19th New York African Film Festival: Shorts!
Short films sometimes get a bad rap -- they're considered a "learning exercise" for film school
6395 Article(s) by:
Fatima B. Derby
Fatima B. Derby is a Ghanaian feminist writer and queer activist.
The civilizing mission of the white man
The recent controversy around Günter Grass’s criticisms of Germany’s arms trade with Israel is an interesting post-script to the Namibian genocide controversy.
The War in Mali’s North–To What Effect?
The rebels–that is, the MNLA and their disavowed and dangerous allies–hold Mali hostage.
Exploring rootlessness and confusion
The director, Frances Bodomo, originally from Ghana, talks about her film “Boneshaker” and African globalization.
The elderly, the blind and people with albinism
In which category would the South African photographer Pieter Hugo place himself? What do they stand for or what his photographs can and cannot tell.
The good Senegalese woman
Madame Faye Sall is the first woman of Senegalese birth and ancestry to become First Lady of Senegal. Some women in Senegal hope it will affect the debate about women and power there.
Film Review: “The Education of Auma Obama”
Republican party propaganda wants to paint President Barack Obama's Kenyan family as alien to America. In this propaganda, Barack Hussein Obama Snr and the old man's supposed "anti-colonial" and left-wing biases. In this propaganda Kenyans are reduced to anti-American zealots. Yet the strongest impression one gets from the Obama family in Branwen Okpako's beautiful, and substantive documentary of Obama's half sister, Auma Obama, is how familiar and American (i.e. the values Republicans proffer of hard work and guile) the Obamas are.
Coup d’Etat is the New Black
Military takeovers are happening so quickly and so fast in Africa, and instapundits need back facts. We are here to help. Here are some basic facts about Guinea-Bissau, site of the latest coup d’etat.
The 19th New York African Film Festival: “Relentless”
"Relentless" is fundamentally a film about Lagos. About how director Andy Okoarafor sees it. In Okoarafor's rendering, Lagos is a hard, inhospitable city, where people look stressed out, always hustling. They're always on the move. But Okoarafor also has loves this city.
Bamako-sur-Seine
A sense of how the Malian diaspora experiences the political tensions and instability back home.
The best sports films have no play in them
Tunde Kelani’s “Maami,” a tale about a former professional footballer, is bold and stylish film-making, and it deserves a wide audience.
Coke and cynicism
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyT_bYUUG6o I won't bother to unpack this commercial, but this is exhibit A for the case
Germany’s Namibian Legacy
Jim Naughtom’s images of Herero wearing German colonial outfits, is a powerful and necessary form of post-colonial critique.
The 19th New York African Film Festival: ‘Playing Warriors’
It’s not hard to see why Rumbi Katedza’s first feature has been described as a Zimbabwean ‘Sex and the City’. Four high-flying twenty-something women spend a good chunk of the movie hanging out in trendy Harare bars talking sex, dating, and marriage. There’s kissing, laughing, gossiping and some great outfits. Luckily, unlike the HBO series, there’s no annoying voiceover offering throwaway insights every five scenes.
The 19th New York African Film Festival: ‘How to steal 2 million’
In South African director Charlie Vundla’s “How to Steal 2 Million,” Johannesburg is equated with “a jungle.” Main protagonist, middle aged Jack–fresh out of jail and looking for a job and opportunities–compares the city unfavorably to New York City, where, in contrast, people “are in it together.” Mostly shot in empty streets or in dark interiors and at night, the Johannesburg of the film lives up to this characterization. But it’s not just the main character who pines for a projected version of New York City; the film itself longs for its double, adapting and mirroring New York’s association with film noir.
Joyce Banda is President of Malawi
In her first order of business since being inaugurated as Malawi’s new president on Saturday, Joyce Banda fired the country’s top policeman. No reason was given for the firing, but the BBC reports that the police chief, Peter Mukhito, was in charge last year during anti-government protests over the worsening economy.
Walking on water
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3QJ_wOUxig From the Otelo Burning soundtrack (we still owe the soundtrack a review), here's 'Walk on
The World of Congolese artist Pume Bylex
In the introduction to The World According to Bylex, Filip De Boeck and Koen Van Synghel
The Racial Politics of Tuareg Nationalism
Historian Greg Mann is not a big fan of Tuareg group, Tinariwen. The music is alright, he agrees, but the politics is rancid.
Friday Bonus Music Break, N°6
Mali's on our mind. Mostly because of the confusion. Reports from Bamako abound, while there's still