“YOU LOOK AT US LIKE INSECTS” –
A CONVERSATION BETWEEN FILMMAKERS JEAN ROUCHE AND OUSMANE SEMBÈNE (1965)

This piece may be a conversation between two male filmmakers, but it’s a really provocative confrontation regarding the problematic way that white, Western (specifically European) filmmakers represent African subjects in ethnographic film.

Here, Sembène, a Senegalese filmmaker, criticizes Rouche (a white, French filmmaker) for the way he represents African subjects on film and was quoted saying the famous phrase: “you look at us like insects.” I think this is essential reading for anyone interested in documentary, and particularly the historical tradition of ethnography.