Synopsis

Black Girl tells the tale of Diounna, a young black Senegalese woman who eagerly accompanies her white employers back to France. But her new life in the West could not be any more different: previously employed as a nanny taking care of their three children, she is instead reduced to a sheer housemaid, embroiled in the domestic drudgery of cooking and cleaning in a tiny French apartment while deprived of her former creature comforts. Black Girl is accompanied by Sembène’s early 1963 short Borom Sarret—the first film made by an indigenous African. Borom Sarret explores a day in the life of a cart driver, who is continuously exploited by his customers as he transports people and goods through Dakar.

Both films were made a mere three years after Senegal gained independence, making Sembène’s films a timely portrayal of the irrevocable impact of colonialism on the lives of regular Senegalese men and women. For the protagonists in Black Girl and Borom Sarret, there is an uncompromising, poignant realism in their universal—yet ultimately, futile—struggle for autonomy and assertion of personal identity. In honour of the 10th anniversary of Sembène’s passing, the double-bill will be presented in a new 4K digital restoration.

Movie Trailer