Manouchka Kelly Labouba

Manouchka Kelly Labouba is a University of Southern California Provost’s PhD fellow in the Division of Cinema & Media Studies in the School of Cinematic Arts. Her research interests include Sub-Saharan African cinema, International cinema, Business of film, Film festivals, African-American cinema, and 70s American cinema (New Hollywood and Blaxploitation). She has published in Film International, the African Studies Review, the Journal of African Cinemas and Spectator. She is also an independent director/screenwriter/producer from Gabon (Central Africa), where she became the first woman to direct fiction with her 40-minute short Le Divorce (2008). Her films have been selected in official competition at FESPACO, the Carthage Film Festival, the Montreal Pan Africa Film Festival and the Ecrans Noirs Film Festival. She pursues a dual career as a scholar and as a filmmaker.
Supervisors: Kara Keeling, Henry Jenkins, and Priya Jaikumar