Black Girl

It’s sixty years since Senegalese filmmaker and novelist Ousmane Sembène made his debut with Black Girl (La noire de…). Through this portrait of a young Senegalese woman trying her luck in Antibes, Sembène reveals how ossified colonial patterns persist. Restored in 4K. Sembène – also a celebrated novelist in his home country, Senegal – made use of a seemingly simple plot for his black-and-white feature debut. Young Senegalese woman Diouana (M’Bissine Thérèse Diop) sets off for France, to work for a married couple in Antibes. She hopes to escape poverty, and is looking forward to a more cosmopolitan life. But she soon finds out that life in the couple’s small apartment is a prison. The couple treat her as a servant who must be on call 24/7 – Diouana is denied a