Xala by Williams, James S.

Xala

Xala (1974) by the pioneering Senegalese director Ousmane Sembene, was acclaimed on its release for its scorching...
Dhs. 103.04 AED
Dhs. 103.04 AED
SKU: 9781839025983
Product Type: Books
Please hurry! Only 54 left in stock
Author: James S. Williams
Format: Paperback
Language: English
Subtotal: Dhs. 103.04
10 customers are viewing this product
Xala by Williams, James S.

Xala

Dhs. 103.04

Xala

Dhs. 103.04
Author: James S. Williams
Format: Paperback
Language: English

Xala (1974) by the pioneering Senegalese director Ousmane Sembene, was acclaimed on its release for its scorching critique of postcolonial African society, and it cemented Sembene's status as a wholly new kind of politically engaged, pan-African, auteur film-maker. Centring on the story of businessman El Hadji and the impotence that afflicts him on his marriage to a young third wife, Xala vividly captures the cultural and political upheaval of 1970s Senegal, while suggesting the radical potential of dissent, solidarity and collective action, embodied by El Hadji's student daughter Rama and the group of urban 'undesirables' who act as a kind of raw chorus to the affairs of the neocolonial elite.

James S. Williams's lucid study traces Xala's difficult production history and analyses its daring combination of political and domestic drama, oral narrative, social realism, symbolism, satire, documentary, mysticism and Marxist analysis. Yet from its dazzling extended opening sequence of revolution as performance to its suspended climax of redemption through ritualised spitting, Xala presents a series of conceptual and formal challenges that resist a simple reading of the film as allegory.

Highlighting often overlooked elements of Sembene's intricate, experimental film-making, including provocative shifts in mood and poetic, even subversively erotic, moments, Williams reveals Xala as a visionary work of both African cinema and Third Cinema that extended the parameters of postcolonial film practice and still resounds today with its searing inventive power.

Author: James S. Williams
Publisher: British Film Institute
Published: 05/02/2024
Pages: 112
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.39lbs
Size: 7.46h x 5.39w x 0.25d
ISBN: 9781839025983

About the Author
James S. Williams is Professor of Modern French Literature and Film at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK. His previous publications include Space and Being in Contemporary French Cinema (2013); Encounters with Godard: Ethics, Aesthetics, Politics (2016); Ethics and Aesthetics in Contemporary African Cinema: The Politics of Beauty (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019), winner of the R. Gapper Prize for the best book in French Studies; and Frantz Fanon (2023).

Returns Policy

You may return most new, unopened items within 30 days of delivery for a full refund. We'll also pay the return shipping costs if the return is a result of our error (you received an incorrect or defective item, etc.).

You should expect to receive your refund within four weeks of giving your package to the return shipper, however, in many cases you will receive a refund more quickly. This time period includes the transit time for us to receive your return from the shipper (5 to 10 business days), the time it takes us to process your return once we receive it (3 to 5 business days), and the time it takes your bank to process our refund request (5 to 10 business days).

If you need to return an item, simply login to your account, view the order using the "Complete Orders" link under the My Account menu and click the Return Item(s) button. We'll notify you via e-mail of your refund once we've received and processed the returned item.

Shipping

We can ship to virtually any address in the world. Note that there are restrictions on some products, and some products cannot be shipped to international destinations.

When you place an order, we will estimate shipping and delivery dates for you based on the availability of your items and the shipping options you choose. Depending on the shipping provider you choose, shipping date estimates may appear on the shipping quotes page.

Please also note that the shipping rates for many items we sell are weight-based. The weight of any such item can be found on its detail page. To reflect the policies of the shipping companies we use, all weights will be rounded up to the next full pound.

Related Products

Recently Viewed Products