The first Kenyan mockumentary about NGO’s
“The Samaritans” explores the absurdities of the NGO world. The main characters work for “Aid for Aid,” a fictitious NGO that “does nothing.”
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Paul Milchick
Paul Milchik is a pseudonym for the author of this piece. His name has been changed due to his status as an international student in the US during the second Trump administration, in a context where foreign students have been targeted for detention and deportation as a result of expressing pro-Palestinian views.
Give that man a Bells
There's a commercial for Bell's, a popular South African whisky ("Give that man a Bells"), that
The clamor for a ‘credible opposition’ in South Africa?
William Gumede, who wrote a book about the ANC, makes a strange and careless argument–without recourse to evidence–about the ruling party’s fortunes.
Just don’t do it
Saying that blackface is an American thing (everyone now uses this excuse) and therefore not a problem anywhere else, makes you look dumb.
John Akomfrah, Stuart Hall and the Film Essay
Akomfrah’s films gives voice to the legacy of the African diaspora in Europe, and his experimental approach to narrative and structure helped pave the way for the re-emergence of the “essay film” today.
The ‘Born Free Generation’
The Fader (yes, they're still around) has been putting up a series of posts from Johannesburg (Obey You Collective: South Africa) that focuses on "artists, trail-blazers, and bright young talents from South Africa." (The series is paid for by soft drink company Coco Cola.) Much of it seems to be filmed around the part of the city marketed as Maboneng. In the latest instalment, they published an interview with Tarryn Alberts, part of dance crew, V.I.N.T.A.G.E. (If you remember, Zach Rosen interviewed them for AIAC, here). Anyway, the interview includes this illuminating passage about the Catch 22 for young black people after Apartheid:
The Question of International Aid
How a documentary about a radio station provides a window into aid policy in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
“Happy Africans”
It's unclear how big the Gun Owners of America are (the NRA predominates in the numbers
The closest thing to real life
The documentary film. “Zoran and his African Tigers,” shows how harsh and unforgiving international football can be.
A level of decadence
Muntu Vilakazi photographs the ‘Politics of Bling’ on Johannesburg’s East Rand.
Ponte City
The 54-storey building in Johannesburg, built in the 1970s, is the tallest residential building on the continent, and subject of a new photobook.
To be an artist in Egypt right now
An Egyptian theater company puts on Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables in colloquial Arabic. The choice was no error.
New Photography Book Depicts the South African Social Landscape
Between 2012 and 2013, an exercise took place known as the France South Africa Season. This
The Rediscovery of William Onyeabor
The continued relevance or irrelevance of a musical figure to an African audience doesn’t factor into that figure’s “rediscovery” outside the continent.
The day South African news media ate crow
How South Africa’s media report on the doings within the official parliamentary opposition, the Democratic Alliance.
Prince Blackwater of China
This is big: Blackwater has set up a new Africa-focused military contractor, partnering with one of China’s largest state-owned conglomerates.
Lagos in the Red
A short documentary film on the Lagos, Nigeria, performance artist Jelili Atiku.
Cape Town Gangster Films
If you wish to gain some insight into the turmoil of gangland Cape Town, it’s worth starting with the films of Riaan Hendricks and Dylan Valley.
The Komla Dumor I Knew
A contemporary of the late BBC journalist and newsreader remembers how their paths cross and Komla Dumor’s lasting legacy.
Eastern Highlands
This Weekend Music Break features a number of strong women performers: Nosiwe, Rina Mushonga, Alicious Theluji, and the 95 year old Tututa Evora, who just passed away.