African Cinema: Fractured Identities
Post-colonial Africa seen through the lens of five African filmmakers ; a historical and fictional examination on the complexity of defining and recreating an African identity.
Kinyua Kamau, Film Curator
- Friday January 22nd | Touki Bouki
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Touki Bouki
SN | 1973 | 93mins | dir. Djibril Diop Mambéty, with Magaye Niang, Mareme Niang | cert. TBC | in Wolof, French with EN subs
Two lovers; a former cattle wrangler, and a disillusioned university student dream of leaving their home city of Dakar and moving to Paris. Their attempt to raise money for their trip, leads them into a Bonnie and Clyde-esque journey across the outskirts of Dakar. Mambéty’s film is an influential work in African cinema as he attempts to create a unique cinematic language that juxtaposes modern and pastoral visual elements through a frenetic editing style. Touki Bouki conveys and grapples with the hybridization of Senegal through symbolic imagery that blends fantasy and social realism seamlessly.
- Saturday January 23rd | Heremakono/Waiting for Happiness
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Heremakono/Waiting for Happiness
MR/FR | 1973 | 96mins | dir. Abbderrahmane Sissako, with Khatra Ould Abder Kader, Maata Ould Mohamed Abeid | cert. TBC | in Hassaniya, French, Mandarin with EN subs
A student returns from France to his home in Nouadhibou and drifts aimlessly among the locals having lost touch with his roots. The story is told in a succession of scenes from the daily life of the various characters in the town. An electrician with his apprentice, a Chinese immigrant, and the local women. The student finds himself a stranger in his own land and his cold detached presence echoes the films visual style as it reflects on the displacement associated with the culture’s nomadic life.
- Sunday January 24th - Teza | Yene Fikir, Ethiopia
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TezaETH | 2008 | 140 mins | dir. Haile Gerima, with Aaron Arefe, Abiye Tedia, Takeleche Beyene, Teje Tesfahun | cert. TBC | in Amharic, German & English with EN subs
An idealistic postgraduate Ethiopian doctor returns from West Germany to his home country of Ethiopia at the height of the Marxist regime of Mengitsu Haile Mariam. His youthful ideals are immediately put to the test as he is forced to confront the reality of his country descending into war and political turmoil. The journey leads him to reconnect with his forgotten past and his culture’s rich history. A dense, lyrical and sharply political film from Haile Gerima that is both historically expansive and deeply personal. Turning a lens on the oppressive structures in the form of government and traditional patriarchal culture that stifle human expression and the will to transform.
Yene Fikir, Ethiopia
ETH | 2020 | 14mins | dir. Gabrielle Tesfaye | cert. TBC | in Amharic with EN subs
Yene Fikir, Ethiopia, meaning 'My Love, Ethiopia’ is a live-action animated film that follows the turbulent and mystical journey of a young girl searching for freedom after being separated from her family during Ethiopia’s political conflict in the 1970s. As she embarks on a painful migration through the scorching desert, magical guardian angels are sent to aid her by a mysterious and ancient Goddess in the skies, holding the secret to heal her homeland. - Gabrielle Tesfaye
- Monday January 25th - Lumumba
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Lumumba
FR/GER/BE/HT | 2000 | 115mins | dir. Raoul Peck, with Eriq Ebouaney, Alex Descas, Maka Kotto, Théophile Sowié | cert. TBC | in French, Lingala with EN subs
In June 1960, Joseph Kasa-Vubu is sworn in as the first President of the Congo, alongside Patrice Lumumba as Prime Minister. Lumumba’s fierce anti-colonial stance immediately makes him an enemy of both foreign and local powers. The film depicts the final months of Lumumba’s life, another visionary African leader whose life was cut short because of their opposition to foreign influence. Raoul Peck’s powerful political film is a fierce critique on Western influence on African politics and a complex study of an African Nationalist hero.
Fractured Identities is presented with the Cine Lumiere as part of the Night of Ideas programme.