Established in 2008, the Centre for the Study and Research of African Women in Cinema serves as a repository for the dissemination of information on the research, study and documentation of African women in cinema and is an extensive network with links to relevant venues throughout the world.

The online center has as its objective, to provide a space for study and research of myriad topics relating to African women in cinema.

Please return often as new information is regularly added to the website.

The African Women in Cinema Blog serves as a public forum of the Center. Also visit the African Women in Cinema Vlog. Connect to the Center’s Facebook Page and Twitter for regular news feeds on relevant African Women in Cinema information.

Beti Ellerson, Director

The African Women in the Cinema Project

The African Women in the Cinema Project emerged out of my research on African women in visual culture, my desire to find a paradigm for reading images of and by African women, and my own work in videography and as a performance artist. I undertook this project on a Rockefeller Humanities Fellowship during the 1996-97 academic year. My objective was to make a critical inventory of the works, thoughts, and practices of African women in the various areas of the cinema. The research results culminated into the book and video documentary, Sisters of the Screen. I interviewed forty women who are featured in either the book of interviews or the video documentary though most are included in both. While this project does not include all African women of the image, it is a representation of the experiences of women spanning the continent. Women from the African Diaspora are included, specifically in the discussion related to African/African Diaspora relations. These voices give evidence of the myriad experiences and perspectives of women in the diverse regions of the continent, highlighting the plurality of African women’s cinemas.

Expanding the initial research, the project broadens to include the virtual Center for the Study and Research of African Women in Cinema, which features a Primer for African Women Cinema Studies, a guide to the film and book, Sisters of the Screen as well as a timeline, related links, and « voices » of African women in cinema from diverse sources. Moreover, it includes the ever expanding features of the Internet, Facebook pages, Youtube Channel (including Vimeo and Dailymotion, and Blog.

CONTACT

All questions are welcome. Suggestions, corrections and relevant information to add to the website are appreciated. Please send an email to: africanwomenincinema @ africanwomenincinema.org.

All inquiries and comments relevant to African Women in Cinema will follow with an appropriate response in a timely manner.