AND THE DOGS WERE QUIET

Sarah Maldoror (1929–2020) was a trailblazer of Pan-African cinema and a pioneering voice of anti-colonial storytelling. Born in Guadeloupe and active in France and Africa, she founded the theatre troupe Compagnie d’Art Dramatique des Griots in 1956, studied film in Moscow, and worked as assistant director on The Battle of Algiers (1966). Her first feature, Monangambée (1968), and especially Sambizanga (1972) established her cinematic identity: placing women at the center of political struggle, fusing poetic realism with militant urgency. Sambizanga won the Tanit d’Or at the Carthage Film Festival and was one of the earliest feature films by a Black woman in sub-Saharan Africa. Her films are marked by moral clarity, lyrical editing, and a steadfast commitment to social justice. Maldoror remains a foundational reference for filmmakers interested in liberation, memory, and the power of cinema to act as resistance.