Africa Is a Country

5 New Films to Watch, N°24

5 New Films to Watch, N°24

By
Tom Devriendt

The Revolution Won’t Be Televised is Rama Thiaw’s (born in Mauritania, grew up between Senegal and France) second long-feature film. She documents one year in the life of Thiat and Kilifeu, members of the Senegalese Keur Gui band who went on to organize the ‘Y’en a Marre’ movement. This will probably not be the last documentary on the collective:

http://vimeo.com/58118187

(Related: ‘Y’en a Marre’ doesn’t have an English Wikipedia entry, so Ethan Zuckerman created one.)

Further South, Cape Town Hip-Hop (is it a movement?) gets portrayed in Die Hip in Kaapse Hop (“The Hip in Cape Hop”), featuring familiar and less familiar artists such as Dplanet, Rattex –that’s his tune “Welcome to Khayelitsha” in the trailer below–, Emile YX, Codax, Brazuka, graffiti artist Falko, Shameela ShamRock, Driemanskap, Ready D, Rezzano, Azuhl, and Bliksemstraal. Produced by MCL Pictures and LS Design Lab:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt-eYeoVvrA

On December 17, 1962, Mamadou Dia, President of the Senegalese Council of Ministers, was arrested and given a life sentence, accused of organizing a coup d’état by his friend and companion Leopold Sedar Senghor. He would be imprisoned with four of his closest ministers. Among them, Joseph Mbaye, Minister of Rural Economy, uncle of Ousmane William Mbaye, who made a documentary about what happened in the run-up to that day:

Les Rêves Meurtris (“Shattered dreams”) is a short film by Hady Diawara, dedicated to Yaguine Koïta and Fodé Tounkara, the two young men from Guinée-Conakry who froze to death as stowaways on a flight to Belgium back in 1999:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFlOS7aL4u0

Une Si Belle Inquiétude (“Such a beautiful restlessness”) is a 12-minutes short by Brahim Fritah, in which he looks back on his travelings between France and Morocco through the use of some of the (archival) photos made along the way:

Bonus: you can watch the film in full over at French news website Mediapart.

Further Reading

Not exactly at arm’s length

Despite South Africa’s ban on arms exports to Israel and its condemnation of Israel’s actions in Palestine, local arms companies continue to send weapons to Israel’s allies and its major arms suppliers.

Ruto’s Kenya

Since June’s anti-finance bill protests, dozens of people remain unaccounted for—a stark reminder of the Kenyan state’s long history of abductions and assassinations.

Between Harlem and home

African postcolonial cinema serves as a mirror, revealing the limits of escape—whether through migration or personal defiance—and exposing the tensions between dreams and reality.

The real Rwanda

The world is slowly opening its eyes to how Paul Kagame’s regime abuses human rights, suppresses dissent, and exploits neighboring countries.

In the shadow of Mondlane

After a historic election and on the eve of celebrating fifty years of independence, Mozambicans need to ask whether the values, symbols, and institutions created to give shape to “national unity” are still legitimate today.

À sombra de Mondlane

Depois de uma eleição histórica e em vésperas de celebrar os 50 anos de independência, os moçambicanos precisam de perguntar se os valores, símbolos e instituições criados para dar forma à “unidade nacional” ainda são legítimos hoje.