The effect of colonialism on the continent of Africa was to produce a handful of sharp demarcations that deeply affected how the African world perceived and expressed political and cultural activity. The sub-regions consisted of The Middle East and Egypt; North Africa including Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia; the black French-speaking area; the black English-speaking countries; and the white-dominated South. These historically produced divides help to convey how Africa, unlike Latin America had been unable to create a substantial cinema by the 1960s. As for black Africa in particular; only the French-speaking regions, with their ready access to France's filmmaking legacy had spawned any directors of note.
Egyptian films had been widely screened throughout the Arab world since the 1930s. A fair portion being escapist fare comedies and low-budget entertainment melodramas. 1952's Revolution would eventually lead to significant changes. In the year 1957, Nasser's government established the National Organization for the Cinema and in two years, a film school was set up. The Sixties would usher in the emergence of quality films, for example, Youssef Chahin's Saladin the Victorious (1963) which was Egypt's maiden epic-film, and Hussein Kamal's Al Mostahil (1965) and 1968's The Postman, while Shadi Abdel Salam's mysterious tale of mummy-robbers in early Twentieth century, Al -mummia (1969) broke away completely from earlier conventions.
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| Kamal's The Postman only had to ring once. |
Another factor which contributed to the reorientation of Arab cinema was the Algerian Revolution. As the Latin American experience, progressive cinema in Algeria was defined as an integral part of the Algerian cultural renaissance. The Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic set up a film committee in 1961 which became the Cinema Service. It made four films, including Chanderli and Mohammed Lakhdar Hamina's Djazairouna (1961) which was an historical overview of the country. Between the years 1962 and 1971, Algerian ' Cinema Moudjahid' was almost exclusively concerned with depicting the anti-colonial wars. There was also a major emphasis on high-budget co-created productions during the same period. Casbah Films, a private production company founded in 1961 by Yacef Saadi, a liberation leader and principal organizer of the battle of Algiers, partly financed major films by European directors such as Gillo Pontecorvo's La Battaglia di Algeri (Battle of Algiers,1966),
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| Mummy's the Word (Al-mummia,1969) |
But Algerian filmmakers did not limit their scope to the Algerian experience alone. Like the Cubans, they maintained close relations with other Third World struggles; for instance, Ahmed Rachedi's documentary compilation L'Aube des Dammes ( The Dawn of the Damned) presented a sharp critique of the European powers' multiple intervention in the African continent and the Third World in general. The focus on war films during this era was officially encouraged but young and budding filmmakers and audiences alike began to criticize the trend, scrutinizing these films for not dealing with such crucial questions as the status of women in an Algerian society, or the abuse of power. But it would not be until the agrarian revolution of 1971 which prompted a rethinking of political and cultural organization, that a new Algerian cinema emerged. It's vitality was underlined in 1975, when Mohammed Lakhdar Hamina's Chronicle of the Years of Embers won the the esteemed top prize at the Cannes film festival.