Ousmane Sembène
Ousmane Sembène often credited in the French style as Sembène Ousmane in articles and reference works, was a Senegalese film director, producer and writer. The Los Angeles Times considered him one of the greatest authors of Africa and has often been called the "Father of African film."
“Ever since they left Thies, the women had not stopped singing. As soon as one group allowed the refrain to die, another picked it up, and new verses were born at the hazard of chance or inspiration, one word leading to another and each finding, in its turn, its rhythm and its place. No one was very sure any longer where the song began, or if it had an ending. It rolled out over its own length, like the movement of a serpent. It was as long as a life.”
Ousmane Sembène
“However long it stays in the river the tree-trunk will never turn into a crocodile.”
Ousmane Sembène
“A cool breeze laden with iodine blew in from the sea.”
Ousmane Sembène
“Real misfortune is not just a matter of being hungry and thirsty; it is a matter of knowing that there are people who want you to be hungry and thirsty”
Ousmane Sembène
“At the moment the eyes of the body closed, the eyes of the mind were opened.”
Ousmane Sembène