Yamustafa!

"As far as I am concerned, Africa is a woman." Ousmane Sembene. “When you look at people’s struggle in my culture their heroism is composed of small deeds that in themselves are seemingly insignificant.” Ousmane Sembene. Article by MMA There was a story told by Mr Manthia Diawara, that revealed how the visions of an artist overlap with real time events. It went like this: Ousmane Sembène liked to tell about his travels across Africa in the’60s. One day after he had finished showing his film “Money Order” in a small town in Cameroon he was approached by a local policeman, whose attention made him a little nervous. “Where did you get that story?” the officer wanted to know. Mr. Sembène replied that the plot, which chronicles the chaotic and corrupting effects of money from France on a Senegalese family, was his own invention. “But it happened to me,” the policeman said. Ousmane Sembene courtesy of the Guardian Sembene was the kind of person poised to have hi...

Glimpses of the Close-up Recently, Tom Hooper who directed the film adaptation of the musical Les Miserables, came under the fire of negative and almost chastising criticism for the way he conducted his cinematography. The major blame was that he, not only used the close-up too often, but had his characters break the fourth wall by looking directly at the camera! Yet the movie went on to be nominated for Best Picture 2013. Tom Hooper, the very director accused of breaking the basics of cinematography, was the winner of the 2010 Oscar as Best Director for his movie The King's Speech . Hooper gave a simple reaction to the fierce criticism. The close-up, he said, would better serve the emotional purpose behind it. To achieve intense attention from the audience. But no comment from him on whether he made too many close-up shots or not is to be found, as yet! It is common artistic knowledge now, that the close-up is only one type of shot. That the long and medium shots are the mains...