Black Girl (La Noire de…)

France/Senegal, 1966. Director Ousmane Sembène. 80min.

Racism, colonial oppression, and injustice were recurring themes for Senegalese author Ousmane Sembène, who turned from literature to cinema in the 1960s to reach a broader audience. Mbissine Thérèse Diop plays Diouna, a black nanny to a French family. Initially lured by a more glamorous life (symbolised by second-hand fashion received from her boss and a promise of a shopping trip), she is brought from Dakar to the south of France, into the alien world of an airless apartment where memories of her heritage are played out against the backdrop of a repressive world ruled by status and race. Sembène’s first feature film, Black Girl received much critical attention and won the prestigious Grand Prix Jean Vigo.

With Mbissine Thérèse Diop.

Past screenings

Wearing Time: Past, Present, Future, Dream – London
Tuesday 14 March 2017, 18:30 | The Hoxton, Holborn
Introduced by Karen Alexander. Screened alongside As Dreams Are Made Of... (1965).

Wearing Time: Past, Present, Future, Dream – New York
Saturday 14 April 2018, 15:00 | Museum of the Moving Image