The festival, presented by The Royal African Society, will run from 25 October to 3 November during the UK’s celebration of Black History Month and will showcase the best of African cinema in Europe.
For some of us, Black History Month is a yearlong event. Because, let’s face it, Africa is where all of us originate, as a human race, and African culture is the most beautiful and vibrant on the planet. Feel free to disagree with me about that, but take into consideration that I’ve been lucky enough to have traveled the continent far and wide and from the Egyptian sands, to the rocks of South Africa, from the spiritual land of Ethiopia to the pulsating cities of Morocco, I’ve discovered a deep love for all things African — as all-encompassing that statement is.
Everywhere in between on the continent, I’ve traveled through cinema, which is what Film Africa, a ten-day long festival taking place in London, will allow everyone attending the event to do as well.
A still from Mati Diop’s ‘Dahomey’
The festival opens with this year’s Berlinale Golden Bear winner Dahomey by Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop. The documentary, which lasts little over an hour, is a powerful look at the importance of restitution. A hybrid mixing reality and fantasy — in the form of a talking artifact who speaks a bit like a figure out of Star Wars — the film follows the return of 26 royal treasures from a museum in France to their rightful home in Benin. I reviewed the film at Berlinale.
Closing the festival is another Berlinale favorite from this year, Black Tea by Mauritanian director Abderrahmane Sissako. A quiet gem featuring an impossible love story between two people from different lands and differing cultures — played to perfection by Nina Mélo and Chang Han — the film is a cinematic poem painted in stunning shades. To coincide with its screening, the festival announced a much anticipated events, at Ciné Lumière on the 2 November, which will be an unscripted discussion between award-winning filmmaker and artist Abderrahmane Sissako (Black Tea) and filmmaker Sir John Akomfrah (Handsworth Songs), who recently represented Britain at the Venice Biennale. The pair will discuss their celebrated careers, having respected and followed each other’s work for decades.
In between, a few other must-watch, like Swiss-Kenyan director Damien Hauser’s third feature After the Long Rains which follows the coming-of-age story follows Aisha (played by Electricer Kache Hamisi), a ten-year-old Kenyan girl who dreams of becoming an actress. Determined to buck village tradition, she befriends a fisherman to get a job on a boat so she can sail to Europe. The film is loosely based on Hauser’s mom’s own story, as he disclosed to me on a Selfie Interview I’ll make sure to publish later this week.
Another personal fave is BAFTA award-winning Zambian-Welsh director Rungano Nyoni’s On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, which I featured in my Cannes dispatch published on Flaunt Magazine. The dark comedy-drama follows Shula (played by the elegant Susan Chardy), who after finding the body of her uncle left on the roadside begins to address the hidden sexual abuse and buried secrets of her traditional, middle-class Zambian family. The film went on to win Nyoni the Cannes Un Certain Regard Best Director award at this year’s festival.
A still from Nabil Ayouch’s ‘Everybody Loves Touda’
Screening at the Garden Cinema on 2 November is Nabil Ayouch’s stunning Everybody Loves Touda, which features a tour-de-force performance by Nisrin Erradi as the title character, a single mother who performs in dingy bars to make ends meet but longs to become a traditional Moroccan singer and dancer, a Sheikha, all the while trying to give her deaf-and-mute son (Joud Chamihy) a better life. You can read an interview with the cool Moroccan filmmaker here.
To those who attended Cannes in 2023, the hybrid doc The Mother of All Lies by Moroccan helmer Asmae El Moudir was an unmissable title. She went on to historically win the Marrakech International Film Festival top prize the same year, and I wrote about it for Screen International. It marked the first time, in the festival’s twenty year history, that a Moroccan film won the Etoile d’Or.
At the Ciné Lumière in South Kensington, Film Africa will showcase films restored by The World Cinema Project, a non-profit founded by Martin Scorsese in 1995 to preserve seminal films from around the world.
These include the groundbreaking Mandabi (1968, France/Senegal), the first-ever feature shot in an African language, Wolof, directed by Ousmane Sembène (28 Oct). Also screening is Chronicle of the Years of Fire (1975, Algeria), directed by Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina. This historical drama, which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes, portrays the Algerian War of Independence (1954–1962) through the eyes of a peasant. Another notable screening is Timité Bassori’s The Knife Woman (La Femme Au Couteau) (1969, Ivory Coast), an African classic which follows an Ivorian man (played by Bassori himself) haunted by visions of a mysterious woman with a knife symbolizing Africa's struggle to reclaim its cultural heritage.
Other events include workshops and screenings suitable for young children. Workshops include Film Lab Africa, on 31 October, a panel showcasing emerging young talent from Lagos, Nigeria, co-hosted by the British Arts Council. This is a cornerstone of the British Council’s Creative Economy initiative, designed to nurture emerging filmmakers and TV producers in Nigeria.
Film Africa LIVE!, which will take place on 26 October at the Ritzy in Brixton will provide an opportunity to celebrate the vibrant musical creativity of African cinema. Attendees will be serenaded by soulful tunes, escalating to an electrifying dance party with a DJ. To complement the festivities, drinks and a variety of delicious African cuisine will be served.
During Film Africa, African cinema titles will be chosen and supported, through prestigious awards such as the Baobab Award for Best Short Film and the Audience Award for Best Feature Film. These honors aim to spotlight up-and-coming filmmakers, providing a platform to showcase their work to a global audience. Winners of each category will be awarded $2500 for each prize, sponsored by Rolling Stone Africa.
The festival is suitable for families, featuring children’s animation Lady Buckit and the Motley Mopsters (2020, Nigeria) at the Ciné Lumière, the first Nigerian feature-length animated film directed by Adebisi Adetayo. A selection of films from the festival will also be available on BFI Player.
Film Africa is London’s biggest biennial festival celebrating the best African cinema from across the continent and diaspora brought to you by the Royal African Society. Established in 2011, the festival brings diverse London and UK audiences a high-quality and wide-ranging film program accompanied by a vibrant series of events, including director Q&As, talks, and panel discussions; workshops and masterclasses; Film Africa Young Audiences school screenings and family activities; and Film Africa LIVE! music nights. Film Africa also recognises and supports new film-making talent through the Baobab Award for Best Short Film and the Audience Award for Best Feature Film.
For more information and to book tickets, check out their website.
All images courtesy of Film Africa, used with permission.