Product Description: Having blazed a trail for African filmmakers to tell their own stories on-screen, Senegalese auteur Ousmane Sembène took his career-long project—to unlock cinema’s potential as a vehicle for social change—in increasingly urgent and provocative directions in the 1970s. Searing critiques of colonialism, political corruption, patriarchal arrogance, and religious indoctrination, his three features from this decade—the radical call to resistance Emitaï, the wickedly subversive satire Xala, and the controversial historical epic Ceddo—confirmed his standing as a fearless truth-teller for whom the camera was the ultimate weapon in the fight against oppression in all its forms.
EMITAÏ
With revolutionary outrage, Ousmane Sembène chronicles a period during World War II when French colonial forces in Senegal conscripted young men of the Diola people and attempted to seize rice stores for soldiers back in Europe. As the tribe’s patriarchal leaders pray and make sacrifices to their gods, the women in the community refuse to yield their harvests, incurring the French army’s wrath. With a deep understanding of the oppressive forces that have shaped Senegalese history, Emitaï explores the strains that colonialism places upon cultural traditions and, in the process, discovers a people’s hidden reserves of rebellion and dignity.
XALA
An adaptation of Ousmane Sembène’s own 1973 novel, Xala is a hilarious, caustic satire of political corruption under an inept patriarchy. On the night of his wedding to his third bride, government official El Hadji (Thierno Leye) is rendered impotent and begins to suspect that one of his other wives has placed a curse on him. After seeking a cure from a local marabout, El Hadji must face the possibility that he deserves the infliction for his part in embezzling public funds and for helping to keep Senegal under French control. Adeptly combining elements of African folklore and popular cinema, Sembène indicts the hubris, entitlement, and opportunism of male authority figures.
CEDDO
In precolonial Senegal, members of the Ceddo (or “outsiders”) kidnap Princess Dior Yacine (Tabata Ndiaye) after her father, the king, pledges loyalty to an ascendant Islamic faction that plans to convert the entire clan to its faith. Attempts to recapture her fail, provoking further division and eventual war between the animistic Ceddo and the fundamentalist Muslims, with Christian missionaries and slave traders from Europe also playing a role in the conflict. Banned in Senegal upon its release, Ceddo is an ambitious, multilayered epic that explores the combustible tensions among ancient tradition, religious colonization, political expediency, and individual freedom.
"The Entertainment Factor is supported by its audience. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission."
Find out more about this DVD/Blu-ray release after the jump.
Click the links below to jump directly
to the selected section:
Movie Details
Available Formats (Purchasing Links)
Video
Audio
Subtitles
Special Features & Extras
Trailer and Clips
Pictures
to the selected section:
Movie Details
Available Formats (Purchasing Links)
Video
Audio
Subtitles
Special Features & Extras
Trailer and Clips
Pictures
MOVIE DETAILS
JUMP BACK TO TOPDirector: Ousmane Sembène
Starring: Various
Genre: Various
Runtime: 300 min
Rating: Not Rated
Language: Wolof, French
Studio: Criterion
Home Video Release Date: May 21, 2024
AVAILABLE FORMATS (click links to order from Amazon):
JUMP BACK TO TOPVIDEO
JUMP BACK TO TOP
DVD
- Codec: MPEG-2
- Resolution: 480i
- Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1, 1.85:1
- Encoding Format: 16:9
- Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only)
Blu-ray
- Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
- Resolution: 1080p
- Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1, 1.85:1
- Region: Region A/1
AUDIO
JUMP BACK TO TOPDubbed:
- DVD: None
- Blu-ray: None
Audio Formats:
- DVD: Dolby Digital Mono
- Blu-ray: LPCM Mono
SUBTITLES
JUMP BACK TO TOPDVD: English
Blu-ray: English
SPECIAL FEATURES & EXTRAS
JUMP BACK TO TOP- New 4K digital restorations of all three films, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks
- New conversation between Mahen Bonetti, founder and executive director of the African Film Festival, and film writer Amy Sall
- The Making of “Ceddo,” a 1981 documentary by Paulin Soumanou Vieyra
- New English subtitle translations
- PLUS: An essay by film scholar Yasmina Price
TRAILER AND CLIPS
JUMP BACK TO TOPPICTURES
JUMP BACK TO TOPRecent DVD/Blu-ray Releases :
- New on Blu-ray: David Schickele's BUSHMAN (1971) - New 4K Restoration
- New on Blu-ray & 4K: DEATHDREAM aka DEAD OF NIGHT (1974) - 4K Restoration
- New on Blu-ray: DEAD WRONG (2024) Starring Derek Smith, Katrina Bowden and Rob Schneider
- DVD & Blu-ray: INSERT COIN (2020) - Documentary
- New on Blu-ray: FOOD WARS! - SHOKUGEKI NO SOMA - THE SECOND PLACE Season 2
- New on Blu-ray: REPUBLIC PICTURES HORROR COLLECTION (1944-1946) - 4 Movies
- New on Blu-ray: MAN'S CASTLE (1933) Starring Spencer Tracy and Loretta Young
- New on Blu-ray: BIG MAN ON CAMPUS (1989) Starring Allan Katz, Corey Parker & Cindy Williams
- New on Blu-ray & 4K: NARC (2002) - 2-Disc Limited Edition
- DVD & Blu-ray: DR. STONE Season 3 Part 1
- New on Blu-ray: BETTIE PAGE DOUBLE FEATURE - VARIETEASE + TEASERAMA - Kino Cult #7
- New on Blu-ray: SAVING 80,000 GOLD IN ANOTHER WORLD FOR MY RETIREMENT - Complete Season 1
- DVD & Blu-ray: PARIS BLUES (1961) Starring Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward & Sidney Poitier
- New on Blu-ray: THE WOLF HOUSE (2018) - Animated Horror Film by Joaquín Cociña & Cristóbal León
- New on Blu-ray: SLAM (1998) Starring Saul Williams and Sonja Sohn
- DVD & Blu-ray: OF MICE AND MEN (1992) Starring John Malkovich and Gary Sinise
- New on Blu-ray: DEAD MOUNT DEATH PLAY - PART 1 (Season 1)
- DVD & Blu-ray: THE FABRIC OF THE HUMAN BODY / DE HUMANI CORPORIS FABRICA (2022) - Documentary
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please keep the comments as civilised as possible, and refrain from spamming. All comments will be moderated. Thank you !