Portal:African cinema/Selected film
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Dahomey is a 2024 documentary film directed by French-Senegalese filmmaker, Mati Diop and winner of the 2024 Golden Bear Award, the highest prize awarded at the Berlin International Film Festival. It was also nominated for the Berlinale Documentary Film Award. An international co-production (France, Senegal and Benin) the film explores the return of 26 royal treasures of the Kingdom of Dahomey to present-day Benin. The artifacts were looted during French colonial rule and were previously on display in a Parisian museum before being repatriated.
The film uses a blend of fact and fiction to tell the story and emphasizes the symbolic value of the artifacts to the Kingdom of Dahomey. The film includes a discussion by students at the University of Abomey-Calavi, presenting their views on the repatriation of cultural assets. Some of the students criticize the Paris museum for returning only 26 of the 7,000 worldwide ethnographic objects it holds.
In her acceptance speech Diop said “To rebuild we must first restore, and to restitute we must do justice..We are among those who refuse to forget”. The film is scheduled for theatrical release in France on 25 September 2024..
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Mami Wata is a 2023 black-and-white fantasy thriller written and directed by C.J. “Fiery” Obasi. The film premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival making it Obasi’s third film to screen at Sundance and where its cinematographer Lílis Soares won the Special Jury Prize in the World Dramatic Competition. In an interview with CNN, Obasi stated he "wanted to make a hyper-stylised film" with its style rooted in substance, taking inspiration from his favourite filmmakers such as Akira Kurosawa and David Lynch. The characters Prisca and Zinwe were inspired by Obasi's late sisters.
The film was listed as the Nigerian entry for Best Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards and its accolades include nominations for Best International Film at the Independent Spirit Awards and Outstanding International Motion Picture at the NAACP Image Awards in addition to three wins at the 2023 FESPACO festival including for best cinematography and set design. Cast members include Evelyne Ily Juhen, Uzoamaka Aniunoh, Kelechi Udegbe and Emeka Amakeze. The film received praise for its cinematography, depth of narration and the infusion of folklore with socio-political commentary. It holds a perfect 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
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Black Tea is a 2024 romantic drama film co-written and directed by Mauritanian director, Abderrahmane Sissako. an international co-production between France, Mauritania, Luxembourg, Taiwan and Ivory Coast, it tells the story of A young Ivorian girl named Aya who moves to China and falls in love with an older Chinese man named Cai. The film explores the challenges to their relationship due to their backgrounds and societal biases. The director was inspired to write this story after discovering a restaurant called "La Colline Parfumée" (The Perfumed Hill) run by an Afro-Chinese couple. It premiered at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2024, competing for the Golden Bear award.. It sparked discussions about love, identity, and cultural intersectionality.
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Sira is a 2023 drama film written and directed by Burkinabé filmmaker and producer, Apolline Traoré. The film set in the Sahel tells the story of a young Fulani girl, Sira, travelling to meet her groom, Jean-Sidi. ttacked by Islamist terrorists, all the men are killed and Sira, rapedand left for dead i, t fights for her survival and plots her revenge. Of how she hoped her film would move people, Traoré said “I want to say to my people that there is hope. And for the international audience, I want to share what the situation is like, to tell them about this war. It's my responsibility to narrate what is going on”
The film was a co-production between Burkina Faso, Senegal, France and Germany and shot in Mauritania It premiered at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival, winning the Panorama Audience Award for Best Feature Film. It also screened at the 2023 edition of Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou where it won the second prize.
Sira was selected as the Burkinabé entry in the Best International Feature Film for the 96th Academy Awards, the first Burkinabé entry since 1989. The film was praised for Nafissatou Cissé’s portrayal of Sira, Traoré’s direction, and its portrayal of resilience in the face of adversity.
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On Becoming a Guinea Fowl (2024) is a comedy drama film written and directed by Zambian filmmaker, Rungano Nyoni. The film won the Un Certain Regard section at the 77th Cannes Film Festival on 16 May 2024.i and developed by BBC Film and Element Pictures. It was financed by A24 alongside BBC Film and Fremantle. Rungano won the Un Certain Regard award at Cannes for Best Director. It tells the story of Shula who finds her uncle’s corpse on an empty road in the middle of the night. As funeral proceedings begin around them, she and her cousins bring to light the buried secrets of their middle-class Zambian family. The film currently has 100% rating based on 17 critics’ reviews on the review aggregator website, Rotten Tomatoes
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The Wound (Xhosa: Inxeba Xhosa pronunciation: [íŋǁeːɓa]) is a 2017 South African drama film directed by John Trengove. It was screened in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and the Panorama section of the 67th Berlin International Film Festival. It was selected as the South African entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards, making the December shortlist. The story tracks a closeted relationship between two men in the context of the Xhosa initiation ritual of Ulwaluko. Inspiration for The Wound came after Trengove read A Man Who is Not a Man, a novel by Thando Mgqolozana on the topic of the Xhosa initiation ceremony. Trengove wished to challenge the notion that homosexuality was a product of western culture that posed a threat to traditional African culture. The Wound received 19 awards at 44 festivals worldwide; eight South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTA) nominations and won five including Best Feature Film, Best Actor in a Feature Film, Best Supporting Actor in a Feature Film, Best Achievement in Directing in a Feature Film, and Best Achievement in Editing in a Feature Film
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As I Open My Eyes (French: À peine j'ouvre les yeux) is a 2015 French-Tunisian drama film directed by Leyla Bouzid. The story revolves around Farah (Baya Medhaffer), a rebellious teenager who defies her mother's (Ghalia Benali) concerns by sneaking out to sing with an underground band. Set in the lead-up to Tunisia's Jasmine Revolution in the summer of 2010, the film captures Farah's as well as the country’s struggle for independence and self-expression.
The film won multiple awards including at the Venice International Film Festival and was selected as the Tunisian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards. The film received positive reviews upon its release. It holds a 100% fresh ratings from Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.5 average rating. Variety called it an "impressive debut" and Medhaffer's acting "a stand-out lead performance". A critic for Indiewire gave the film a score of A− and called it "the Best Fictional Film Yet About the Arab Spring."
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Who Killed Captain Alex? is a 2010 Ugandan action comedy film written, produced, and directed by Nabwana Isaac Geoffrey Godfrey (IGG), known as Uganda's Quentin Tarantino. The film was made byWakaliwood, an ultra-low-budget studio in Kampala, Uganda founded by Nabwana. The film has gained cult status since becoming a viral sensation as a no-budget action film, produced on a reported budget of under $200. A trailer for the film was uploaded to YouTube in January 2010 followed by the full movie in March 2015. The movie has been viewed over 9.6 million times.
Nabwana was inspired to create the film by his love of Hollywood action movies and martial arts films as well as his desire to change the perception that cinema is only for the well-off in Uganda.
The original version of the film was intended for local distribution in Kampala, with the dialogue recorded in the native language of Luganda. After the Luganda trailer for the film went viral on YouTube, Nabwana adapted the local video joker (VJ), a popular practice in Uganda cinema, for a Western audience and hired VJ Emmie to provide comedic commentary in English.
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October 1 is a 2014 Nigerian thriller film written by Tunde Babalola, produced and directed by Kunle Afolayan, and starring Sadiq Daba, Kayode Olaiya, and Demola Adedoyin. The film is set in the last months of Colonial Nigeria in 1960. It recounts the fictional story of a police officer (Daba) from Northern Nigeria, investigating a series of killings of young women in a remote village in Western Nigeria just before October 1, 1960 – the date Nigeria gained independence from British colonial rule.
October 1 deals with several themes, including religious and ethnic conflict, politics in Colonial Nigeria, and Nigeria's unification and independence.
Afoloyan stated that he set out to make a film that appealed to both younger and older audiences:
"For the older generation, especially those who were part of independence, they will be able to see themselves in this film. For the younger generation it's a platform – many of them who don't know the story of Nigeria."
The film won several awards, including Best Feature Film, Best Screenplay, and Best Actor at the 2014 Africa International Film Festival. That same year Netflix acquired the online distribution rights for the film, making it one of the first Nollywood films to be featured on the streamer.
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Viva Riva! is a 2010 Congolese crime thriller film written and directed by Djo Tunda Wa Munga. The film received 12 nominations and won 6 awards at the 7th Africa Movie Academy Awards, making it the most awarded film in the history of the AMAA's up to that date. Its awards included Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Production Design. Viva Riva! also won at the 2011 MTV Movie Awards for Best African Movie.
The film takes place in Kinshasa during a fuel shortage crisis. Riva (Patsha Bay), a small-time thug arrives in his hometown with a truckload of fuel he has stolen from Cesar (Hoji Fortuna), an Angolan gangster who is hot on his trail. Riva's troubles only intensify when he falls for Nora (Manie Malone), the girlfriend of a local gang lord.
Wa Munga explained in an interview, “I wanted to make a genre film, because that made it easier for the audience to get into." "Also, the genre film or the noir film has the advantage that you can talk about the social context, you can raise political issues, but at the same time I'm not preaching."
Reviews from critics were largely positive, including from international media such as the New York Times,The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Le Figaro, and Le Monde. On Rotten Tomatoes it has an approval rating of 87% based on reviews from 60 critics. Widely available on streaming platforms, Viva Riva can be watched for free on Tubi.
Portal:African cinema/Selected_film/25 Iwájú (pronounced [ī.wá.d͡ʒú]) is a 2024 animated science fiction miniseries produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and the Pan-African British-based entertainment company Kugali Media for the streaming service Disney+.
The title of the series, iwájú, roughly translates to "the future" in the Yoruba language and stars Simisola Gbadamosi, Dayo Okeniyi, Femi Branch, Siji Soetan, Toyin Oshinaike, and Weruche Opia, Bisola Aiyeola and Sodiq Yusuff.
The story draws inspiration from (and is set in) the city of Lagos, Nigeria, due to its being the country's culture capital, and due to both its mainland and island areas having a unique, distinct feel that Iwaju's creative team felt provided an ideal base for the story. The series includes an original score composed by Ré Olunuga.
Through its two main characters—Tola (voiced by Gbadamosi), a spirited young girl from the affluent island, and her best friend Kole (voiced by Soetan), a gifted techie—Iwájú explores themes of inequality and class divide, which director and Kugali co-founder Ziki Nelson described as "the everyday reality of life in Nigeria and other parts of the world". The series also explores how those issues affect everyday society, as well as challenging the status quo. Nelson said the show is about "inspiration, or aspiration and desire, to try and engineer society for living in a more positive way".
Iwájú was written by Olufikayo Adeola and Halima Hudson from a story by Adeola, Hamid Ibrahim, and Toluwalakin Olowofoyeku and directed by Adeola
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Disco Afrika : A Malagasy Story is a 2023 Malagasy drama film directed by Luck Razanajaona. It had its world premiere at the 2023 Marrakech International Film Festival and European premiere at the 2024 Berlin International Film Festival, making it the first-ever Malagasy selection for a major international festival.
The film takes place in contemporary Madagascar and follows Kwame, a young sapphire miner struggling to make a living. Returning to his hometown due to an unexpected turn of events, he finds himself confronted with the rampant corruption plaguing Madagascar and is torn between making easy money and keeping his integrity —mirroring a country that is straddling a painful past and hopeful resurgence.
Reviews have been positive. CineEuropa’s critic wrote:
"Attempting to capture the soul of Madagascar (its ancestral rites) and to make connections between eras so as to honour the island’s enduring spirit of resistance and denounce the collective chaos orchestrated to benefit the few, Luck Razanajaona delivers an engaged and highly enlightening film, making clever use of radio, songs and photos to fuel a very simple story."
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Softie is a 2020 Kenyan documentary about political activist and photojournalist Boniface Mwangi who first came to prominence through his photographs documenting the post-election violence of the 2007 elections. Most recently Mwangi made international headlines after being arrested and detained overnight on October 27, 2024, by Kenyan police, after calling for an anti-government protest in Nairobi. Softie, which chronicles 5 years of his life leading up to his run for a local seat in the 2017 elections, is a portrait of Mwangi the activist, but also about Kenyan politics, family, and identity.
The first feature film of director Sam Soko, Softie won several awards including a Special Jury Prize for Editing at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, and Best Documentary at the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) 2020, an award that automatically qualified the film for consideration for the Oscar documentary shortlist for the 93rd Academy Awards ceremony.
Soko said of Softie:
"This film has to be for Kenyans, for that person that actually wakes up at 5am and goes to vote. That person has to see themselves."
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The South African Film and Television Awards (sometimes referred to as the Golden Horns; often simply called the SAFTAs) is an annual South African awards ceremony hosted by the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), to honor creative excellence in the local film and television industry as assessed by the volunteer judges. The various category winners are awarded a statuette, officially called the Golden Horn, and a certificate. Only South African citizens are eligible for the awards, first presented in 2006.
The faces on the statuette are based on artifacts from throughout Africa, some dating back to 800 CE, and reference the Lydenburg Heads.The three figure heads are sculpted to look like cattle horns and are a reference to flames and, ultimately, the rising sun as an "emblem of brightness, splendour and the supreme principle of the nature". Among the biggest winners of the 2023 Awards were the Netflix drama Silverton Siege, which was the most-awarded film taking home six awards, the Netflix comedy series, How to Ruin Christmas with five awards, and Gaia, a horror film, that won four out of its nine nominations.
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I Am Not a Witch is a 2017 drama film written and directed by Welsh-Zambian director Rungano Nyoni in her feature debut film. It was screened in the Directors' Fortnight section at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival and won the BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer for Nyoni and producer Emily Morgan at the 71st British Academy Film Awards and was selected as the British entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards,
The story centers around Shula (Maggie Mulubwa), an 8-year-old girl who is deemed a witch and sent to a witch camp. Writer-director Nyoni was inspired by actual stories of witchcraft accusations in Zambia. In her research for the film, she traveled to Ghana and spent time in one of the world's oldest witch camps, observing their daily life and rituals. "I actually stayed in a [witch camp]. They said I was the first foreigner to do that, which is quite amazing. I read loads of research on witch camps. I stayed there to see what it was like to just live there."
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 96% based on 78 reviews, with an average rating of 7.50/10. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 79 out of 100, based on 19 critics. The Guardian's film critic called I am not a Witch "comic, tragic – and captivatingly beautiful."
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Elesin Oba, The King's Horseman is a 2022 Yoruba historical drama film directed by Biyi Bandele based on Wole Soyinka's Death and the King's Horseman, a stage play he wrote while in Cambridge, where he was a fellow at Churchill College during his political exile from Nigeria, and is based on a real incident that took place in Yorubaland during British Colonial rule. The screenplay was translated into Yorùbá and the film subsequently subtitled into English by Nigerian linguist Kola Tubosun, a decision described as "one of [the film's] more ticklish conceits" and “the only way to make the film immediately accessible to a global audience.” The film is a co-production between Netflix and Ebonylife TV Studio. The movie premiered at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on 9 September 2022, the first Yoruba-language film to premiere at TIFF, and was released in Nigerian cinemas on 28 October 2022 followed by a Netflix release on 4 November.
It is Soyinka's first work to be made into a motion picture since the 1970s film Kongi's Harvest directed by Ossie Davies.
The film is set in the 1940s Oyo Town in southwestern Nigeria. The king has just died, and as tradition demands Elesin Oba, the King's horseman, must perform ritual suicide in order to join his deceased king in the afterlife so that the king may gain unhindered passage into the land of the gods, thus preventing calamity from befalling the community. Elesin Oba's sexual appetites cause him to shirk in his duty, which leads to a lethal confrontation with the British and with devastating consequences. When the horseman is unable to fulfill his final obligation to the king, his ghost wanders the earth, spelling calamity for the land and its people
The film stars Odunlade Adekola as the titular character, with Shaffy Bello, Brymo, Deyemi Okanlawon, Omowunmi Dada, Jide Kosoko, Langley Kirkwood, Joke Silva amongst others in supporting roles. Read More.
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The Athlete (Amharic: እትሌቱ, Atletu) is a 2009 Ethiopian drama film about Abebe Bikila (1932-1973) the Ethiopian marathon runner and first African to win a gold medal. In 1960, he participated in the Rome Olympic Games as a complete unknown and won the gold medal running barefoot. He became an overnight global sensation and four years later, repeated his feat at the Tokyo Olympic Games, becoming the first man to win the Olympic marathon twice in a row. In 1969 he was in a car accident that left him a quadriplegic, paralyzed from the neck down. He died four years later.
Ethiopian-born Rasselas Lakew starred as Bikila in the film, winning the Best Actor award at the 2011 Brooklyn Film Festival. He also co-wrote, co-produced, and co-directed the film which blends biopic, drama, and archival footage. Its awards include The Lions Award for Best Film in The Bright Future section of the Rotterdam Film Festival and in 2010, The Athlete became the first-ever Ethiopian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards.
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