Portal:African cinema/DYK/29

Congolese actress Rachael Mwanza spent several years living as a street child in Kinshasa before being cast in the film War Witch (2012) after the director and producers saw her in the 2012 documentary Kinshasa Kids. She went on to win several awards for her role as a child soldier, including from the Tribeca Film Festival, the Vancouver Film Critics Circle, and the Berlin Film Festival where she was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Actress.

Lula Ali Isamail, nicknamed the “First Lady of Djibouti Cinema” for directing the country’s first feature film (the 2018 award-winning Dhalinyaro) has been selected to direct the screen adaption of The Youth of God, a novel by Somali-Canadian author Hassan Ghedi Santur. The novel, which follows a 17-year-old Canadian-Somali confronting the challenges of religious radicalization, was longlisted for Canada Reads in 2020 and was a finalist for the 2019 Pius Adesanmi Memorial Award for Excellence in African Writing.

British Nigerian actor Hakeem Kae-Kazim, known for films such Anikulapo, Last flight to Abuja, Half of Yellow Sun, and Black November, is also in demand for voice work. Called the 'Man with a Beautiful Voice', Kae-Kazim has voiced characters for animations that include the South African series Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire (Ogun) and iThe Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (T'Chaka).

The Blue Caftan (2022) by Maryam Touzani has sold the most overseas tickets of any recent Moroccan film (over 500,000). In 2023 it became the first Moroccan film to be shortlisted for the Oscars. The film centers on an unusual love triangle involving a closeted gay tailer of silk caftans, his wife and their apprentice.

After each day of shooting the 2002 Chadian film Abouna on location in Gaoui and N'Djamena, the director Mahamat Saleh Haroun had to send the film 2,600 miles to Paris for processing. Only after waiting several days for word to came back that there were no problems, would shooting resume. Abouna went on to win several prizes, including Best Cinematography at the 2003 Ouagadougou Panafrican Film and Television Festival, and was Chad's submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 75th Academy Awards.