In Defense of African Film Studies

As is customary with the celebration of a jubilee in the history of an organization, reflection is often centered around memory, the current state of affairs, and proposing changes or corrections to improve the organization. The fiftieth anniversary of the Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO) at its twenty-sixth edition provides a timely forum not only to celebrate achievements of the festival in promoting African cinema, but more importantly to reflect on critical discourse that shapes the creative process, reception, and dissemination of African visual media. Very often, funding and distribution challenges facing African cinema have eclipsed the debate or long-overdue attention on African film studies. So, as part of the three-volume historical collection by Black Camera on FESPACO and the history of African cinema, this contribution briefly examines the subject of African film studies now that the fanfare of the festivities has faded from our memories and the COVID-19 pandemic has brought the world to a halt.

The underlying idea of this article is to argue for how African screen media could be (re)imagined through several initiatives such as fostering a robust African film studies, incorporating more critical studies into the training of audiovisual storytellers, and diversifying outlets for the production and dissemination of critical knowledge on African cinema. Specifically, this article is about how to move African film studies from the margins of the larger field of film and media studies globally, and also to advocate for a more vibrant expression and presence on the continent. To some extent, the piece builds on the conversation by a Black Camera dossier in 2016 on the marginalization of African media studies globally.

Relations between African Film Industry and Critical Studies

Critical studies and technical training should not be mutually exclusive, as it has unfortunately appeared to be the practice for many years on the continent. Since the 2000s, the creation of film schools across Sub-Saharan Africa has helped address the lack of locally trained technicians, but we cannot say with confidence that critical studies of African film have grown at the same pace on the continent. Over the last fifteen years, governmental and private entities in Africa have developed several initiatives to address the structural challenges facing African screen arts, especially in production and distribution. These initiatives concern the creation of film schools to train local technicians and the next generation of filmmakers: Imagine Institute in Burkina Faso, Institut Supérieur des Métiers de l'Audiovisuel in Benin, Blue Nile Film and Television Academy in Ethiopia, Kenya Film School, and the master's degree program in Documentaire de Création at Université Gaston Berger in Senegal.

The training of local technical talent and the expansion of distribution circuits have marked key junctures in the development of African screen arts, but the gaps between theory and practice and between critical studies and technical expertise have never been so far apart. Too often, the curriculum at these film schools is built around production courses or modules. The creation and dissemination of scholarship on African screen media should be given more attention, with the ultimate goal of developing a vibrant field of African film and media studies.

As for circulation of moving images, transnational media corporations and several film festivals—sub-regional and international in scope—have been created to expand African film distribution circuits. These developments in the industry have been the subject of numerous scholarly investigations. For example, Moradewun Adejunmobi¹ spoke about the televisual turn of African film distribution, and Olivier Barlet² uses the term "multiple screens" to describe the proliferation of distribution outlets thanks to digital technology breakthroughs. Computers, tablets, and smartphones have revolutionized media content delivery and consumption patterns. It is in this context of the digital technology revolution that transnational media corporations (such as M-Net's Africa Magic channels; Africable; Abidjan-based A+, a subsidiary of Canal+; and the many private local TV stations throughout African countries) are (re)shaping the landscape of contemporary African cinema. As I have argued elsewhere, the corporate intervention in the production and distribution of content (iROKOtv, China...