Portal:African cinema/Selected article

Selected articles lsit[edit]

Portal:African cinema/Selected_article/1 The Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) (Arabic: مهرجان القاهرة السينمائي الدولي) is an annual internationally accredited film festival held in Cairo Opera House. CIFF is one of only 15 Festivals accorded as a category "A" status by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations FIAPF. It is the oldest and only internationally accredited cultural feature film festival in the Arab World, Africa and the Middle East.

CIFF was launched in 1976 by the writer-critic Kamal el-Mallakh to enhance the role of Egypt in the world of filmmaking and cinema and to serve as a bridge between the cultures of the world.

Egypt has enjoyed a strong cinematic tradition since the art of filmmaking was first developed, in 1896. Egypt is famously called Hollywood of the East among the Arab World for its long reputable filmmaking history of more than 120 years, wide-reach to more than 400 million Arab speakers and inhabitants in the Middle East, and strong influence on all the Arab Nation by its Art production of thousands of Film Pictures, Series, Theatre Plays and Music. It is common and very well known since the rising of the filmmaking industry in early 1920s in Egypt that any aspiring Arab artist of any related art field has to fly to Cairo to be able to reach and make it to the whole Arab World.

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The Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) (Arabic: مهرجان القاهرة السينمائي الدولي) is an annual film festival held at the Cairo Opera House. Established in 1976 by the Egyptian Association of Film Writers and Critics it is one of the oldest in the Arab world and Africa, and is the only festival in the region given category “A” status by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF).

The creation of the festival was prompted by a visit to the Berlin Film Festival in 1975 by the writer-critic Kamal El Mallakh and a group of like-minded cinema critics who questioned why a similar world-class festival didn’t exist in Egypt. The country was still in Egyptian cinema's "Golden Age" and its film industry the biggest in the Arab world. The festival offers cash prizes and awards in various categories.

The highest award endowed is the Golden Pyramid Award for Best Picture. The Silver and Bronze Pyramid awards are given for the Best Director and Best New Director, respectively. Recent Golden Pyramid winners include I’m No Longer Here (2019) and Limbo (2020). The 45th edition of the film festival in 2023 was canceled due to the Israel-Hamas war.

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The Africa Movie Academy Awards, popularly known as the AMA Awards, is an annual event to recognize excellence among professionals working in, or non-African professionals who have contributed to, the African film industry. AMAA was founded by Peace Anyiam-Osigwe in 2005 and is run by the Africa Film Academy. Often referred to as the “African Oscars” its most recent Best Film winners include Tug of War (2021) a Tanzanian political drama film; The Gravedigger’s Wife (2021), Five Fingers for Marseille (2019), a South African Neo-Western thriller; and Felicite (2018), a Senegalese film set in the Democratic Republic of Congo which won a record six awards.

AMAA is currently accepting submissions for feature, film shorts, animation, and documentary work for consideration in nearly 30 film categories on the occasion of its 20th edition awards show later this year.

Kannywood is the sobriquet for the Hausa-language cinema of Northern Nigeria and based in the northern state of Kano. It is a part of the larger Nigerian cinema, known as Nollywood, which includes other production centres producing films in many other Nigerian languages. The name "Kannywood" is a portmanteau derived from the city name of Kano and Hollywood. "Kannywood" was coined in 1999 by Sunusi Shehu Daneji, publisher of Tauraruwa ("Star") Magazine to capture the growing Hausa video film scene from which point it became the popular reference term for the film industry of Northern Nigeria. The term preceded the label Nollywood which originated with New York Times journalist Norimitsu Onishi in a 2001 article about the Lagos-based film industry.

The Hausa language cinema emerged in the 1960s with productions out of RTV Kaduna and Radio Kaduna. Veterans like Dalhatu Bawa and Kasimu Yero pioneered popular dramas, and in the 70's and 80's, Hausa Comedy was introduced by the likes of Usman Baba Pategi and Mamman Ladan. The 1990s saw a dramatic change in Hausa-language cinema in an effort to attract larger audiences drawn to Bollywood movies. Kannywood, a cinematic synthesis of Indian and Hausa culture emerged and became extremely popular. Turmin Danya ("The Draw"), 1990, is usually cited as the first commercially successful Kannywood film and followed by others such as Gimbiya Fatima, In Da So Da Kauna, Munkar, Badakala and Kiyarda Da Ni.

Kano, a predominantly Muslim state, enforces both Sharia and secular laws with implications on Kannywood productions. For example the state censorship’s unit does not allow male and female actors to touch even if portraying a husband and wife. In 2024, state authorities announced that films could not portray cross dressing, and in reaction to the gang related violence in the North, prohibit depictions of violence.

Notable Kannywood actors include Ali Nuhu, Fati Muhammad, Rahama Sadau, and Rabilu Musa Ibiro.

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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).

Nigerien filmmaking experienced a slowdown in the 1980s in part due to a decline in public financing coupled with the growth of lighter fare, notably action and romance films from the Hausa language film industry of neighbouring Nigeria. A new generation of filmmakers emerged during this period including Inoussa Ousseini (Wasan Kara, 1980), Moustapha Diop (Le médecin de Gafire, 1986; Mamy Wata, 1990) and Mahamane Bakabe (Si les cavaliers, 1982), and Mariama Hima, the country’s first female director, who won acclaim for documentaries such as Baabu Banza (1985). Among the more recent Nigerien directors making their mark include Rahmatou Keïta whose The Wedding Ring (2016) was the first Nigerien film to be submitted in the foreign language category at the Academy Awards.