Black Girl

‘An astonishing film – so powerful, so impressive, and so different from anything we had ever seen.’ These are the words of director Martin Scorsese, expressing his admiration for this film, which is considered the first African feature film – the debut film of the Senegalese writer and director Ousmane Sembène. Following Senegal’s independence in 1961, he had set himself the impossible task of creating a truly African cinema for his people. This explosive feature film debut, a story about post-colonialism and racism, earned him the nickname ‘Father of African cinema’.

The young Senegalese girl Diouana is persuaded by a wealthy couple to go with them to Antibes in France to work for them as a nanny. Once there, however, she is forced to work as a domestic helper. Her life turns into a living hell: she is subjected to daily humiliation and abuse, and the couple locks her up in the flat. Diouana is unbearably lonely. One day, she stops speaking.