The Centre for Film Studies' First African Film Lecture: The Cinema and its Publics in Africa

Dr Litheko Modisane

Litheko Modisane is a Senior Lecturer (Television Studies) in the Centre for Film and Media Studies, University of Cape Town.  Modisane earned his PhD at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. He was until recently, a lecturer in the Department of African Literature at the same university. Modisane’s scope of interests includes repertoires of symbolic representations in the contemporary political public sphere in South Africa. He is currently writing a book on Nelson Mandela as a cinematic and televisual subject, particularly with regard to how meanings of liberation are constructed or deconstructed around his portrayals on film. Modisane is the author of South Africa’s Renegade Reels: The Making and Public Lives of Black-Centred Films, (Palgrave Macmillan (New York) 2013). The book focuses on the public lives of iconic black-centred films in South Africa, from the colonial to the post-apartheid eras. Such films, Modisane’s work demonstrates, are catalysts for public reflections on social and political issues germane to anti-apartheid politics and fledgling democracies. Modisane contributes to a wide range of topics within the fields of film and television.

Chair: Dr Lindiwe Dovey
Discussant: Dr Carli Coetzee

This event is sponsored by the Centre for Film Studies and The Levehulme Trust .

Contact email: cas@soas.ac.uk