African Film
Most people have seen at least one visually stunning film set against an African backdrop. Yet films about Africa are rarely made in Africa.
Is there such a thing as "African cinema"? Yes, there is. And it has much more to say than the quaint bushmen in the former Botswana hit "The Gods Must Be Crazy".
Specific problems of African cinema
Unfortunately, it is a fact that films from Africa do not reach a mass audience outside the continent. Works by African directors are simply not (yet) properly recognized in America and Europe.
One reason for this is, among other things, the lack of structures at continental level. Film reviews and film criticism in Africa are still in their infancy. African filmmakers have been complaining about this situation for decades, but slowly change is in the air. The Fédération africaine de la critique cinématographique (African Federation of Film Criticism), founded in Tunis, with its website africiné.org is a mouthpiece, platform and billboard for all African filmmakers. And they urgently need publicity, because the average African consumer does not differ too much in his viewing habits from his Western contemporaries: internationally proven box office hits like Bollywood also work here as first-class crowd pullers.
It is not easy for young African filmmakers to assert themselves against international competition. Especially since they strike quite ambivalent notes instead of indulging in superficiality. Young African filmmakers want to show more than the classic contrasts of black and white, good and evil, poor and rich. They show the authentic - the African view of Africa. Their themes are not only the boundaries between cultures but also the boundaries within Africa, the boundaries between village and city, between modernity and tradition.
Most important representatives of African cinema
The most important representatives of African cinema include Lionel Ngakane (South Africa), Moustafa Alassane (Niger), Med Hondo (Mauritania) and Ousmane Sembène as well as Paul Vierya (Senegal).
Overall, the most remarkable impulses in the African film industry have so far come from the French-speaking states of West Africa.
The film industry in South Africa is also worth mentioning, as it is a model for cooperation with other African countries. The first product of this collaboration is the feature film "Kini and Adams", which was directed by the Burkinabé director Idrissa Ouédraogo with South African actors in Zimbabwe.
Current African films
In the film "Nous aussi nous avons marché sur la lune" (DR Congo/Algeria, 2009), the painter Muntu-wa-Bantu chases the Apollo 11 spacecraft to the moon. The film was directed by Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda, one of the most creative African directors. He was also instrumental in "Le Damier - Papa National Oyé!" (DR Congo, 1996), a political satire on dictator Mobutu.
"Shirley Adams" (South Africa, 2009) is the highly acclaimed debut film by Oliver Hermanus, a young South African director. "Shirley Adams" is set in a Cape Town slum and tells the story of a mother who lovingly cares for her paralyzed 20-year-old son.
In the international co-production "Un Homme Qui Crie" (Chad/France/Belgium, 2010), director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun tells the story of the aging swimming pool attendant Adam. The luxury hotel where he works is taken over by foreign investors. Adam is replaced by his son and is to work as a security guard for the hotel car park from now on. The background to the story is the impending civil war in the country.
Ways to independence
The purely African film distribution company CIDC (Consortium Interafricain de Distribution Cinématographique) was already founded in the 1970s. Until then, African film distribution had been under European control. The independent takeover by Africans themselves significantly improved the situation of African filmmakers, at least at national level.
The FESPACO film festival in Ouagadougou/Burkina Faso has established itself as a platform for the new African cinema over the 40 years of its existence. First held in 1969 with films from only five African countries, by 1999 it already featured 150 contributions from almost all countries on the continent. More than 400,000 visitors flocked to the screenings at that time.
Held every two years, the next FESPACO film festival will take place in 2011.
