Africa Is a Country

10 African films to watch out for

10 African films to watch out for

By
Tom Devriendt

http://youtu.be/tLyhZlgWIpM

This is a random selection of ten films we don’t know much about, yet, but which we hope to see once completed or screened at the nearest film festival. ‘The Door of No Return’ (La Puerta de No Retorno) follows Santiago Zannou who accompanies his father, Alphonse, to his homeland, Benin, 40 years after he left it. Trailer above.

‘Finding Mercy’ (which premieres at the Tri Continental Film Festival in Johannesburg this month) is about retrieving a childhood friendship in a newly independent Zimbabwe:

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/40136444 w=500&h=400]

‘Meanwhile in Mamelodi’ is a documentary by Benjamin Kahlmeyer on life in a Pretoria township during the 2010 World Cup:

‘Healers’, directed by Thomas Barry, highlights the work of The Umthombo Youth Development Foundation and tells the story of how a doctor and a matron at a rural South African hospital in KwaZulu Natal started a groundbreaking scholarship programme to enable local youth to qualify as healthcare professionals:

‘Gardens of my Ancestors’ is a short film by South African filmmaker Tsholofelo Monare:

‘After The Battle’ is an account of two people caught up in the Egyptian revolution:

‘Fidaï’ tells the story of an ex-fighter for Algerian independence, and has had its first screening at some recent film festivals:

‘The Hidden Smile’, a short film by Ventura Durall, set in the streets of Addis Abeba:

‘Walking at Dawn’ is a film by Silvia Firmino, set in Mozambique and premiering at the Dockanema Documentary Film Festival in Maputo this month:

And the trailer for ‘The Marshal of Finland’ had a few people up in arms in Finland. True, having a Kenyan actor to play the country’s most famous military figure is quite the coup.

Further Reading

Fuel’s errand

When Africa’s richest man announced the construction of the continent’s largest crude oil refinery, many were hopeful. But Aliko Dangote has not saved Nigeria. The Nigerian Scam returns to the Africa Is a Country Podcast to explain why.

Fragile state

Without an immediate change in approach, Somalia will remain a fragmented country populated by self-serving elites seeking foreign patrons.

Coming home

In 1991, acclaimed South African artist Helen Sebidi’s artworks were presumed stolen in Sweden. Three decades later, a caretaker at the residential college where they disappeared found them in a ceiling cupboard, still in their original packaging.

Imaginary homelands

A new biography of former apartheid homeland leader Lucas Mangope struggles to do more than arrange the actions of its subject into a neat chronology.

Business as usual?

This month, Algeria quietly held its second election since Abdelaziz Bouteflika was ousted in 2019. On the podcast, we ask what Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s second term means for the country.