The Film Programme

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The latest releases, the hottest stars and the leading directors, plus news and insights

The latest releases, the hottest stars and the leading directors, plus news and insights from the film world

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The Film Programme: Ousmane Sembene

Ousmane Sembene

BBC Radio 4 - The Film Programme, Ousmane Sembene

Ousmane Sembene - The Father Of African Film

With Antonia Quirke.


Ousmane Sembene has been called the father of African Film, single-handedly starting a movie industry in Senegal. As his 1968 film Mandabi is re-released, Samba Gadjigo and Jason Silverman, who saved the print from destitution, reveal how a life-threatening injury as a dock worker changed the course of Sembene's life.

The Godfather changed the course of film history, its huge success helped to usher in a new generation of directors, the so-called Movie Brats, like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. But what if Francis Ford Coppola had never made the movie, which was a distinct possibility, as he was not the first film-maker to be approached by the studio. Originally they wanted Lewis Gilbert, the director of Alife, to helm the most American of crime sagas. From the archives, he reveals why this was an offer that he could resist.

Nick Woollage is an award winning music producer, mixer and engineer. He shares some secrets from the mixing desk, letting us behind the scenes of scores for Atonement, Paddington 2 and How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.

How did an aristocratic calypso singer from Denmark end up as the star of Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye ? Writer Nat Segnit investigates the case of Nina Van Pallandt.



Ousmane Sembene photo credit: Thomas Jacob.

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