The Sembene Project’s goal is to preserve African cinema and culture
and make it available to Africans both on the continent and in the Diaspora.

To that end, we’ve worked tirelessly to preserve the works of Ousmane Sembene. To date, we’ve:

  • Launched the restoration of Sembene’s films Black Girl and Borom Sarret, working in conjunction with the Film Foundation, the Criterion Collection, the Sembene Estate and L'Immagine Ritrovata. The films have screened at the Cannes and Telluride Film Festivals and internationally. The New York Times described Black Girl as “a work of art that is at once powerfully of its moment and permanently contemporary.” Served as producers of the release of Mandabi (2020).

    https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/18/movies/ousmane-sembenes-black-girl-turns-50.html

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  • Rescued Sembene’s personal archive, which was at risk of disintegration, and placed it in the Lilly Library at Indiana University

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  • Restoring, in collaboration with the Sembene Estate and Criterion Collection, the remainder of Sembene’s films

  • Writing, and nearing completion, of a comprehensive biography of Ousmane Sembene

Speaking Engagments

Samba and Jason have presented on six continents, including at Harvard and Yale Universities, the Cannes and Sundance Film Festivals and as Google Fellows at the Talks at Google series. Contact galleceddo@gmail.com for more information.