How to adapting stories and tales of Africa on movie screen ?
Adapting a novel to the silver screen is very common in Hollywood these days. Think of Harry Potter, Twilight, Life of pi to name a few. I strongly believe that this is a great opportunity for the African novel to become mainstream.
Although I really appreciated watching The Last King of Scotland, Invictus, Hotel Rwanda, I really feel like we should move away from the war storyline. I am not saying that we should dismiss a part of history, especially when we know that war is very much a recent part of our history. But at best, those movies reinforce the stereotypes that Africa is truly the “black continent”. I am really looking forward to the day where all types of stories about Africa will be made movies.
That being said, here is a non-exhaustive list of books that have been adapted to the screen. Some names you will recognize, some others less so. They are in no particular order. French movies are described in their original title as well as English ones. I only counted novels that were made into films.
1. Cameroun : Sango Malo par Bassek Ba Khobi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKxi7AQcsCQ
2. Senegal : L’aventure Ambigue par Cheikh Hamidou kane
[vidéo non disponible]
3. Guinee : L’enfant noir par Camara Laye
4. Niger : Sarraounia par Abdoulaye Mamani
