Movies: Paulin Soumanou Vieyra

In France during World War I, Marthe waits for her husband, Jacques, while he fights on the front lines. Marthe then begins a tempestuous affair with 17-year-old François, with whom she had a dalliance before marrying Jacques. Jealous François strugg...

As World War II rages in Europe, a conflict arises between the French and the Diola-speaking tribe of Africa, prompting the village women to organize their men to sit beneath a tree to pray....

Betrayed by his wife, a teacher proceeds to have an affair with a young and pretty student. The two women both find themselves expecting a child. The girl dies during childbirth. In a spirit of revenge and to keep his real son, the scorned husband ex...

A rich businessman in Senegal is cursed with crippling erectile dysfunction upon the day of his marriage to his third wife; the only cure is brutal public humiliation....

A young unemployed man fends off accusations of laziness and makes a home for his pregnant girlfriend who has been rejected by her family....

Émile Boulard is a props man in a Paris movie studio. He has a wife, Suzanne. Or to be more accurate, let's say he HAD a wife since she left him fifteen years before, allegedly ... to go buy a post stamp. But now that their daughter Martine , who liv...

A young fisherman dreams of motorizing his boat to make his work easier. His dream becomes reality, thanks to his courage and his determination but causes conflict between traditional values and the modern notion of progress....

Paulin Vieyra captures Ousmane Sembène, one of the greatest filmmakers of Africa, during the filming of Ceddo. L’Envers du Decor was completed after four years of production. As for Ceddo, it would be censored under the Senghor regime and until 1983 ...

The president of an African country is closely allied with European entrepreneurs for his own benefit and theirs. The sky falls on their heads when a political essay on "The Political Structures of Traditional Power" is published. To make matters wor...

This film is widely regarded as the first film made by an African south of the Sahara. Labelled an “ethnological documentary in reverse,” it shows 1950s Paris from the cinematic perspective of a group of African immigrants. (Mubi)...

The traditional struggle, known as Lamb in Wolof, which recalls the Greco-Roman struggle, is a popular national sport in Senegal. It has special rules and very strict. Every spectator can bet on his favorite wrestler in a festive atmosphere. The Dak...

A hunter dies in a lion's jaws and leaves a wife and two children. The elder child, who is now the only man around the house, is called the little husband. Because of this nickname, he becomes the laughingstock of all the children in the village. Des...

Promotional newsreel of Dakar, selected to host the first edition of the World Festival of Black Arts. The report features the history of the city, its architectural and commercial evolution, its air and maritime connections, its natural beauty, hote...

The nostalgia of an African student in Paris for Africa. Graduation film by Paulin Soumanou VIEYRA, one of the pioneers of African cinemas....

Newsreel of the third Festival of the Arts in the Nigerian city of Ife, launched in the city’s university. A celebration of the arts (traditional music, photography, sculpture, handicrafts, cinema) confronting the continent’s anglophone and francopho...

During an interview with the filmmaker Paulin Vieyra, the painter Iba Ndiaye recalls key moments of his life. He begins with his childhood in Senegal and his studies at the Lycee Faidherbe in St. Louis of Senegal, where he was drawn to design and gra...

Une nation est née depicts the progression of Senegal from colonization to sovereignty, shown allegorically through scenes of dance and celebrations of its newly-reclaimed independence....

Sindiely tells the story of a greedy father wishing to marry his daughter to a successful fabric merchant, despite her love for another young man. The hostility of the family makes the father yield to his daughter’s wishes, allowing for the young cou...

Birago Diop appears as the pioneer of African letters. He knew the long journey of poets of blackness from the 30s. But, while young writers Antillean and African chose poetry to express the search for their identity, Birago Diop was located from the...