THE FILM FESTIVAL
The objective of this festival is to research and celebrate African cinema from a feminist angle. The 2023 edition celebrates the work of two pioneering Senegalese filmmakers: Safi Faye and Khady Sylla.
This feminist cinema festival-symposium, the first of its kind in Senegal, will be held from June 16 to 18 in Gorée Island, Senegal. It will be organized over three days in the form of a retreat with a carefully selected small group.
The symposium-festival will combine film screenings with academic-style presentations and debates to use action-research and participatory pedagogies to contribute to popular feminist education by promoting the work of these two female filmmakers and writers, and others such as directors Mame Woury Thioubou, Diabou Bessane, and Mariama Sylla, all feminists who are still unknown to the general Senegalese public.
VISION AND OBJECTIVE
CINEFEMFEST is much more than a festival in the traditional sense of the term. It is unique in its genre in that it tries to research, analyze and celebrate the feminist significance of the films selected. In other words, CINEFEMFEST strives to use these films produced by African feminists as popular education tool to promote gender equality in the direction of greater societal transformation in Africa. The feminist dimension is important in the sense that a film is not in itself feminist, or committed, unless its author openly claims it. However, films, through the lens their introduce, can have a distinctive and important educational or awareness-raising significance. In this, CINEFEMFEST, in being a festival where we show films, a symposium where we produce research and articulate scientific communications on films and a benevolent space for exchanges and networking between different profiles ( artists and cultural activists and actors, researchers, political decision-makers, journalists, members of government or the private sector) stand out from what has been done so far. Ultimately, CINEFEMFEST goes beyond a festival that centres the theme of ‘Women & cinema’ : it combines the celebration of relevant films made by Africans with research-action, hence its name : ‘The African Feminist Film and Research Festival’ or in Wolof: Gëstu Naataal i Jigeen . The multidisciplinary profile of the CINEFEMFEST team is a great asset, going in the direction of including perspectives from the social sciences and humanities, art and communication studies.
The 2023 edition of the CINEFEMFEST symposium-festival has a theme: ‘Legacies’ in that it celebrates the work of Senegalese filmmakers Safi Faye and Khady Sylla, pioneers of African cinema, both deceased. The festival, which will start on the morning of June 16 and end on the evening of June 18 , will zoom in on the gigantic work of these two immensely talented filmmakers, who are still very little known despite their phenomenal filmography and which constitute a rich legacy for African feminists. The CINEFEMFEST symposium-festival will include film screenings and will be punctuated by panels and discussions on the work of these two authors. The event is held on the island of Gorée, in partnership with Gorée Cinéma. We know we can count on your presence and your contributions to make this festival a great moment of exchange and sharing around cinema made and seen by feminists.
Welcome, Dalal jam, Bienvenue
Rama & Team
