African Cinema: From Independence to Now Lecture Series

January 28–May 17, 2026

Wednesdays at 6:00 p.m. with Select Sunday Encores

This film series traces 65 years of African filmmaking across the continent, from anti-colonial resistance to contemporary digital innovation. Beginning with pioneering works by Ousmane Sembène and Lionel Rogosin's clandestine apartheid exposé, the program journeys through revolutionary cinema, experimental masterpieces, and the birth of Nollywood. Contemporary selections embrace magical realism—from Baloji's mystical exploration of witchcraft accusations to Rungano Nyoni's surrealist imagery and Mati Diop's spectral voices of repatriated artifacts. Featuring films from Senegal, Mali, Angola, Kenya, Chad, and beyond, these fourteen works reveal how African directors continuously reimagine cinema as a tool for decolonization, self-representation, and artistic innovation, weaving the metaphysical with the political.

Presented in collaboration with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Art History, Theory, and Criticism department. Lecturer: Delinda Collier, Professor of Art History. Synopses by Delinda Collier. Select titles offered with encores; encores do not include lecture. 

Select titles offered with Sunday encores; Sunday encores to not include lecture.