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Scorsese's Resurgence of African Cinema
The Film Foundation, the movie-restoration organization founded and chaired by Martin Scorsese, have now turned their attention to focus on African movies.
According to Deadline, the Scorsese backed Foundation has struck a partnership with the Pan African Federation of Filmmakers (FEPACI)and UNESECO to create the African Film Heritage project.
The main focus would be to combine the expertise of filmmakers, scholars and archivists to preserve, restore and release 50 African pictures “with historic, artistic and cultural significance.”
“There are so many films in need of restoration from all over the world. We created the World Cinema Project to ensure that the most vulnerable titles don’t disappear forever.” Scorsese mentioned
“Over the past 10 years the WCP has helped to restore films from Egypt, India, Cuba, the Philippines, Brazil, Armenia, Turkey, Senegal, and many other countries. Along the way, we’ve come to understand the urgent need to locate and preserve African films title by title in order to ensure that new generations of filmgoers — African filmgoers in particular — can actually see these works and appreciate them.”
Cheick Oumar Sissoko, the FEPACI secretary general, added, “Africa needs her own images, her own gaze testifying on her behalf, without the distorting prism of others, of the foreign gaze saddled by prejudice and schemes. We must bear witness to this cradle of humanity which has developed a rich and immense human, historical, cultural and spiritual patrimony.”
This comes as Scorsese prepares to shoot The Irishman, the Netflix gangster picture starring De Niro, Pacino and Pesci which aims for a 2018 release.
Here’s Scorsese discussing the restoration project:
