The African Women in the Cinema Project emerged out of my research on African women in visual culture, my desire to find a paradigm for reading images of and by African women, and my own work in video production. I undertook this project on a Rockefeller Humanities Fellowship during the 1996-97 academic year. My objective was to make a critical inventory of the works, thoughts, and practices of African women in the various areas of the cinema. The research results culminated into the book and video documentary, Sisters of the Screen. I interviewed forty women who are featured in either the book of interviews and/or the video documentary. While this project does not include all African women of the image, it is a representation of the experiences of women spanning the continent. Women from the African Diaspora are included, specifically in the discussion related to African/African Diaspora relations. These voices give evidence of the myriad experiences and perspectives of women in the diverse regions of the continent, highlighting the plurality of African women's cinemas.

Expanding the initial research, the project broadens to include the virtual Centre for the Study and Research of African Women in Cinema, which features a Primer for African Women Cinema Studies, a guide to the film and book, Sisters of the Screen as well as a timeline, related links, and "voices" of African women in cinema from diverse sources, as well as the African Women in Cinema Blog--the social media component for the Centre.

© Beti Ellerson 2004-2023. Centre for the Study and Research of African Women in Cinema |

Centre pour l'étude et la recherche des femmes africaines dans le cinéma