Body of Work: Sarah Maldoror

Thursday, March 23rd and Friday, March 24th @ 7:00 PM

Respectfully regarded as the matriarch of African cinema, Scribe Video Center is pleased to present three films by Sarah Maldoror(1929-2020). A filmmaker of Guadeloupean and French descent, Maldoror is considered to be the first woman of color to make a feature film in Africa and is a crucial figure within world and revolutionary cinema. Her prolific body of work spans decades, and includes more than two dozen films. The films in this two-night series showcase Maldoror’s dedication to the camera as a tool for radical, feminist liberation. 

“I play a cultural role as filmmaker. What interests me is to research films about African history, because our history has been written by others, not by us.”

Thursday, March 23 7:00 PM

Sambizanga (1972, Angola, France, 97 min)

This revolutionary bombshell by Sarah Maldoror chronicles the awakening of Angola’s independence movement. Based on a true story, Sambizanga follows a young woman as she makes her way from the outskirts of Luanda toward the city’s center looking for her husband after his arrest by the Portuguese authorities—an incident that will ultimately help to ignite a national uprising. Featuring a cast of nonprofessionals—many of whom were themselves involved in anticolonial resistance—this landmark work of political cinema honors the essential roles of women, as well as the hardships they endure, in the global struggle for liberation.

"Of the forty or so films made by Maldoror, Sambizanga is most significant for being one of the first full-length features directed by a woman on the African continent and for its attention to both the beauty and politics of resistance." - Carina Yervasi. African Studies Review