Tribute to “father of African cinema”

Africa lost one of its premier filmmakers with the passing away of Ousmane Sembene, the “father of African cinema”, on 9 June 2007. Messages of condolence have been pouring into the office of the Pan African Federation of Filmmakers (FEPACI), an institution that Sembene co-founded in 1969. “The light for African cinema shines brighter now as Sembene joins Paulin Vierra, Lionel Ngakane, Djibril Diop Mambety, Henri Duparc and all the other great film-makers who have departed to the beyond and who leave us to continue making cinema that talks to its people and keep our conscience alert and resonant,” says Seipati Bulane Hopa, secretary general of FEPACI.