OUR ORIGIN
Ousmane Sembene on Film as Political Activism
“I was 40 when I first realized the potential impact of cinema. Cinema is like an ongoing political rally with the audience... I was driven to film as a more effective tool for my activism. But if you ask my personal preference, I prefer literature to cinema. But in our time, literature is a luxury. To summarize history using our oral tradition, cinema is an important tool for us. Of all the arts, it's the form of expression that's most accessible and appealing to a large audience.
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African Film Society is a new UIC student organization that seeks to combat the powerful cultural imperialism that negatively distorts African diasporic representation in modern-day media. Through regular film screenings and subsequent dialogue, we seek to counteract the stereotypical, prevailing narratives about African people across the diaspora. We believe that film, as an easily accessible visual medium, is one of the most effective ways to deconstruct anachronistic paradigms in media that misrepresent Africans of American, Caribbean, Latin American, European, and African nationalities. Ultimately, we hope to broaden understanding of the depth and complexity of African diasporic cultures through powerful narratives in film.