 He argued that even if the colonial overlord has been removed, the mechanisms of conquest are therefore repeated on the body of the African woman in 1960s and 1970s film.Films made during this era that featured or were created by African women directors featured themes of sexual impression that included polygamy, conflict between modern romance and traditions of arranging marriage, the marginalization of widows and single women, and genital mutilation.Scholars such as Sheila Petty have argued that they should not only be read as portraying an unshakeable patriarchy but as expressions of a general loss of identity, with extreme examples of sexual politics functioning as a "process in which cultural roles can be modified through affective partnerships between men and women.” 

In 1975 Safi Faye released "Kaddu Beykat", which is widely considered to be the first feature film to be commercially released that was directed by an African woman.