Songs of the Griot

By: Blue K, Custodian of the Cinema

This is a list of important films from sub-Saharan African countries. Some of these are masterpieces, some are not. But every one of them is noteworthy in some way. And yes, I have seen all of them except for the three films with asterisks. I usually do not list films I have not seen, but these particular ones are listed because they are usually mentioned as very significant works even though they are not readily available for viewing. Since many sub-Saharan African films face an uphill battle when it comes to distribution, many of these films have been made available for online viewing in their entirety. Please click on individual links.

Black Girl (Ousmane Sembene, 1966, Senegal)
Borom Sarret (Ousmane Sembene, 1966, Senegal)
Soleil O (Med Hondo, 1967, Mauritania)
Mandabi (Ousmane Sembene, 1968, Senegal)
City of Contrasts (Djibril Diop Mambéty, 1969, Senegal)
Badou Boy (Djibril Diop Mambéty, 1970, Senegal)
Five Days in a Life (Souleymane Cissé, 1973, Senegal)*
Touki Bouki (Djibril Diop Mambéty, 1973, Senegal)
Letter from My Village (Safi Faye, 1975, Senegal)*
Harvest: 3,000 Years (Haile Gerima, 1975, Ethiopia)
Xala (Ousmane Sembene, 1975, Senegal)
The Young Girl (Souleymane Cissé. 1975, Senegal)
Ceddo (Ousmane Sembene, 1977, Senegal)
Baara (Souleymane Cissé, 1978, Senegal)
Wend Kuuni (Gaston Kaboré, 1982, Burkina Faso)
Finye (Souleymane Cissé, 1982, Senegal)
Yam Daabo (Idrissa Ouedraogo, 1986, Burkina Faso)
Sarraounia (Med Hondo, 1986, Mauritania)
Camp de Thiaroye (Ousmane Sembene, 1987, Senegal)
Yeelen (Souleymane Cissé, 1987, Senegal)
Mapantsula (Oliver Schmitz, 1988, South Africa)
Mortu Nega (Flora Gomes, 1988, Guinea-Bissau)
Yaaba (Idrissa Ouedraogo, 1989, Burkina Faso)
Finzan (Cheick Oumar Sissoko, 1989, Mali)
Tilai (Idrissa Ouedraogo, 1990, Burkina Faso)
Samba Traoré (Idrissa Ouedraogo, 1992, Burkina Faso)
Guelwaar (Ousmane Sembene, 1992, Senegal)
Hyenas (Djibril Diop Mambéty, 1992, Senegal)
Keita! Voice of the Griot (Dani Kouyaté, 1994, Burkina Faso)
Le Franc (Djibril Diop Mambéty, 1994, Senegal)
Imperfect Journey (Haile Gerima, 1994, Ethiopia)
Guimba the Tyrant (Cheick Oumar Sissoko, 1995, Mali)
Faraw! (Abdoulaye Ascofare, 1997, Mali)
Buud Yam (Gaston Kaboré, 1997, Burkina Faso)
The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun (Djibril Diop Mambéty, 1999, Senegal)
Genesis (Cheick Ouma Sissoko, 1999, Mali)
Life on Earth (Abderrahmane Sissako, 1999, Mauritania)
Adwa (Haile Gerima, 1999, Ethiopia)
Adanggaman (Roger Gnoan M’Bala, 2000, Ivory Coast)
Sia, Dream of the Python (Dani Kouyaté, 2001, Burkina Faso)
Abouna (Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, 2002, Chad)
Waiting for Happiness (Abderrahmane Sissako, 2002, Mauritania)
The Night of Truth (Fanta Régina Nacro, 2004, Burkina Faso)
Moolaadé (Ousmane Sembene, 2004, Senegal)
Dreams of Dust (Laurent Salgues, 2006, Burkina Faso)
Bamako (Abderrahmane Sissako, 2006, Mauritania)
Dry Season (Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, 2006, Chad)
Munyurangabo (Lee Isaac Chung, 2007, Rwanda)
Teza (Haile Gerima, 2008, Ethiopia)
Min Ye (Souleymane Cissé, 2009, Senegal)*