PREVIEW: Ousmane Sembène's Camp de Thiaroye (1987)

This is a preview of our Patreon-only episode about Ousmane Sembène & Thierno Faty Sow's historical drama Camp de Thiaroye (1987), about the mutiny of French West African troops at a transit camp in Dakar and their subsequent massacre by French forces on 1 December 1944, following on from this month's Resonance 104.4fm programme. Here, Juliet talks to Dr Samba Gadjigo, co-director of Sembène! (2015) and biographer of the writer/filmmaker, as well as Helen Day Gould Professor of French at the Mount Holyoake University in Massachusetts, about one of Sembème's greatest works. They discuss how closely it was based on the actual events and on Sembène's experiences; controversies around the film's content, commission and funding; its relationship with the history of colonialism and African independence movements; its reception in Senegal and France; its importance in the cultural memory of the massacre; and more. To hear the entire episode, please subscribe at www.patreon.com/suite212.