Black Arts in Dakar (April 1966) and won the Prix Jean Vigo at Cannes the same year. A searing critique of neocolonialism and antiblackness set between Senegal and France, La Noire de… follows a young Senegalese woman named Diouana (played by M’Bissine Thérèse Diop, b. 1949) as she moves from Dakar to Antibes on the Côte d’Azur to work as a nanny for a white French family. In France, Diouana finds herself imprisoned in her employers’ apartment; she is mistreated and subjected to pervasive racism. Her final act is both harrowing and powerful. The film was adapted from Sembène’s eponymous short story, first published in 1961 in the journal Présence Africaine (nº 36), itself inspired by a real-life event reported in the newspaper Le Nice Matin in 1958. Widely celebrated as one of the most important films in the history of African cinemas, La Noire de… remains urgently contemporary today. In anticipation of the 60th anniversary of La Noire de… (2026), this three-day film series and international symposium brings together filmmakers, scholars, curators, activists and artists to reflect on the life and legacy of this landmark film and celebrate early African cinemas. A series of film screenings and discussions with Alain Sembène (son of Ousmane Sembène), Stéphane Vieyra (son of Paulin Vieyra) and filmmakers Moussa Sène Absa, Manthia Diawara, Samba Gadjigo, and Johanna Makabi coincides with a one-day scholarly workshop.