Black Girl

60m 1969
Black Girl

Brief Synopsis

A girl from Senegal becomes disillusioned with her life as a servant in France.

Cast & Crew

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Ousmane Sembene

Director

Mbissine Thérèse Diop

The maid

Anne-marie Jelinck

Madame

Momar Nar Sene

Young man

Robert Fontaine

Master

Ibrahima Boy

Boy with mask

Photos & Videos

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Black Girl (1966) -- (Movie Clip) I've Never Kissed A Black Woman
Black Girl (1966) -- (Movie Clip) It All Began That Morning
African American Film Critics Association -- Black Girl (1966)
Black Girl (1966) -- (Movie Clip) Will Someone Be Waiting For Me?

Film Details

Also Known As
La Noire de ...
Genre
Drama
Foreign
Release Date
Jan 1969
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Les Actualités Françaises; Les Films Domirêve
Distribution Company
New Yorker Films
Country
France
Screenplay Information
Based on the novel Voltaïque by Ousmane Sembene (Paris, 1962).

Technical Specs

Duration
60m
Sound
Mono
Color
Black and White, Color

Synopsis

In Dakar, a young black girl is hired by a vacationing European couple to work for them as a governess in Antibes. Upon arriving in her new surroundings, the girl discovers that the couple's children are away at school, and she is reduced to being nothing more than their maid. Restricted to cooking and cleaning, she begins to think of herself as a slave, and her hostility is increased by the woman's overbearing and patronizing manner. Although the man is more considerate, he lacks the understanding necessary to comprehend that the young girl is developing racist tendencies. Gradually becoming more and more despondent, the girl retreats into a state of despair that leads to her suicide. When the man returns her few pitiful belongings to Senegal, he suddenly becomes frightened and uneasy while in the presence of her people.

Director

Ousmane Sembene

Director

Cast

Mbissine Thérèse Diop

The maid

Anne-marie Jelinck

Madame

Momar Nar Sene

Young man

Robert Fontaine

Master

Ibrahima Boy

Boy with mask

Bernard Delbard

Nicole Donati

Raymond Lemery

Suzanne Lemery

Toto Bissainthe

Robert Marcy

Sophie Leclerc

Crew

Ibrahima Barro

Assistant Director

Pathé Diop

Assistant

Pathé Diop

Assistant Director

André Gaudier

Film Editor

Christian Lacoste

Director of Photography

Ousmane Sembene

Screenwriter

André Zwobada

Production Manager

Videos

Movie Clip

Black Girl (1966) -- (Movie Clip) It All Began That Morning The first flashback to home in Dakar, Senegal, with the writer-director Ousmane Sembene’s cameo, as the “public letter writer,” Mbissine Thérèse Diop, as Diouana, who now works for a French couple in Antibes, narrates the beginning of her story, in the multiple international award-winning Black Girl (a.k.a. La Noire de…, 1966.
Black Girl (1966) -- (Movie Clip) Will Someone Be Waiting For Me? After shots establishing the French port at Antibes, our first look at the title character, Mbissine Thérèse Diop, as Diouana, arriving from Senegal, collected by her employer (Robert Fontaine), in the celebrated first feature by Dakar-born Ousmane Sembene, by then an established international novelist, from Black Girl (a.k.a. La Noire de…, 1966.
Black Girl (1966) -- (Movie Clip) I've Never Kissed A Black Woman Mbissine Thérèse Diop, as Diouana, several weeks into her work at the home of a French couple in Antibes, where she understood she would be caring for their children, is insulted by “Madame” (Anne-Marie Jelinck), then narrates her frustration, when she’s required to cook, early in writer-director Ousmane Sembene’s Black Girl (a.k.a. La Noire de…, 1966.

Hosted Intro

Intro Aired: Sep 2018
African American Film Critics Association -- Black Girl (1966) Introduction and comments following Black Girl, 1966, with Gil Robertson and Tyra Martin from the African American Film Critics Association.

Film Details

Also Known As
La Noire de ...
Genre
Drama
Foreign
Release Date
Jan 1969
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Les Actualités Françaises; Les Films Domirêve
Distribution Company
New Yorker Films
Country
France
Screenplay Information
Based on the novel Voltaïque by Ousmane Sembene (Paris, 1962).

Technical Specs

Duration
60m
Sound
Mono
Color
Black and White, Color

Quotes

Trivia

Notes

Filmed in southern France and Dakar, Senegal. Opened in Paris in April 1967 as La noire de ... and in Senegal in February 1969; running time: 70 min.

Miscellaneous Notes

Released in United States 1966

Feature directorial debut for acclaimed Senegalese writer Ousmane Sembene.

Awarded the 1966 Jean Vigo Prize.

Widely considered the first major African film.

Released in United States 1966

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