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Black Girl



Ousmane Sembène was one of the greatest and most groundbreaking filmmakers who ever lived, as well as the most internationally renowned African director of the twentieth century—but his name deserves to be better known in the rest of the world. He made his feature debut in 1966 with the brilliant and stirring Black Girl. Sembène, who was also an acclaimed novelist in his native Senegal, transforms a deceptively simple plot—about a young Senegalese woman who moves to France to work for a wealthy white couple and finds that life in their small apartment becomes a prison, both figuratively and literally—into a complexly layered critique of the lingering colonialist mind-set of a supposedly postcolonial world. Featuring a moving central performance by M'Bissine Thérèse Diop, Black Girl is a harrowing human drama as well as a radical political statement—and one of the essential films of the 1960s.

SPECIAL FEATURES

• New 4K digital restoration, undertaken by The Film Foundation's World Cinema Project in collaboration with the Cineteca di Bologna, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• 4K restoration of the short film Borom sarret, director Ousmane Sembène's acclaimed 1963 debut
• New interviews with scholars Manthia Diawara and Samba Gadjigo
• Excerpt from a 1966 broadcast of JT 20h, featuring Sembène accepting the Prix Jean Vigo for Black Girl
• New interview with actor M'Bissine Thérèse Diop
• Trailer
• New English subtitle translation
• PLUS: An essay by critic Ashley Clark
• More!

hollis wrote:Further confirmation of Ousmane Sembene's Black Girl, playing at BAM in May:

New 4k restorations restored from the original camera and sound negatives. A Janus Films release.

Really excited about the Sembene

If Criterion really does get around to releasing Black Girl I hope their extras are as strong as those on the BFI disc. That documentary on Sembene sounds particularly essential.

hollis wrote:Further confirmation of Ousmane Sembene's Black Girl, playing at BAM in May:

New 4k restorations restored from the original camera and sound negatives. A Janus Films release.

Interesting, as this is apparently a WCP restoration.

dwk wrote:Peter Becker did a Q&A last month at the Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival, mostly stuff we've heard already (the history of Criterion, the how they work, etc.) but at the end he said that they have acquired seven of Ousmane Sembene's films. He also mentioned that it took ten years to get the rights to the Satyajit Ray films and seven years to get the rights to A Brighter Summer Day.

It'll be interesting to see how CC releases Ousmane Sembene's films. I do expect Black Girl to get it's own release but after that who knows. Will Borom sarrett get released with Black Girl like the BFI version? Will there be a box set or eclipse set?

I've been waiting for the BFI blu to drop in price but it really hasn't so might as well wait for the Criterion version.

BTW... New Yorker Films has 9 Sembene's films listed on their dusty website, Black Girl, Borom sarrett (short), Mandabi, Emitaï, Camp de Thiaroye, Ceddo, Guelwaar, Moolaadé and Xala.

He mentioned that Black Girl and Borom sarrett are coming out this month, so I assume those two will be paired together on Blu-ray. He also did not seem too sure on the exact number of Ousmane Sembene's films (he qualified the statement with either "I believe" or "I think" before saying seven, so it might be all nine listed on New Yorker Films' site.)

dwk wrote:He mentioned that Black Girl and Borom sarrett are coming out this month

Meaning it will get announced this month?

I would be happy if the Sembene films are made available on Filmstruck for the time being.

FrauBlucher wrote: Meaning it will get announced this month?

Pretty sure he meant theatrically (last week Criterion was screening the 4K restoration of Black Girl at their office for critics), but he may have meant announce.

Yes. Janus added Black Girl to it's site over the weekend.

For anyone who hasn't seen the film, there are spoilers starting with the 4th to last question ("Do you see Diouana’s story as simply the story of an individual, or as an allegory or a metaphor?").

In an earlier interview, Diop discussed some of the difficulties she faced due to her visibility in Sembene's film, including being shunned by her own mother.

I saw Black Girl (preceded by Borom sarret) at the Cleveland Cinematheque. The 4K DCP presentation was outstanding. I know Eclair has taken some heat of late but they've done well here.

I found the film to be quite accessible and not heavy-handed. Although at its core, politics and post-colonialism aside, I think the narrative is a harrowing human drama. The short was quite good, too. It was filmed almost as a pseudo-documentary and serves to illustrate the poverty and joblessness in Senegal.

ShellOilJunior wrote:I saw Black Girl (preceded by Borom sarret) at the Cleveland Cinematheque. The 4K DCP presentation was outstanding. I know Eclair has taken some heat of late but they've done well here.

The reviews for the BFI bluray are excellent.

I just watched Sembene's Mandabi. It was the New Yorker DVD. This will look great once Criterion gives it a 2k or 4k restoration. Not sure how Criterion will release this film (part of a box set or/and standalone), but this should be a terrific addition to the Collection.

The film itself was terrific. I liked it just as much as I liked Black Girl and Moolaade. I'm looking forward to viewing the rest of Sembene's films.

Check out Xala if you can which New Yorker also put out. It's easily my favorite film by him and easily my favorite anything on Post-colonial life.

Absolutely over the moon about this release. I've only seen Sembene's Moolaade and am eagerly awaiting this one. Does anyone know if Criterion has any more African films in the pipe?

I wonder if there any major differences between the BFI Blu and this

The films will certainly be from the same restorations, so it depends on what extras you prefer. On paper, I'd give the edge to the BFI for its hour-long Sembene portrait, but I haven't watched it myself yet.

Since I'm Europe bound and until we know what more means the BFI does sound better, was just wondering if they are the same restoration

It strains credulity to the limit to believe that there's more than one 4K restoration!

Well you never know regarding all the specifics that go through a Blu ray production(the terminology which I can't remember i.e gamma etc)

dda1996a wrote:I wonder if there any major differences between the BFI Blu and this

Well, the CC description doesn't say if the version with the color sequence will be included, but then that list of features suggests it isn't complete.

htom wrote:

dda1996a wrote:I wonder if there any major differences between the BFI Blu and this

Well, the CC description doesn't say if the version with the color sequence will be included, but then that list of features suggests it isn't complete.

I'll be hanging on to my BFI edition unless I hear Criterion is including that 60-minute Sembene documentary.