European colonialism had a great impact on African societies and is felt to this day. Even with the struggles for independence in the post World War II, the weight of colonial rule is present, especially in the field of culture. The decolonization of the minds was a challenge taken up by intellectuals engaged in the process of decolonization, especially those of African origin. The cinema has become an important tool in this process, appearing for the first time a proposed African Cinema, under the former French West Africa during the 1960s. This paper analyzes the cinematic of the senegalese Ousmane Sembène during the stated period. His proposal for an african cinema and his activism influenced many African artists and intellectuals, his quest for an aesthetic that rejected the European and Hollywood standards is considered by many the foundation of what is called African Cinema. This dissertation aims to contribute to the analysis of aesthetic elements that make up this proposal and the debate about the possibility of an African Cinema. In addition, the study aims to further look into the life trajectory of Sembène, the process of intellectual formation and his exile in an attempt to establish the connection between the artist and his origins, through his biography and his interviews, investigating this way the social relations that gave rise to the filmmaker.