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NEWS:
The 1st African Film Festival in Sydney Australia
The inaugural Sydney African Film Festival was presented from October 27-29, 2006 at The Footbridge Theatre and from November 3-4, 2006 at Mars Hill Cafe. The Festival showcased a selection of African feature films and a unique collection of African short films.
The Opening Night featured drumming, food and a trilogy of "featurettes ".
Conversations on a Sunday Afternoon
The event, held in collaboration with the African Film Festival, Inc. donated all the money raised to Hands of Help, a charitable organization which works to alleviate poverty and advance education and basic health care in countries such as Uganda and Kenya. more >>
INTERVIEWS:
Kwaw Ansah
Steve Ayorinde: Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you. The name of Kwah Ansah is to a large extent one of the most significant of African Cinema. As far as cinema is concerned, we did not hear much from you in Nigeria since Heritage Africa. Has there been a break or change in focus since that outstanding film?
Kwah Ansah: No, there hasn't been a break. There hasn't been a shift. There has been rather a pause to reorganise, perhaps to meet a bigger challenge. There was a time when cinema in Ghana was quite active. When colleagues like Ola Balogun or Ousmane Sembène and Co. were meeting at various forums to discuss the future of the industry. Of course, it was very expensive and to make one film, it took nearly a million dollars. Having no colour laboratory, we had to do the post-production outside, in our, shall I say, masters' countries!
The English speaking Africans had not the chance of the French speaking: fortunately for them, there was the French Ministry of Cooperation which helped them to do a lot of films, whereas our colonial master didn't think of a place for us. So we had to struggle on our own to do the little we did. more >>
REVIEWS:
U-Carmen eKhayelitsha
When I first saw U-Carmen eKhayelitsha at the 13th New York African Film Festival in April 2006, I was mesmerized. Because the film made such a strong social statement with its casting of Carmen, I was forced to examine my socialization of the standards of beauty. As a result, my self-esteem has been raised and my concept of beauty has been forever broadened.
U-Carmen eKhayelitsha
By adapting Bizet's opera to film and setting it in a South African township, Mark Donford-May has given the world a Carmen that surpasses all previous Carmens. Breaking with the tradition of presenting Carmen defined by the European standard of beauty, Dornford-May boldly presents us with an opportunity to expand our idea of beauty and exoticness.
Cast in the title role, Pauline Malefane kicks down the narrow stereotypical parameters that have defined beauty and raises Carmen to a new level of beauty and depth. more >>
REVIEWS:
Max and Mona
Max and Mona is a post-apartheid South African comedy. Set in and around the country's industrial capital Johannesburg, it revolves around young Max Bua (Mpho Lovingo) the village mourner of a small provincial town who, despite inheriting his grandfather's unique talent for making people cry at funerals, wants to pursue a medical degree in the big city.
The problem is, he is (accidentally) saddled with the village's sacred goat (Mona), and some nasty debts incurred by Max's colorful but not terribly responsible Uncle Norman (played by the late Jerry Mofokeng in his last role). Between trying to safeguard the goat, and keep his uncle safe from gangsters trying to collect on their chits (as well as Norman's own lack of judgment), Max is forced to temporarily abandon his medical ambitions and use his talent as a professional mourner at township (and occasionally suburban) funerals.
What follows makes life in the township and in Johannesburg's inner city (abandoned by high-end businesses and whites) come alive on screen, as Max's new and lucrative business puts him in cahoots with a cadaverous white funeral director and his transvestite mortician son, as well as an attractive neighbor of Uncle Norman's. more >>
AFF in Harlem, Summer 2006
SUMMER OUTDOOR SERIES 2006
5th Annual Historic Harlem Parks Film Festival
Hello, it's me again - the African Film Addict - and I am still addicted. However, this year, I gave up the summer to work on improving myself professionally (whatever that means). When I received the emails and postcards about the New York African Film Festival's outdoor series in Harlem, I steeled myself and pledged to stay strong.
One summer is nothing when compared to a lifetime of professional improved-ness, right? So, for week after week, I resisted the urge to head out to Harlem. And I was doing well, until I received the email for the screening of The Golden Ball/Le Ballon D'Or. "IN THE SPIRIT OF THE 2006 WORLD CUP SERIES" the email began... and, well...
You see, I was going through World Cup withdrawal and I didn't know what to do about it. Add to that, the lack of outdoor African Film screenings and you must understand that I was suffering and, at the end of the day, I am only human. One, I could resist but the two together are too much for me - not even professional improvement is a powerful enough deterrent.
Finally, like kismet, I had family visiting from Mexico. Well, I couldn't let them leave New York without experiencing African Film and it would be impolite to make them go alone. They needed a guide. So you see how it all came together and just had to be. more >>
ARTICLES:
Film and History
Like
other forms of creative expression by Africans, filmmaking constitutes a form
of discourse and practice that is not just artistic and cultural, but also
intellectual and political. It is a way of defining, describing and
interpreting African experiences with those forces that have shaped their past
and that continue to shape and influence the present. It is a product of the
historical experiences of Africans, and it has direct bearing and relevance to
the challenges that face African societies and people of African descent in the
world in the present moment and in the future. As product of the imagination,
filmmaking constitutes at the same time a particular mode of intellectual and
political practice. Thus, in looking at filmmaking, in particular, and the
other creative arts, in general, one is looking at particular insights into
ways of thinking and acting on individual as well as collective realities,
experiences, challenges and desires over time. African thinking and acting on
their individual and collective realities, experiences, challenges and desires
are diverse and complex, and cinema provides one of the most productive sites
for experiencing, understanding and appreciating such diversity and complexity. more >>