This event will take place on Saturday, May 6 at 4pm in the Amphitheater. To attend, please RSVP here. 

Safi Faye is best known as the first woman from Sub-Saharan Africa to ever direct a commercial feature film—1976’s Kaddu Beykat—but the Senegalese pioneer’s legacy and groundbreaking influence extends far beyond that landmark. Introduced to the world of cinema via an acting role in Jean Rouch’s Petit à petit (1971), Faye went on to create a monumental body of work that includes award-winning shorts and features, including Selbe: One Among Many (1983), and Mossane, which won the Un Certain Regard award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997. Through both documentary and fiction modes, Faye sought to capture the agency, subjectivity, and beauty of African women, and bring to vivid life the everyday realities of rural Senegal. In honor of Faye’s recent passing on February 22, 2023, this conversation will bring together the directors Nuotama Bodomo, Jessica Beshir, Akosua Adoma Owusu, and Johanna Makabi to reflect on Faye’s legacy and what it means for feminist African cinema today. The conversation will be moderated by scholar and critic Yasmina Price.