SAMBA LE GRAND
Int.: Jean Rouch (vice-over). Prod.: Moustapha Alassane. DCP. D.: 14’. Col.
Film Notes
Alassane’s Samba le Grand, coming just a decade after African independence, re-advocates the value of the spoken word to African leaders in particular. The renewed demands of Analiatou Bari could easily be a symbol for Western economic structures extolling sacrifices, tighter regulation of the economy in agreement after agreement, forever delaying various promises made. It could also stand for the broken promises of nationalist leaders, constantly making more promises to hold their own demise at bay. Composed of drawings made directly on celluloid films and photographed puppets, Samba le Grand combines the rudimentary yet precise artistry of a puppet show with the elaborate drawings of a cartoon. It is also the first African animation entirely in color.
Sada Niang, Nationalist African Cinema: Legacy and Transformations, Lexington Books, New York 2014
Restored in 2K in 2019 by New York University’s Moving Image Archiving and Preservation program, La Cinémathèque Afrique de l’Institut Français, CNC – Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in New York in agreement with Razak Moustapha