Film::Africa

The London Film Festival is underway and I spotted a few African films (8 to be precise) whilst trawling through the programme guide.

So what African stories are being told at the pictures this year?

Divizionz: Uganda-South Africa (Dir Yes! That’s Us)
An authentic portrayal of Kampala’s inner city, in which 4 friends set out to make it as hip hop musicians.

Divizionz

Teza: Ethiopia (Dir Haile Gerima)
Set in 1970′s Ethiopia, the story of a young man returning home after studying at university in Germany.

Teza

Victoire Terminus: DRC (Dir Renaud Barret, Florent De La Tullaye)
A documentary portrait of female boxers in Kinshasa as they spar in the Tata Rafael stadium, better known as the ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ stadium where Muhammad Ali KO’d George Foreman in 1974. Juxtapositioned with political rallies for the presidential election in the same stadium.

Victoire Terminus

Hassan and Morcos: Egypt (Dir Ramy Imam)
Egyptian screen icons Omar Sharif and Adel Imam team up for the first time in this razor-sharp satire about religious intolerance. Apparently it’s been very successful in Egypt and has stirred national debate between the country’s minority Christians and majority Muslims.

Hassan and Morcos

Eye of the Sun: Egypt-Morocco (Dir Ibrahim El-Batout)
A hypnotising journey through modern day Egypt and Iraq that veers between documentary and fiction. Won Best Film at the Taorima Film Festival.

Eye of the Sun

Goodbye Solo: Senegal/USA (Dir Ramin Bahrani)
The pairing of a Senegalese taxi driver and a grumbling old timer in North Carolina is the basis of this insightful portrait of human behaviour.

Bahrani’s style is usually visually and emotionally engaging when telling immigrant’s stories (I balled my eyes out during Man Push Cart). I cant wait to see this one.

Goodbye Solo

Short:

Expectations: Chad (Dir Mahamat-Saleh Haroun)
A masterful and visually pleasing short film tells a poignant story of a man shamed by his inability to leave Chad for greener pastures in Europe.

I ♥ Haroun’s work. He is gifted in telling a seemingly simple and realistic story with socio-political relevance with visual elegance (e.g. Abouna).

Expectations

Treasure from the archive:

Touki Bouki: Senegal (Dir Djibril Diop Mambéty)
Sumptuous colour restoration of an exhilarating, semi-surreal classic arthouse favourite from Senegal, in which young rebels dream of escaping to Paris and prosperity.

Despite only having done 2 films, Mambéty is renown for his avant garde style. I’ve been wanting to get my hands on this film for ages – a must see if you’re an arthouse buff like me. Check out the trailer. Amazing that this was in 1973!

Touki Bouki

Source: BFI

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