NÉGRITUDE

Credits

Name: NÉGRITUDE

Country: USA, Frankreich, Deutschland, Portugal

Year of publication: 2015

Format: DCP

Language : OF m. dt. UT

Duration: 59 Minuten

Direction: Diawara, Manthia

Camera: Blerald, Serge; Parada, Edgardo

Editing: Khalil, Adam; Langlois, France

Sound: Amkpa, Awam

Abstract

For NÉGRITUDE, director Manthia Diawara has re-arranged archive footage to create a fictitious dialogue between Wole Soyinka and Léopold Senghor, one of the founders of the Négritude movement, who was later President of Senegal for two decades. Négritude emerged in the 1930s as a philosophical and political movement developed by African intellectuals who studied in France and called for a greater recognition of African history and culture. They paved the way for anti-colonial movements, despite some of their theories (such as Senghor’s claim of a divide between black emotion and white rationality) being heavily criticised by others, including Nigerian Nobel Prize winner Wole Soyinka. As the cleverly collaged film shows, Soyinka did in fact have similar stances to the proponents of Négritude in terms of their views on nationalism, racism, religious intolerance and European xenophobia.