Portal:African cinema
In 2021, Mbedu made her international debut in the Amazon Video limited series The Underground Railroad making her the first South African actress to lead an American television series. The series, based on the novel of the same name by Colson Whitehead and directed by Academy Award winner Barry Jenkins, earned her a Hollywood Critics Association Award, an Independent Spirit Award, a Gotham Award and her second SAFTA nomination. Mbedu is set to feature in the upcoming musical drama film, Mufasa: The Lion King.
The Cinema of Niger dates back to the 1940s, marked by French director, Jean Rouch’s ethnographic documentaries before emerging as one of the most active national film cultures in Francophone Africa in the 1960s-70s Filmmakers of this era included Oumarou Ganda, one of the dominating figures of early African cinema, Moustapha Alassane and Gatta Abdourahamne. Some of their notable early films include Ganda’s Cabascabo (1969) the first African selection at the Cannes Film Festival and Le Wazzou polygame, the grand prize winner at FESPACO in 1972; Alassane’s Le Retour d'un aventurier (1966), the social satire (WVCM: Woman, Villa, Car, Money; 1972) and Toula ou Le génie des eaux (Toula or the Genie of the Waters; 1974).
African Cinema prominently featured at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival with more than 20 films debuting at the festival. Notable features include Somali filmmaker, Mo Harawe’s The Village Next to Paradise and Zambian filmmaker, Rungano Nyoni’s On Becoming a Guniea Fowl in the Un Regard category. The Director’s fortnight featured Egyptian film director, Hala Elkoussy’s East of Noon while Moroccan filmmaker, Nabil Ayouch’s Everybody Loves Touda screened in the Cannes Premiere section.
Film Africa, the Royal African Society’s biennial London festival celebrating the African and African diaspora cinema from across the continent, is now accepting submissions through June 30 for its 10th edition taking place October 25 through November 3, 2024.
How to Ruin Love: The Proposal, a spin off of the How to Ruin series drops on Netflix on May 31. The story follows Zoleka (Sivenathi Mbuya) who believes her long-term boyfriend, Kagiso (Bohang Moeko) is cheating on her. Produced by the Ramaphakela siblings Tshepo, Katleho, and Rethabile of Burnt Onion Productions.
Tribeca Film Festival runs from June 5 to 16, 2024, in New York City. African productions set to screen at the festival include Made in Ethiopia by Xinyan Yu and Max Duncan and produced by Tamara Dawit about three women navigating the expansion of the biggest Chinese industrial zone in Ethiopia; Era Oculta by Carlos Vargas a drama unfolding in Maputuo Mozambique; Searching for Amani, a documentary by Debra Okoro and Nicole Gormley about a young aspiring journalist investigating his father’s murder within one of Kenya’s largest wildlife conservancies; and The Weekend, a drama-thriller by Daniel Emeke Oriahi, and the first independent Nigerian selected to screen at the festival.
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.
The documentary Downstream to Kinshasa (2020) by Congolese filmmaker Dieudo Hamadi is the first film from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to be chosen as an Official Selection of the Cannes Film Festival. The film follows a group of survivors of the DRC's Six-Day War of 2000 traveling to Kinshasa to demand compensation from the government for the losses they incurred during the conflict.
Mortu Nega (English: Death Denied or Those Whom Death Refused) is a historical film by Guinea-Bissau director Flora Gomes. Released in 1988, it was the first film produced in independent Guinea-Bissau and was the first ethnofiction film to depict the Guinea-Bissau War of Independence. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival
The 2021 drama film, The Gravedigger's Wife was the first Somalian entry for the Best International Feature film at the Academy Awards. Written and directed by Khadar Ayderus Ahmed, the story of a gravedigger who struggles to raise money for his wife’s surgery was inspired by a death in his own family.
The short film Bazigaga (2020) by director by Joy Ingabire Moys was the first Rwandan film to be nominated for a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (Bafta) in 2023.
Kenneth Nnebue revolutionized Nollywood by introducing a pioneering concept: distributing its content via VHS (Video Home System), effectively bringing Nollywood into African households. Living in Bondage was the first film released through this system.
Rehema Nanfuka (b. May 25 1986) is a Ugandan actress, director and filmmaker known for her work in theatre, film and television. Her notable roles include her performances in Imani (2010), Queen of Katwe (2015) and Girl in the Yellow Jumper (2020). In 2018, she won the Best Director award for her film Veronica’s Wish (2018) at the Uganda Film Festival Awards, becoming the first woman to win the award.
Med Hondo (b. May 4 1936 in Atar, Mauritania and died March 2, 2019) is a Franco- Mauritanian actor, director , screenwriter and producer . He belongs to the second generation of African directors, after precursors like Ousmane Sembène. In 2022, his films Soleil Ô and West Indies were ranked 243rd and 152nd places respectively on the list of the greatest films of all time by Sight and Sound film magazine based on the votes of more than 1,600 critics.
Adel Emam (b. 17 May, 1940) is an Egyptian film, television, and stage actor. He is known for his comedic roles and has appeared in over 100 films and theatre productions. He started his career in theatre and has featured in films like My Wife, the Director General (1966), The Suspect (1981) and The Yacoubian Building (2006). He won the Horus Award at the Cairo International Film Festival for his roles in The Yacoubian Building (2006) and Al-irhabi (1994).
Wanuri Kahiu (b. June 21 1980) is an Kenyan filmmaker, producer, and writer. She first gained recognition for her film From a Whisper (2008) for which she won the award for Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Picture at the 2009 Africa Movie Academy Awards. Kahiu is known for tackling sensitive and often controversial subjects such as homosexuality. Her filmography includes Pumzi (2009), which challenges the pessimistic views of Africa’s future, and Rafiki (2018), the first Kenyan film to portray a love story involving two girls. In 2020, Kahiu signed a deal with Disney+ to adapt the popular Broadway musical, Once on This Island.
Dani Kouyaté (b. June 4 1961) is a Burkinabé film director and griot. Born in Bobo-Dioulasso, he comes from a long line of Mandinka griots and is the son of actor Sotigui Kouyaté. His debut feature film, Keïta! l'Héritage du griot (1995) won Best First Film Prize at the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou and was awarded the Junior Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
“Many actors around the world are talking about the same thing and when you love an industry, you want to see it expand and develop. Gender equality and equal pay would make the industry better so I don’t see courage in addressing that, I just see responsibility over an industry I like and the job that I chose.”
“As women, we have to be more vocal and defend ourselves more and promote ourselves better as actresses but also as screenwriters, and producers. They exist, but there aren’t enough.”
Hend Sabry, Tunisian-Egyptian actress and producer
U-Carmen eKayelitsha is a 2005 South African operatic film directed and produced by Mark Dornford-May. The musical score blends Bizet’s original opera with traditional African music, directed and conducted by British Conductor Charles Hazlewood. The film was shot entirely in Xhosa and combines the musical elements to tell a story set in the Cape Town township of Khayelitsha. The cast did not have prior film experience and only rehearsed for four weeks before recording the live musical numbers on a set without additional editing. The story follows Carmen and her troubled relationship with Jongikhaya against the backdrop of a South African township. The film received critical acclaim and won the Golden Bear Award at the 2005 Berlin International Film Festival.
Sarraounia (1986), a historical drama film directed by Mauritanian director, Med Hondo and co-produced by Burkina Faso, Mauritania and France. The film tells the story of the of the Queen of the Aznas’s resistance of the Hausas of West Africa in the face of French colonialism. The film was adapted from the1980 novel of the same name by the Nigerien novelist and poet Abdoulaye Mamani. Shot in Burkina Faso.the film cost $3,000,000, which was raised over seven years by Burkinabé financiers and Hondo's own production company. After being shown in several African countries, the film achieved widespread success and won the First Prize (Étalon de Yennenga) at the 1987 Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO).
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