The Ongoing Search for *Authenticity* in African Cinematic Storytelling.
A tribute to the Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, the literary and political force, who passed away yesterday, May 28, 2025, at the age of 87.
A key voice in the dialogue around the use of African languages in literature, he steadfastly critiqued African literature’s domination by European languages as a colonial legacy that has persisted, influencing not just literature but, clearly, also the stories and languages utilized in African cinema.
So if we modify his commentary on African languages and literature, from the short clip provided here, to reflect African filmmaking, we can express a similar concern about language dynamics in that realm:
“There is one challenge right now in African cinema: that the films are largely created in European languages. So even those filmmakers of our generation produced works in English, French, or Portuguese. And that trend continues to the present. Thus, the struggle now is also for African cinema in African languages to assert itself. For me, authentic African cinema is that which is created by African people in African languages.
Just as Spanish cinema is produced in Spanish, one cannot claim there is Spanish cinema made in Zulu. Nor can one say that Spanish cinema is solely that which is produced in French, right? Or that French cinema is produced in Chinese. I now prefer to call it ‘europhone’ African cinema, akin to terms like francophone and anglophone.
Films I created in English, such as my adaptations and original works, are part of ‘europhone’ African cinema. But this is distinct from cinema created by Africans in African languages. Language is a crucial part of the identity of any given cinematic tradition.”
For Ngũgĩ, this was not just about language but about recentering African perspectives and aesthetics in film, thereby asserting a distinct and authentic African cinematic identity.
His words and wisdom will live on…