A number of events paying tribute to the film-maker are being held in 2017 in Benin, at the Fespaco in Ouagadougou, in Senegal and in Brazil, and it is vital that France also takes part in these celebrations.

Born in Benin before making Senegal his adopted home, Paulin Soumanou VIEYRA was the first African to graduate from the Institute for Advanced Cinematographic studies (IDHEC). In 1955 he shot Afrique-sur-Seine - the film that would mark the birth of African cinema - and went on to write some thirty or so films (documentaries, short films and one full-length feature film), as well as developing a whole African cinema distribution business. A staunch Pan-Africanist and a committed campaigner, Paulin Soumanou VIEYRA worked his entire life to develop African cinema. Having instigated the establishment of the Pan-African Federation of Filmmakers (FEPACI) in 1969, ilhe is recognised as being the first critic and historian of African cinema. He was also the primary producer of Ousmane SEMBENE.

Having been summoned to Senegal by President SENGHOR in 1960, he would go on to produce the Actualités Sénégalaises news programme from 1960 to 1975 before turning his attention to producing programmes for the emerging Senegalese television industry. His last years were devoted to passing on his knowledge to the younger generations at the CESTI Centre for Higher Studies in Information Technologies at the University of Dakar (Cheikh Anta Diop).

This symposium will look at the situation of African cinema at the time of independence, with Paulin S. Vieyra as the overarching theme as both an actor in and discreet yet key witness to this period. The symposium will shed light on this momentous period in the independence movements from the perspective of the multi-faceted work of Paulin S. Vieyra to promote the standing of African cinema and his commitment to developing newly created countries on the African continent.

This symposium shall thus be run over two days: one dedicated to talks from researchers and artists, and the other to film screenings.