Portal:African cinema

African Film and Television Portal

14th ed. | Updated biweekly | November 11- 24, 2024

Featured Biography

Kyle Shepherd (born 8 July 1987 in Cape Town) is a South African jazz film and theater composer and pianist. He was the Standard Bank Young Artist of the Year for Jazz in 2014 and the UNISA (University of South Africa) piano competition winner in the Jazz category in 2015.

His television credits include the Netflix South African hit drama series, Unseen, Blood and Water, and Savage Beauty.

His film credits include the South African films Noem My Skollie (Call Me Thief), South Africa's official entry to the 2017 Academy Awards; Fiela se Kind (2019) winner of Best Score at the 2020 Silwerskerm Film Festival—one of world's only Afrikaans film festivals; Barakat (2020), South Africa's official entry to the 2022 Academy Awards and giving Shepherd his second Silwerskerm award for Best Score (2022); Vlugtig (2021) and Indemnity (2021). His most recent film score was for the comedy caper The Umbrella Men (2022), awarded Best Film at London's Film Africa Fest.

Shepherd is also the co-creator of the hit Afrikaans musical television show, Koortjies with Cape Town jazz and gospel music star Jonathan Rubain.

Of his process of composing for film:

"I try to learn the heart of the story. Sometimes, I don't need the full details. I don't always read the script. And then I just write music without any information. I write in open form. Usually, I come up with five or 10 pieces. And somewhere in between that, we find the main theme. Once you have your theme, you can really blast out from there. It's also nice to write music that's not restricted by the scene or edit."

Featured Industry Article

AFDA, The School for the Creative Economy is a South African private Higher Education institution that offers higher certificates, undergraduate, and postgraduate degrees in film, television, performance, business innovation and technology, radio and podcasting, and creative writing. Established in 1994 it has four campuses located in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, and Port Elizabeth.

In 2021, 2022, and 2023 AFDA was ranked among the top 5 most innovative South African educational institutions in the creative brand space in The Loeries Official Rankings.

AFDA has won the Best Student Film award at the South African Film and Television Awards ten times and in 2006 became the first, and to this day, only African film to have won the annual Student Academy Awards (SAA) presented by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.

At the most recent 2024 SAFTAs, AFDA students and alumni won 17 awards in seven different categories.

AFDA almuni include Nosipho Dumisa (director, Blood & Water, Nommer37); Muneera Sallies, (director; Old Righteous Blues, South Africa’s submission to the 2025 Oscars for Best International Film); Daniel Etim-Effiong (Nollywood actor, Castle & Castle, Blood Sisters, A Weekend to Forget); Jenna Bass (Good Madam, Flatland); and Vuyo Dabula (actor, Queen Sono, Five Fingers for Marseille).

Notable This Month

Half Heaven (2023), a Cameroon christian drama directed by Enah Johnscott, was winner of five awards at the 28th edition of the Écrans Noirs film festival. The awards included one in the Jury Prize for International Feature award, the Best Central African Feature Award, Best Original Music, Best Costume Design, and the Jury Prize from the African Federation of Film Critics.

Nollywood filmmaker Dimeji Ajibola (b. 15 April 1980) died on November 3rd. He was known for directing Hoodrush (2012), Nigeria’s first urban musical film; Ovy’s Voice, the highest-ranked movie on Iroko TV in 2017, and more recently in 2023, Wura a Showmax original Nigerian soap opera and adaptation of the South Africa’s The River; Slum King, a lagos-based crime series; and Netflix’s crime thriller series Shantytown. His last film was the 2024 drama Saving Onome released on Amazon Prime Video about two parents (Olumide Oworu and Nancy Isime)) who go to desperate lengths to save their daughter.

The 20th edition of the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) took place November 2nd, 2024. Among the biggest winners was the Nigerian drama The Weekend which took home the Best Film Award for both Nigeria and Africa. Nigerian filmmaker Femi Adebayo received the Best Actor in a Supporting Role award for his performance in the historical drama Jagun Jagun, a film he also directed and among the most nominated films of the evening. Ghana’s Jackie Appiah received Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance in Red Carpet, and Jahmil X.T. Qubeka was honored as Best Director for The Queenstown Kings, a Netflix South African sports drama.

The Marrakesh International Film Festival runs Nov. 29 to Dec. 7 with a line up of more than 70 films. The 6-member international jury will include Moroccan actress Nadia Kounda (Volubilis and My Dad Is Not Dead). Among the films sreening are Across the Sea directed by Saïd Hamich Benlarbi, a melodrama that follows the clandestine life of a Moroccan immigrant in Marseille; the documentary, Sudan, Remember Us by Hind Meddeb; The Village Next to Paradise, Mo Harawe’s tale of love and resilience in Somalia; Perfumed with Mint, the debut feature of Muhammed Hamdy: and Dania Reymond-Boughenou's supernatural Silent Storms starring Shirine Boutella, Khaled Benaïssa, and singer-turned-actress Camélia Jordana.

The 13th edition of the Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) closed out on November 9th after 160 films were screened. Among the winners were Phoenix Fury by Ifeoma N. Chukwuogo (of the award-winning 2017 short Bariga Sugar and the thriller series Diiche) took top awards for Best Film and Best Director. Uzoamaka Onuoha won Best Actress for her role in the supernatural thriller Agemo. Ntware Mwine won Best International Documentary for Memories of loved Returned about the Ugandan photographer Kibaate Aloysius Ssalongo; and Bode Asiyanbi for Best Screenplay for the Awam Amkpa-directed film The Man Died based on Wole Soyinka’s 1972 book of the same title that recounts his experiences in prison during the Nigerian Civil War.

Featured Film

Softie is a 2020 Kenyan documentary about political activist and photojournalist Boniface Mwangi who first came to prominence through his photographs documenting the post-election violence of the 2007 elections. Most recently Mwangi made international headlines after being arrested and detained overnight on October 27, 2024, by Kenyan police, after calling for an anti-government protest in Nairobi. Softie, which chronicles 5 years of his life leading up to his run for a local seat in the 2017 elections, is a portrait of Mwangi the activist, but also about Kenyan politics, family, and identity.

The first feature film of director Sam Soko, Softie won several awards including a Special Jury Prize for Editing at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, and Best Documentary at the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) 2020, an award that automatically qualified the film for consideration for the Oscar documentary shortlist for the 93rd Academy Awards ceremony.

Soko said of Softie:

"This film has to be for Kenyans, for that person that actually wakes up at 5am and goes to vote. That person has to see themselves."

Did You Know?

Hijack '93, a Nollywood Netflix film that drops on October 25, is a fictional retelling of the real-life hijacking of a Nigerian Airways flight in 1993 by a group of Nigerian teenagers. The film’s lineup of Nollywood actors includes Bob Manuel, John Dumelo, Sharon Ooja, Nancy Isime, Jemima Osunde, and Efa Iwara,

Maïmouna Doucouré spent nearly 18 months researching studies on how children are exposed to adult content and sexualised images on social media for Cuties, her award-winning 2020 feature directorial debut. The story centers on a Senegalese-French girl with a traditional Muslim upbringing who is caught between her family’s traditional values and contemporary western culture when she joins a twerking dance group.

The short comedy drama, Made In Mauritius (2009), was the first ever Mauritian film to be selected as part of Official Selection at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival. Directed by Mauritian director David Constantin, the 7-minute film can be watched for free on Viddsee.

Salah Abu Seif (May 10, 1915 – June 23, 1996) was one of the most famous Egyptian film directors, and is considered to be the godfather of Neorealist cinema in Egyptian cinema. Many of the 41 films he directed are considered Egyptian classics; eight of them rank in the Bibliotheca Alexandrina’s list of 100 Greatest Egyptian Films, the most of any director.

Barakat (2020), a South African family drama film directed by Amy Jephta is the first Afrikaans-language Muslim feature film produced in South Africa. The story centers around the family drama that ensues when an aging, widowed matriarch, brings together her fractured, dysfunctional family over Eid-al-Fitr in order to introduce her new romantic partner. The film received multiple nominations and awards and was South Africa's entry for Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards.

Birthdays

Charmaine Bingwa (b. 13 Nov 1984) is a Zimbabwean-Australian actress, writer and director. She is known for her breakthrough role as Carmen Moyo in The Good Fight TV series and in film roles that include Black Box (2020) a science fiction horror film directed by Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour Jr. and co-staring Mamoudou Athie; Emancipation (2022) alongside Will Smith; and Netflix's Rwandan Genocide-set drama Trees of Peace (2022). She is also the writer, director and star of the Little Sistas series, winner of Best Screenplay at the LGBT Toronto Film Festival in 2018.

Karim Amer (b. 10 Nov 1983) is an Egyptian-American film producer and director. He worked on The Square (2013), a documentary about the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 at Tahrir Square and ensuing Egyptian Crisis, and The Great Hack (2019). The Square was the first Egyptian film to earn an Academy Award nomination and went on to win three Emmy Awards, while The Great Hack got nominated for an Emmy and a BAFTA Award. In 2020, he produced and directed The Vow, an HBO documentary series about the self-improvement group, NXIVM. In 2022, he produced and directed Flight/Risk for Amazon Studios, revolving around whistleblowers at Boeing.

Michael Wawuyo Sr (b. Nov 11, 1948) is a Ugandan actor and special effects artist. He is notable for his big screen roles onSometimes in April (2005); Last King of Scotland (2006); Kony: Order from Above, (2017); The Only Son (2016), The Mercy of the Jungle (2018), and The Taste of our Land (2022) which garnered him the Best Actor Award at the African Film Festival in Khouribga. His small screen include include Yat Madit and Power of Legacy. He served as a special effects and make-up artist on films that include The Felista's Fable, for which he received his first nomination at the Africa Magic Viewers' Choice Awards in 2014; The Mercy of the Jungle; and Imbabazi: The Pardon (2013). In 2024, Wawuyo received an iKon lifetime achievement award.

Quote

Danai Gurira in 2022
“Storytelling is one of the most powerful tools for changing perception of Africa and allowing a complex, rich self exploration of its history and unique culture. Its boundless possibilities to give Africa it’s own voice is what brought me to writing and acting."

Danai Gurira, Actress, Playwright, Activist, and Artistic Director of Almasi Collaborative Arts

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Featured Film Score

Across the Sea (French: La mer au loin) is a 2024 drama film, directed by Saïd Hamich Benlarbi. The film premiered in the Critics' Week program at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, where it was a nominee for the Queer Palm. In next screens in competition at the Marrakech International Film Festival in December.

Told as a triptych with each chapter named after one of the three main characters, the film centers on a love triangle that develops between Nour (Ayoub Gretaa), a young man from Morocco who came to Marseille as an illegal immigrant in the 1990s; Serge (Grégoire Colin), a closeted bisexual police officer; and Noémie (Anna Mouglalis), Serge's wife.

Raï, a popular genre of Algerian music, plays throughout the film and is integral to the story according to Hamich:

"Raï music was one of the main driving forces behind this project. Since it experienced its golden age in Marseille in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was important for me to root this music (and the city of Marseille) in the present and in the daily lives of my characters. Raï went into exile in France, and even "reinvented" itself through exile. Many of the songs deal with these themes in a very direct way... when one is in exile, there’s often a very strong, archaic, and powerful relationship with the music of one’s origins. When I was writing the film, raï was both an ally and a compass, helping me find the right balance between the social and the melodramatic."

Featured Page to Screen

Love Unto Grave (Amharic: ፍቅር እስከ መቃብር; Fikir Eske Mekabir) (2024) is an Ethiopian television drama series directed and co-written by Sewmehon Yismaw based on the 1968 novel of the same name by Haddis Alemayehu.

Love Unto Grave is one of the best known novels in Ethiopia and is considered a classic of Ethiopian literature. The novel gained popularity largely due to its narration on Ethiopian radio during the Derg regime. The story revolves around the doomed love affair between Bezabeh, a nobleman, and Seble, a young woman of a lower social class. The novel also takes aim at the injunctions of the Church, class prejudices and the hardships and inequities faced by the peasantry.

The first of four commissioned seasons, each consisting of 12 episodes, began airing on September 11, 2024, to coincide with the Ethiopian New Year celebrations.

In preparation of filming the director said:

"We are trying to understand the book before executing it; there are more than 70 studies done on Fikir Eske Mekabir, and we are trying to read and understand each perspective. We want to know how people perceive it, and in the end, we want to go out with our own voice. It needs dedication and confidence."