Africa: Independence and Disillusionment
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- DirectorRaoul PeckStarsEriq EbouaneyAlex DescasThéophile SowiéThe true story of controversial leader of independent Congo Patrice Lumumba.
- DirectorThierry MichelStarsRaymond BarreJacques ChiracValéry Giscard d'EstaingThiery Michel takes an in-depth look at the reign of Mobutu Sese Seko. A man of "modest roots" who had a Catholic upbringing, Mobutu was sent to the army by his father for insubordination. Soon he would be Patrice Lumumba's right-hand man...
- DirectorRaoul PeckStarsPatrice LumumbaDocumentary about African political leader Patrice Lumumba, who was Prime Minister of Zaire (now Congo) when he was assassinated in 1961.
- DirectorThierry Michel
- DirectorBalufu Bakupa-KanyindaStarsDieudonné KabongoYves MbaPascal N'ZonziThis film tells the story of the president of a fictitious African nation who spends a sleepless night playing checkers with a pot-smoking vagabond who claims to be the all-round champion. However, the rules of the game entail the opponents howling vulgar and foul obscenities at one another. The champion proceeds to insult, and trounce, the President. His reward, and his fate, will not surprise anyone.
- DirectorLeon GastStarsMuhammad AliGeorge ForemanDon KingBoxing documentary on the 1974 world heavyweight championship bout between defending champion, George Foreman, and the underdog challenger, Muhammad Ali.
- DirectorMoussa Sene AbsaStarsIsmaël LôNdèye Fatou NdawThierno Ndiaye DossTells the story of an idealistic young politician's rise and fall. Daam, a well-intentioned but vacillating European-trained politician must choose between two social paradigms exemplified by his two wives. The first, Gagnesiri, is the village beauty, who waits patiently for Daam. Unfortunately, they are unable to conceive a child, so Daam takes European-educated Kiné, who is eager to get ahead by marrying a politician. Daam becomes involved in a shady business deal with Président, a local businessman; when the details are made public, he is forced out in disgrace.
- DirectorJohn AkomfrahStarsTania RogersEvans Oma HunterFrank ParkesAn exiled Ghanaian politician returns to Ghana two decades after the 1966 coup.
- DirectorJihan El-TahriFrom Che Guevara's military campaign to avenge Lumumba in the Congo up to the fall of apartheid in South Africa, 300,000 Cubans fought alongside African revolutionaries. CUBA, AN AFRICAN ODYSSEY is the previously untold story of Cuba's support for African revolutions, one of the Cold War's most vigorous contests over resources and ideology.
- DirectorZézé GamboaStarsMakena DiopMilton 'Santo' CoelhoMaria CeiçaA 20-year veteran of the Angolan civil war returns to the capital city of Luanda where he faces the challenges of assimilation and survival.
- DirectorHaile GerimaStarsAaron ArefeAbiye TedlaTakelech BeyeneThe Ethiopian intellectual Anberber returns to his native country during the repressive totalitarian regime of Haile Mariam Mengistu and the recognition of his own displacement and powerlessness at the dissolution of his people's humanity and social values. After several years spent studying medicine in Germany, he finds the country of his youth replaced by turmoil. His dream of using his craft to improve the health of Ethiopians is squashed by a military junta that uses scientists for its own political ends. Seeking the comfort of his countryside home, Anberber finds no refuge from violence. The solace that the memories of his youth provide is quickly replaced by the competing forces of military and rebelling factions. Anberber needs to decide whether he wants to bear the strain or piece together a life from the fragments that lie around him.
- DirectorMahamat-Saleh HarounStarsAli BarkaiYoussouf DjaoroAziza HisseineChad, 2006. After a forty-year civil war, the radio announces the government has just amnestied the war criminals. Outraged by the news, Gumar Abatcha orders his grandson Atim, a sixteen-year-old youth, to trace the man who killed his father and to execute him. Atim obeys him and, armed with his father's own gun, he goes in search of Nassara, the man who made him an orphan. It does not take long before he finds him. Nassara, who now goes straight, is married, goes to the mosque and owns a small bakery. After some hesitation Atim offers him his services as an apprentice. He is hired then it will be easy for him to gun down the murderer of his father. At least, that is what he thinks...
- DirectorGavin HoodStarsPresley ChweneyagaeMothusi MaganoIsrael Matseke-ZuluSix days in the violent life of a young Johannesburg gang leader.
- DirectorCheikh NdiayeStarsLea CartierIsmaila CisséMédoune Dame CisséLiterary adaptation: Thru the story of a quiet teenage boy introduced to a powerful wrestling champ, we learn about the specific features of a national tradition in Senegal.
- DirectorMahamat-Saleh HarounStarsYoussouf DjaoroDiouc KomaEmile Abossolo M'boPresent-day Chad. Adam, fifty-five, a former swimming champion, is pool attendant at a smart N'Djamena hotel. When the hotel gets taken over by new Chinese owners, he is forced to give up his job to his son Abdel. Terribly resentful, he feels socially humiliated. The country is in the throes of a civil war. Rebel forces are attacking the government. The authorities demand that the population contribute to the "war effort", giving money or volunteers old enough to fight off the assailants. The District Chief constantly harasses Adam for his contribution. But Adam is penniless; he only has his son....
- DirectorJohn KaniStarsJohn KaniRosie MoteneMotshabi TyeleleAfter his brothers death a man plans his funeral but things don't go as planned as his relatives have to come to terms with the fact that he wasn't the man everyone thought he was
- DirectorLeila KilaniDuring the oppressive reign of Moroccan King Hassan II in the 70's and 80's (a.k.a. Years of Lead) many dissidents went missing. After the throning of a new king, a truth commission was formed in the 2000's. Families of the missing speak.
- DirectorMama KeïtaStarsMame Ndoumbé DiopMouss DioufIbrahima M'BayeAdama Diop is a successful scientist, living in Paris. After 15 years away, he travels to his hometown in Senegal to visit his aged grandmother and his semi-deaf mute sister Aicha. Aicha is still traumatized about their mother's death, who died as she was giving birth to her. But the true extent of Aicha's mental state only becomes apparent when Adama discovers she is working as a prostitute, amidst a seedy underworld of gangsters, drugs and crime. Adama's discovery leads to a gripping thriller as he struggles to free Aicha from the sinister world into which she has descended.
- DirectorDjamila SahraouiStarsRachida BrakniFettouma Ousliha-BouamariZahir BouzerarSet amidst the civil war of Algeria in the 1990s, Enough! is the story of two women. Emel is a Westerner whose husband, a journalist, is missing - perhaps kidnapped or even killed for articles he's written.
- DirectorImunga IvangaStarsMichel NdaotNadège Kyara BongoLaurent OwondoCaptain Ekumu has a lot on his mind: his son Ika is dying and he does not have the means to find treatment for him, which is driving his wife Ezéni to despair. A mysterious radio broadcast interrupts the speech of President Baby Zame. It talks of a golden mango tree, of a day to come, of the freedom of poets. Liberty holds sway on the airways it pirates for fifteen minute periods from its hiding place in a truck. Colonel Paturau is ordered to announce a bounty prize to anyone able to arrest pirate Liberty. But how can you arrest a voice that has no body? A culprit must be found. For Ekumu, this could be the solution to his family tragedy.
- DirectorKollo SanouStarsBarthélémy BoudaAndré BougmaMarina GinetteA village elder veteran expecting his pension buys a mill on credit for the community, but the repeated requests ignored by the government bring back his fighting spirit.
- DirectorRamadan SulemanStarsPamela NomveteMpumi MalatsiSophie MgcinaA militant tribute to the commitment of South African women, carried by a fierce energy marked with rage and despair.
- DirectorBelkacem HadjadjStarsTarek Hadj AbdelhafidKhaled BenaïssaFarouk BoutadjineEl- Manara, is a brutally direct depiction of Algerian society during the rise of fundamentalist Islam, which was to give rise to civil war following the annulment of the 1991 elections, in which the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) won. It follows the life of Asma who now lives with her daughter in France, having, like many Algerians, fled the war.The film flashes back to Algiers where Asma, a university lecturer shares an apartment with her friends Ramadan, a doctor and Fawzi, a newspaper journalist. They attend the Manara festivities, celebrating Prophet Mohamed's anniversary. The event, a peaceful carnival with music and fireworks, is used as a backdrop to subsequent social transformations, and acts to give the viewer an idea of Muslim traditions in Algeria, which are placed in confrontation with the Wahabite ideology of the FIS. The three young people face obstacles to their friendship and carefree life as the traumas of the 1988 Algerian uprising and ensuing repression brings them face-to- face with their values. Beyond Algeria, the film provides keys to understand the fragility of democratic cultures in the region along with the mechanisms of disseminating fundamentalist Islamist ideas.
- DirectorNabil AyouchStarsMounïm KbabMustapha HansaliHicham MoussouneA group of children living on the street leave their gang, prompting retribution from the gang's leader. After one of the children dies, the rest try to come up with the resources to give their friend a proper burial.
- DirectorAbderrahmane SissakoStarsAbderrahmane SissakoNana BabyMohamed SissakoIn the last days of 1999, after a few shots of a French supermarket, abundant in food and color, we hear Dramane compose a letter home to his father in Mali whom he then visits in the village of Sokolo. He meets the lovely Nana, and there are possibilities. People place long-distance calls from the post office. "Reaching people," says the postmaster, "is a matter of luck." Contrasts between Paris and Sokolo - between Mali and France and between Africa and Europe - are underscored by voice-over poems and comments by Aimé Césaire. A man dictates a letter to a brother in France: what is the nature of their hardships? People look for their place on this earth.
- DirectorLeão LopesStarsMarina AlbuquerqueFernanda AlvesSimão Pedro AlvesCape Verde, 1964. At the feet of a mighty volcano, the traditional Cape Verdean society is undergoing a steady change. The old land-owning aristocracy is disintegrating. A class of "mulattos" begins to emerge, with a trade-based financial power that threatens the landlords. A new identity arises, a mix of old and new, of African and Portuguese culture, sensual and dynamic. The songs of Cesária Évora follow this inevitable transformation. From the novel by Henrique Teixeira de Sousa.
- DirectorGillo PontecorvoStarsBrahim HadjadjJean MartinYacef SaadiIn the 1950s, fear and violence escalate as the people of Algiers fight for independence from the French government.
- DirectorKhaled El HagarStarsSeif AbdelrahmanMervat AminTamir AshrafWe see the developments in Egypt through the eyes of a twelve year old during the presidency of Nasser and the reactions on his step down after the Six Day War with Israel.
- DirectorFlora GomesStarsBia GomesTunu Eugenio AlmadaMamadu Uri BaldeThe story of a woman who searches through the country for her husband, a resistant, while the war for independence is raging. She finds him at last and saves his life. When peace finally arrives, they have to learn how to be together again and start living in a destroyed land.
- DirectorMoussa BathilyStarsGueyeMarguerite ThiamA mother goes to the hospital to get treatment for her sick baby, but is repeatedly referred elsewhere.
- DirectorSouleymane CisséStarsBalla Moussa KeitaBaba NiareBubukar KeitaA young manager of a factory encounters a man walking along a road who says his family traditionally are servants to the manager's family. The manager offers him a job, and as he watches out for the other man's welfare, begins to see how the company mistreats its workers. The manager is challenged between his ethics and the pressure from others to protect his own interests as dire problems surface at the factory
- DirectorConnie FieldStarsAlfre WoodardThe cinematic history of the worldwide effort to destroy South African apartheid, a story that has never been told before in any medium. An epic 7-film history on how a violent, racist, intractable government was destroyed by the concerted efforts of men and women working on multiple fronts inside and outside South Africa for more than four decades. The series follows three generations of the struggle inside South Africa and battles waged in sports arena, cathedrals, embassies,corporate boardrooms, rock concerts and gas stations around the globe, culminating in the most globalized human rights struggle in history.
- DirectorJustin ChadwickStarsIdris ElbaNaomie HarrisTerry PhetoA chronicle of Nelson Mandela's life journey from his childhood in a rural village through to his inauguration as the first democratically elected president of South Africa.
- DirectorLicínio AzevedoStarsIva MugalelaHermelinda CimelaSumeia Maculuva1975, Mozambique's rebirth as an independent nation. The young revolution sweeps the streets of Maputo clean of prostitutes and bad habits. The prostitutes are sent to re-education camps deep in the countryside, where they will become "new women" - loyal comrades of the new nation. As the "clean-up" takes place, Margarida, a 16-year-old girl from the countryside, is mistakenly taken. Drawing on the stories of real women, Virgin Margarida is a dramatic exploration of a little known chapter in Mozambique's history. A chapter that made no allowance for individuality and enshrined male domination as an ideology.
- DirectorBiyi BandeleStarsChiwetel EjioforThandiwe NewtonAnika Noni RoseSisters Olanna and Kainene return home to 1960s Nigeria, where they soon diverge on different paths. As civil war breaks out, political events loom larger than their differences as they join the fight to establish an independent republic.
- DirectorAlex GibneyStarsFela KutiYeni KutiFemi KutiA look at the life and music of Nigerian singer Fela Kuti.
- DirectorJeremy XidoStarsSonia FerreiraWilker FloresDEATH METAL ANGOLA follows a loving Angolan couple, Sonia and Wilker, whose love for death metal music is bringing hope to the town and children of Huambo, and Angola as a country. The devastating reality of Angola's history of wars, and civil unrest has left the country's people torn, broken, and starving for something to give them peace. Sonia, and Wilker's dream to put on the first national rock festival ignites the emotions of the Angolan people, and helps them heal from the war stricken path Angola has left behind. This engaging reality of Angola touches the heart of the viewer, and sheds new light on a music genre that is not well understood.
- DirectorLandon Van SoestThrough intimate portraits of three individuals living in the poorest areas of Kenya, Good Fortune explores how massive, international efforts to alleviate poverty in Africa may be undermining the very communities they aim to benefit.
- DirectorSarah MaldororStarsElisa AndradeDomingos de OliveiraJean M'VondoA man is wrongfully arrested and tortured to death after he is suspected of being part of a revolutionary group.
- DirectorJoanna LipperStarsHafsat AbiolaDocumentary about women's rights in Nigeria.
- DirectorHubert SauperA modern odyssey into the heart of Africa at the historic moment when Sudan, the continent's largest country, is being divided into two separate states.
- DirectorKunle AfolayanStarsSadiq DabaKayode OlaiyaAdemola AdedoyinAs Nigeria prepares for independence from the British in 1960, a seasoned police detective rushes to find the serial killer slaughtering its native young women.
- DirectorCary Joji FukunagaStarsAbraham AttahEmmanuel AffadziRicky AdelayitorA drama based on the experiences of Agu, a child soldier fighting in the civil war of an unnamed African country.
- DirectorElizabeth JonesStarsSorious SamuraIn this eye-opening film, the award-winning African journalist Sorious Samura reveals how corruption has become normal and accepted in Africa - it is one of the root causes of Africa's many problems. Sadly, most aid money given by the West never reaches those it is meant to help; it gets siphoned off by corrupt governments. This film provides a sober portrait of how modern Africa really works. Samura moves into one of the largest slums in Africa, Kibera in Kenya, to reveal the relentlessness of everyday corruption, where the poor have to bribe just to survive. Bribery is the modus operandi for obtaining basics such as hospital appointments, building their shacks, getting work and staying out of jail. Samura returns home to Sierra Leone to live with a friend and her 10 children. Here widespread corruption led to a brutal and bloody civil war that ended in 2002. The country had the chance to start again but Samura describes how a seven-year aid project, led by the British, has failed because of corruption and a lack of understanding from Western donors. In the slums there is no water or electricity and Sierra Leoneans still have the worst life expectancy on the planet.
- DirectorRobin ShuffieldStarsThomas SankaraA documentary film about Thomas Sankara, former president of Burkina Faso. Sankara was known as "the African Che", and became famous in Africa due to his innovative ideas, his devastating humor, his spirit and his altruism.
- DirectorFradiqueStarsKalaf EpalangaElisângela RitaIndependence begins with memories of the colonial situation in Angola, reveals the first steps in the struggle and covers the main settings where it took place. From 1961 to 1974, the war in Angola spread from the bush areas in the North and Cabinda to the flood plains in the East, involving many, many people, the guerrillas and those that supported them. Meanwhile, prisons and prison camps were full of political prisoners. Using military endeavour as well as economic and legal reforms, Portugal managed to prolong a war that it could not win.