The representation of women in African cinema is seen as a common theme among women directors such as Safi Faye and Sarah Maldoror, and historians have noted that women have made the bulk of the theme's research. Some films, such as Karmen Gei and U-Carmen eKhayelitsha feature female protagonists, but have been criticized as "[representing] a departure from the situation of the contemporary woman in Africa" as the films identify women with music and the voice. Riesco has noted that while these films portray the idealization of the feminine, they also "offer a vibrant alternative to the previous wave of cinema, largely characterized the exaltation of the rural, of traditions and their recuperation, and of a specific kind of narration, slow and measured, based in oral conventions in which silence and speech were equally stressed."[1]