Rétrospective

In partnership with La Cité Radieuse, Videodrome 2 and the cinemas Le Gyptis and Les Variétés, the Festival de Marseille presents a retrospective of the work of Ousmane Sembène. This Senegalese writer and filmmaker, who died in 2007 at the age of 84, remains a key figure in both literature and film. He was self-taught and worked as a bricklayer, a soldier and a dock worker before he began to write, focusing on the essential struggles of his time for justice and freedom and the dignity of his people. He lived in Marseille from 1948 to 1960 and worked at the docks, becoming a union activist and a member of the Communist party. He wrote his first novel here: Le Docker noir [Black Docker]. He left behind an impressive body of work, full of fertile indignation and political commitment, which has influenced several generations of Senegalese and African intellectuals.