Diouana lives in a village on the outskirts of Dakar, Senegal, until the day a white French woman, only identified as “Madame”, hires her as her children’s nanny. When her employers invite her to move with them to France, Diouana fantasizes about the cosmopolitan life that awaits her. But in Europe, the continuous aggression and emotional violence of the French end up highlighting the extent of racism and the perpetuation of colonial power relations – here conveyed in the domestic space.

 

“La Noire de…” did not go unnoticed by international critics when it premiered in 1966, making cinema history as the first film by an African filmmaker to receive the Jean Vigo prize, in addition to winning the Tanit d'Or at the first edition of the Carthage Cinematographic Days, in Tunisia. 

Considered, by many, as the “father of African cinema”, he sees in cinema a universal language available to all, and a probable ally in the cultural emancipation of the African peoples: communist and anti-colonialist militant, Ousmane Sembène defends the importance of Africa telling its own stories, so that others do not do so in their name. It should be noted that Diouana's story is narrated post fact by her boss’s character. Despite contradictions and questions raised by Sembène's decision to use a “white” voice to convey Diouana's most intimate memories and thoughts, this aspect has, nonetheless, a dramatic impact, suggesting how much the shackles of colonialism weigh on the protagonist’s identity, to the point of shaping her “inner self” in a language she herself doesn't know how to speak.

​

[Restored by Cineteca di Bologna/ L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, in association with the Sembène Estate, Institut National de l’Audiovisuel, INA, Eclair laboratories and the Centre National de Cinématographie. Restoration funded by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project]