Guide to African Cinema
Films featured in Sharon A. Russell's book Guide to African Cinema, in alphabetical order. http://www.amazon.ca/Guide-African-Cinema-Sharon-Russell/dp/0313296219/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330743642&sr=1-1
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- DirectorJean-Marie TénoStarsJean-Marie TénoNarcisse KouokamMarie Claire DatiA documentary examining political repression in Cameroon, Central Africa.
- DirectorDavid AchkarStarsDavid AchkarMarof AchkarFilmmaker David Achkar searches for his father, Marof Achkar, who was sent to the notorious Camp Boiro prison in 1969 for treason.
- DirectorMarie Clémence Andriamonta-PaesCesar PaesStarsAmbarazafyAvimareArthur BesyVenerable storytellers recount for the camera and their listeners the founding myths of Malagasy culture.
- DirectorGillo PontecorvoStarsBrahim HadjadjJean MartinYacef SaadiIn the 1950s, fear and violence escalate as the people of Algiers fight for independence from the French government.
- DirectorOusmane SembeneThierno Faty SowStarsSidiki BakabaHamed CamaraIsmaila CisséIn this semi-autobiographical film, black soldiers help to defend France, but are detained in prison camp before being repatriated home.
- DirectorOusmane SembeneStarsTabata NdiayeAlioune FallMoustapha YadeIn protest of forced conversion to Islam, the Ceddo (outsiders) kidnap King Demba War's daughter Princess Dior Yacine and hold her hostage.
- DirectorHenning CarlsenStarsIvan JacksonEvelyn FrankMarijke MannAround 1960, Englishman Toby Hood comes to Johannesburg to run a publishing company. He is open-minded and befriends people with different social ranks, but the harsh realities of society force him to make a choice about friendships.
- DirectorOusmane SembeneStarsAndongo DiabonRobert FontaineMichel RenaudeauAs World War II is going on in Europe, a conflict arises between the French and the Diola-speaking tribe of Africa, prompting the village women to organize their men to sit beneath a tree to pray.
- DirectorTsitsi DangarembgaStarsRachel BednarFiona BellFidelis ChezaTwo teens, Tamari and Itai, are impoverished following the death of their parents when their uncle takes their plow which they need to feed themselves. While their preoccupied neighbors in the village ignore them, Itai leaves for Harare and Tamari stays behind to care for their younger brother and sister. Finally, some of the neighbors notice and come together to support the children.
- DirectorMansour Sora WadeStarsDienaba DialloMame Ndoumbé DiopAmy FallA man in the pursuit of the "perfect" woman, ends up with something quite different than what he bargained for.
- DirectorAnne-Laure FollyStarsDjelika DialloAlimata KonatePortraits of contemporary African women from four West African nations: Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal and Benin.
- DirectorCheick Oumar SissokoStarsDiarrah SanogoOumar Namory KeitaKotiTwo women rebel against the traditions of a village society.
- DirectorDjibril Diop MambétyStarsDieye MaAminata FallDemba BâA broke and dopey musician, constantly harassed by his exasperated landlady, glues his lottery ticket to his door and when it turns out to be a winner must carry his door to the lottery office.
- DirectorLéonce NgaboStarsJoseph KumbelaMarie BunelAoua SangareGito is a young African intellectual returning home from France with numerous academic degrees and ministerial ambitions. Gradually his ambitions are crushed by the daily realities of his country. Gito is tested further by the alliance between his French girlfriend and his old sweetheart who join forces to teach Gito an unforgettable lesson.
- DirectorBassek Ba KobhioStarsAndré WilmsMarisa BerensonAlex DescasCameroonian filmmaker Bassek ba Kobhio provides a fascinating revisionist perspective on Albert Schweitzer, Noble Peace Prize winner and secular saint of the colonial era. Like FRANTZ FANON: BLACK SKIN, WHITE MASK, this film begins to rewrite the history of colonialism from the point of view of the colonized. LE GRAND BLANC DE LAMBARÉNÉ is not, however, a facile exercise in iconoclasm but rather a deeply-felt lament for a missed opportunity, for a cross-cultural encounter between Africa and Europe which never happened. The film reveals that the ultimate tragedy of colonialism may have been its refusal to see and value the colonized as autonomous, creative human beings. The film's epigraph, ironically, is a famous remark by Schweitzer himself: "All we can do is allow others to discover us, as we discover them."
- DirectorOusmane SembeneStarsAbou CamaraMarie Augustine DiattaYama DiedhiouBurial of a Christian political activist in a Muslim cemetary forces a conflict imbued with religious fervor. A satiric portrayal of religion and politics, sometimes humorous, sometimes deadly serious.
- DirectorCheick Oumar SissokoStarsIssa Falaba TraoréBalla Moussa KeitaHabib DembéléDocuments the rise and fall of a cruel and despotic village chief Guimba, and his son Jangine in a fictional village in the Sahel of Mali.
- DirectorDjibril Diop MambétyStarsMansour DioufAmi DiakhateMamadou Mahourédia GueyeDramaan is the most popular man in Colobane, but when a woman from his past, now exorbitantly wealthy, returns to the town, things begin to change.
- DirectorBrian TilleyStarsVusi KuneneGrace MahlabaRamolao MakheneA young ANC activist and poet from Soweto is the sole witness to a brutal train massacre by an Inkatha militant.
- DirectorMichael RaeburnStarsDominic MakuwachumaSibongile NeneFarai SevenzoA young African man must try every trick in the book in this attempts to win the heart of the most beautiful girl in his village.
- DirectorDani KouyatéStarsSeydou BoroHamed DickoAbdoulaye KomboudriA storyteller named Djeliba comes to the town of a young boy named Mabo with promises that he will reveal the origin of the boy's ancestry.
- DirectorRaoul PeckStarsPatrice LumumbaDocumentary about African political leader Patrice Lumumba, who was Prime Minister of Zaire (now Congo) when he was assassinated in 1961.
- DirectorGodwin MawuruStarsJesesi MungoshiDominic KanaventiViolet NdlovuA classic African film that has struck a nerve that runs across the continent, with an original soundtrack and supporting performance by Zimbabwe's legendary World Music sensation, Oliver Mtukudzi.
- DirectorOusmane SembeneStarsMbissine Thérèse DiopAnne-Marie JelinekRobert FontaineA black girl from Senegal becomes a servant in France.
- DirectorMansour Sora WadeStarsYoussou N'DourFollows the story of two young boys and their adventure through the streets of Africa.
- DirectorJean-Pierre BekoloStarsSerge AmougouSaïdou AbatchaTimoléon Luc BoyoguenoA young girl crosses paths with a witch who has the power to satisfy her curiosity about men by changing her into one.
- DirectorJean-Louis BertuccelliStarsLeila ShennaAhmed KadriJean-Louis TrintignantIn an Algerian village, the workers of a salt mine go on strike because of low wages. The owner calls the army to control the men, but a young woman cuts off the water to force the troops to retreat.
- DirectorAmadou Saalum SeckStarsDiankou BakhayokhoAbdoul Aziz DiopFabienne Joëlle FelhioTamsir returns to Senegal after 17 years in Europe. His uncle gives him a patronage job in Dakar, virtually without duties. He visits his family's village to see his parents, and there he meets the beautiful Lissa. Tamsir espouses traditional ways, as does Lissa, but when her parents agree to marry her off to a corrupt and well-spoken member of parliament, Tamsir and Lissa dishonor the family and she becomes pregnant. The MP's response, his and Tasmir's uncle's plan to capture the village farmland, the reactions of Lissa's parents, who are strict followers of Islam, the disaffection of Dakar youth, and the dreams of a village mechanic to find "Saaraba" (Utopia) complete the story.
- 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.
- DirectorMoufida TlatliStarsHind SabriGhalya LacroixNejia OuerghiAs she grows up, Alia (the daughter of housemaid Khedija) learns the secrets of the peaceful palace where she and her mother live.
- DirectorBassek Ba KobhioStarsJeanne AbandaEpaye Monny AkwaJean-Pierre Atangana MessiSango Malo contrasts two views of education. The traditional headmaster represents a rigid, "Eurocentric." curriculum designed to produce docile colonial administrators. Malo, the radical young teacher, emphasizes the practical skills needed to build a self-reliant rural community. The film illustrates Brazilian educator Paolo Freire's celebrated distinction between an education which the ruling class uses to inculcate its values in students' minds and one which empowers students to shape their own destiny.
- DirectorAdama DraboStarsDjeneba DiawaraMamadou FombaBalla Moussa KeitaA young forest ranger who sees that his work holds the key to the future of his country is disgusted at the short-sighted, money-grubbing ways of his superiors.
- DirectorIdrissa OuedraogoStarsRasmané OuédraogoIna CisséRoukietou BarrySet in a pre-colonial African past, Tilai is about an illicit love affair and its consequences. Saga returns to his village after an extended absence to discover that his father has taken Nogma, Saga's promised bride, for himself. Still in love with each other, the two begin an affair, although it would be considered incestuous. When the liaison is discovered, Saga's brother, Koudri, pretends to kill Saga for the honor of the family and village. Saga and Nogma flee to another village, but when Nogma's birth mother dies, he returns home. Having brought ruin on the family, Saga is shot by Koudri, who walks off into exile and probable death.
- DirectorDjibril Diop MambétyStarsMagaye NiangMyriam NiangChristoph ColombMory, a cowherd, and Anta, a university student, try to make money in order to go to Paris and leave their boring past behind.
- DirectorMoussa Sene AbsaStarsOusmane BoIbrahima M'BayePatrice NassalangThis bittersweet, coming of age story is a kind of African equivalent of George Lucas' American Graffiti, Spike Lee's Crooklyn or Godard's Masculin/Feminin.
- DirectorFlora GomesStarsMaysa MartaPedro DiasAntonio Simao MendesA beautiful, intelligent and flirtatious young girl, Yonta, is secretly in love with a friend of her parents, Vicente, a hero of the war of independence. Vicente is unaware of her passion as she is of the love of a young man who sends her anonymous love letters.
- DirectorBenoît LamyMweze NganguraStarsPapa WembaBibi KrubwaLandu Nzunzimbu MatshiaKourou comes from a village to Kinshasa, Zaire's capital and the center of World Beat; music is in his heart and he has big dreams. Right away he gets a job as a domestic for Mamou, the loud wife of a club owner, and he falls in love with Kabibi, a virginal young woman who wants to be a secretary. Meanwhile, Nvouandou, the club owner, childless after twenty years of marriage, wants a second wife and determines to marry Kabibi. Mamou pretends to approve of the match, but behind her husband's back, she pushes Kabibi into the arms of Kourou. Can Kourou win Kabibi's hand and fulfill his dreams of being a singer; can Mamou recapture the affections of Nvouandou?
- DirectorDésiré EcaréStarsSidiki BakabaKouadou BrouAlbertine N'GuessanAt a festival, a chorus of women sing and dance as two stories unfold. In a village, a young women with a jealous husband gives him something to be jealous about when his younger brother visits from the city.
- DirectorGaston KaboréStarsSerge YanogoRosine YanogoJoseph NikiemaIn pre-colonial times a peddler crossing the savanna discovers a child lying unconscious in the bush. When the boy comes to, he is mute and cannot explain who he is. The peddler leaves him with a family in the nearest village. After a search for his parents, the family adopts him, giving him the name Wend Kuuni (God's Gift) and a loving sister with whom he bonds. Wend Kuuni regains his speech only after witnessing a tragic event that prompts him to reveal his own painful history.
- DirectorOusmane SembeneStarsThierno LeyeMyriam NiangSeune SambA corrupt politician is cursed with impotence on the night of his third wedding after embezzling 100 tons of rice.
- DirectorSouleymane CisséStarsIssiaka KaneAoua SangareNiamanto SanogoA young man with magical powers journeys to his uncle to request help in fighting his sorcerer father.
- DirectorGaston KaboréStarsMathias BayiliColette KaboréJoseph NikiemaIn the Mossi culture, one of the rites attending the birth of a child and its induction as a new member of the community involves the burial of the placenta. The space in which the placenta is buried is called 'Zan Boko' - a phrase which connotes the religious, cultural and affective relations that bind the child to the land and that embraces the notions of 'rootedness' and 'belonging'. Kaboré tells the story of Tinga, who resists the encroaching urbanization of his native territory. The specific rhythms and vision of the rural community, including its values, social relationship, and individual & collective destinies, are altered when a city is planted on the edge of an ancient native village.