Institut des hautes études cinématographiques
In the French colonies Africans were prohibited by the 1934 Laval Decree from making films of their own. The ban stunted the growth of film as a means of African expression, political, cultural, and artistic. Congolese Albert Mongita did make "The Cinema Lesson" in 1951 and in 1953 Mamadou Touré made "Mouramani" based on a folk story about a man and his dog. In 1955, Paulin Soumanou Vieyra originally from Benin, but educated in Senegal along with his colleagues from Le Group Africain du Cinema, shot a short film in Paris, "Afrique-sur-Seine" (1955). Vieyra was trained in filmmaking at the Institut des hautes études cinématographiques (IDHEC) in Paris, and despite the ban on filmmaking in Africa, was granted permission to make a film in France. Considered the first film directed by a black African, "Afrique Sur Seine" explores the difficulties of being an African in 1950s France.