Established in 2008, the Centre for the Study and Research of African Women in Cinema | Centre pour l'étude et la recherche des femmes africaines dans le cinéma serves as a repository for the dissemination of information on the research, study and documentation of African women in cinema and is an extensive network with links to relevant venues throughout the world.
The Centre connects within a network of stakeholders from all sectors of the moving image: imagemakers, cultural producers, scholars and teachers, reviewers, critics, theorists, curators, culture centre directors, and activists. The objective of the Centre is to advance research and communication relating to African women in cinema and to use new technology to promote dialogue and the exchange of information, ideas, experiences and resources.
As the virtual environment becomes an increasingly prominent means for disseminating ideas, influencing attitudes and educating and understanding people and cultures, the Centre has positioned itself as an important player in formulating discourse and developing paradigms as it relates to African women and screen culture. As technology advances in the twenty-first century, the Centre as forerunner in innovative networking and cutting-edge research will play an even greater role.
As gender commands its place in the knowledge production and the research in global discourse, the Centre is also positioning itself to be an important voice. Thus, the significance of establishing a virtual environment available to everyone across the globe.
A virtual environment with a website as its point of contact, the Centre maintains constitutive components as follows: the African Women in Cinema Blog, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Channels on Youtube, Vimeo and Dailymotion.
The influential African Women in Cinema Blog serves as a global newsletter with regular posts composed of interviews, reviews, critical essays, listings of exhibitions, festivals, and conference and conference proceedings, funding information and sources, and other relevant literature.
The On-line Database includes a broad range of information relevant to African women in cinema: filmographies, annotated bibliographies, links to video-sharing sites, full text articles and essays, summaries, and reviews.
The Centre is in the process of forging institutional affiliations throughout the world, as a main objective of the Centre is to work closely with and support other institutions that have similar objectives.