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Sembene! Photos

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Movie Info

Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembene, an African freedom fighter, uses stories as weapons.

Genre:

biography
Original Language:

English
Director:

Samba Gadjigo, Jason Silverman
Producer:

Samba Gadjigo, Jason Silverman
Writer:

Samba Gadjigo, Jason Silverman
Release Date (Streaming):

Feb 23, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA):

$28.1K
Runtime:

1h 22m

Cast & Crew

Ousmane Sembene

Mbissine Thérèse Diop

Samba Gadjigo
Director

Jason Silverman
Director

Samba Gadjigo
Screenwriter

Jason Silverman
Screenwriter

Show all Cast & Crew

Critic Reviews for Sembene!

All Critics (23) | Top Critics (12) | Fresh (21) | Rotten (2)

A useful and entertaining overview of Sembne's life and career

February 13, 2017 | Full Review…

Marjorie Baumgarten
Austin Chronicle
Majors in the Senegalese's trailblazing; most notably the fact that he was responsible for the first film shot by a black African.

October 6, 2016 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

Phil Hoad
Guardian
A richly crafted documentary that serves as an enlightening tribute to the filmmaker who masterfully tapped into the medium's wide-reaching socio-political potential.

November 26, 2015 | Full Review…

Michael Rechtshaffen
Los Angeles Times
For a filmmaker who believed in giving Africans their own voice, it seems appropriate to offer such an unvarnished portrait.

November 19, 2015 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

Vanessa H. Larson
Washington Post
Sembene! should be a major step in drawing attention back to a titan of world cinema, whose influence was never contained by the frame, or the screen.

November 9, 2015 | Full Review…

John Anderson
Thompson on Hollywood
Each time we see an image of Sembene with a camera in this documentary, it still feels like a revolutionary statement.

November 6, 2015 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

Matt Zoller Seitz
RogerEbert.com
The material is fascinating, particularly with Sembène the first African to make a film in Africa for an African audience.

April 19, 2019 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

Tori Brazier
One Room With A View
Sembene! is too dry and formal to be lovable, but it makes its point emphatically, paying tribute to a filmmaker whose pugnaciousness was both a gift and a curse.

February 28, 2019 | Rating: 6.5/10 | Full Review…

Bernard Boo
Way Too Indie
Interweaving animation, clips from feature films, photographs and archival footage, the film traces Sembene's amazing journey from WWII to international recognition as the "father of African film."

August 29, 2017 | Full Review…

Diane Carson
KDHX (St. Louis)
...honors the Senegalese novelist and director Ousmane Sembene, who is often called the father of African cinema,

April 6, 2016 | Rating: 6/10 | Full Review…

Sarah Boslaugh
Playback:stl
A rich, engaging portrait not only of Africa's great filmmaker, but also of the course (and necessity) of influence, including co-filmmaker Gadjigo's journey while discovering more about the life and work of his late friend.

March 5, 2016 | Full Review…

Ray Pride
Movie City News
Sembene! finds its own rhythm: part-retrospective, part-academic study in the spirit of the director's work.

February 20, 2016 | Rating: B | Full Review…

John Fink
The Film Stage