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Film and Media Studies

African women of the screen at the digital turn

Profile image of Beti EllersonBeti Ellerson

2015, Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media

https://doi.org/10.33178/ALPHA.10.09
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15 pages

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Abstract

When I conceptualised the Sisters of the Screen project as a book and film, I envisioned an “imagined community” of kindred spirits, a “sisterhood” where the screen was their ultimate point of convergence. The screen is where their images are read; whether it’s a movie screen, television set, video monitor, computer screen, tablet or mobile phone, for a director, producer, film festival organiser, actor, critic or spectator the screen is the ultimate site where the moving image is viewed, interpreted and understood. With the phenomenal development of screen culture as a result of the digital turn, I return to the “screen” as a conceptual framework that integrates screen media, and their associated devices and technologies; hence, the concept “African women of the screen” as the organising principle. This report examines the impact of the digital turn on African women of the screen, how their cinematic gaze has evolved, developed and transformed with the evolution of new technologies...

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References (31)

  1. Most are included in Ellerson's Sisters of the Screen: Women of Africa on Film, Video and Television. Works Cited Amarteifio, Nicole. An African City. YouTube, n.d. Web. 1 Feb. 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/user/AnAfricanCity/featured>.
  2. The Art of Ama Ata Aidoo. Dir. Yaba Badoe. Fadoa Films, 2014. Film.
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  8. Ellerson, Beti, ed. Sisters of the Screen: Women of Africa on Film, Video and Television. New Jersey: Africa World Press, 2000. Print.
  9. ---, dir. Sisters of the Screen: African Women in the Cinema. Aquarius Visual & Sound Arts, 2002. Film.
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  20. Phoba, Mbeka Monique. "A Conversation with Monique Mbeka Phoba by Beti Ellerson." 13 Dec. 2009. Web. 27 Aug. 2015. <http://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.ie/2009/12/conversation-with-monique-mbeka- phoba.html >.
  21. Radloff, Jennifer. "Editorial: Feminist Engagements with 21st-Century Communications Technology." Feminist Africa. Dec. 2013. Web. 23 Feb. 2016. <http://agi.ac.za/sites/agi.ac.za/files/editorial-_feminist_engagements_with_21st- century_communications_technol.pdf>.
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  28. Un Mari pour deux soeurs. Dir. Marie-Louise Asseu. Omongo TV2. YouTube. 5 Jan. 2012. Web. 22 Feb. 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZTtEW6oyCA&list=PLNzR49L8HAyi8JHG6dT M4mUgNurCD6W32>.
  29. Zimmerman, Debra. "Debra Zimmerman and Women Make Movies." CMSI: Center for Media and Social Impact. n.d. Web. 1 Feb. 2016. <http://www.cmsimpact.org/media- impact/pull-focus/debra-zimmerman-and-women-make-movies>.
  30. Suggested Citation Ellerson, Beti. "African Women of the Screen at the Digital Turn." Special Report. Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media 10 (Winter 2015-16). Web. ISSN: 2009-4078.
  31. Beti Ellerson is founder and director of the Centre for the Study and Research of African Women in Cinema, which features the African Women in Cinema Blog. She was the executive producer and host of public television series Reels of Colour (1997-2000), and director of Sisters of the Screen: African Women in the Cinema (2002). Her publications include the book, Sisters of the Screen: Women of Africa on Film, Video and Television (Africa World Press, 2000) and recent articles in Journal of African Cinemas and Feminist Africa, among others. In addition to serving as president of the Diaspora Jury at the 2013 Fespaco, she was keynote speaker at the 2012 Paris Symposium on 40 years of African women francophone filmmakers. Dr. Ellerson lectures on topics in visual culture, African cinema, women studies and Africana studies.

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Related topics

  • Sociology
  • African Studies
  • Feminist Theory
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  • African women
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