4. Titles: A-C
A
A l'ombre du soleil: funérailles et intronisation du Hogon d'Arou. Rréalisation Nadine Wanono, Philippe Lourdou. 1998, 83 min. "A film about a Dogon funeral and enthronement ritual."
See also: Dogon: Africa's people of the cliffs ; La grande geste du Mali
; De la mémoire ethnographique ; La vie et la mort en pays Dogon ; A praxiological approach to ritual analysis ; Dieu d'eau: entretiens avec Ogotemmêli ; The art of the Dogon ; Organisation sociale des Dogon ; Conversations with Ogotemmeli
Mali
Dogon (African people) - Rites and ceremonies - Funeral customs and rites - Religion - Priests
Dogon language with English subtitles and voiceovers. Titles and credits in French and German with English subtitles.
Im Schatten der Sonne: Begräbnisfeier und inthronisation für den Hogon von Arou ; In the shadow of the sun
A-OK? Written and produced by Di Tatham. 2000, 24 min. Part 26 of a series on how the globalized world
economy affects ordinary people.
Series: Life. Series 26 (Bullfrog Films)
See also: Engaging power to fight poverty: country strategy paper III, 2005-2009
Ghana - Uganda
Globalization - Social aspects - Vitamin A deficiency in children - Prevention - Children - Health and hygiene - Plant genetic engineering - ActionAid (Organization) - Public health
English and various languages with English voiceovers.
Life (Bullfrog films)
An act of faith: the Phelophepa health train. Produced by Steven Markovitz; directed by Toni Strasburg. 2000, 24 min. Part 4 of a series on how the globalized world economy affects ordinary people. A group of health professionals spends nine months or each year touring the poorest and most remote areas of South Africa.
Series: Life. Series 4 (Bullfrog Films)
See also: A national health plan for South Africa ; Poverty eradication through health promotion & population regulation ; Social exclusion and community capital ; A new dispensation: health plan for South Africa ; Health trends in South Africa
South Africa
Globalization - Social aspects - Economic aspects - Medical care, 1994 - Community health aides - Volunteer workers in community health services - Public health - Dental care - Optometry - Mobile Health Units
English and African languages with English voiceovers
Phelophepa health train
Adama - The Fulani Magician. By Taale Laafi Rosellini with
Moustapha Thiombiano and Lamine Keita. Music by Oger Kabore, 22 min. Draws
an intimate portrait of the man and his culture through both performance sequences
and interviews in which Adama tells his own story in West African sign language.
See also: Adama, ou, La force des choses ; Tradition orale et nouveaux médias
Ougagadougou (Burkina Faso)
Social life and customs - Magic
Adventure unlimited. Written and directed by Tim Dehn; produced by Roger Hawkins. 1995, ca. 98 min. A series of teen-focused programs "will enable young people to think through the issues that confront them and make decisions with confidence."
Notes: Based on the book by David and Janet Cunningham.
See also: The abandoned adolescents ; The Zimbabwe Young Adult Survey (YAS): 2001-2002: final report ; Trampled no more ; Young people's perception survey
Zimbabwe
Decision making - Teenagers
Africa By Basil Davidson. 1984. 4 videos (114 min each).
An eight part television series. Two parts on each cassette.
See also: West Africa, Islam, and the Arab world ; West Africa before the colonial era ; Africa and unity: the evolution of Pan-Africanism ; The lost cities of Africa
Africa, General
Civilization – History Social life and customs – Politics and government
Africa, Africas. 2001, 62 min. Fantacocà presents the cultural phenomenon of skin bleaching in Cameroon. From the other side of the river documents the effects of war on a community of Ethiopian women and children. Laafi bala demonstrates the causes of wide-spread unemployment and poverty in Burkina Faso.
See also: Women in African development ; The strength to travel together ; Afterwar: veterans from a world in conflict ; Unpacking globalization: markets, gender, and work ; Endangered bodies ; Enfants et femmes du Burkina Faso ; African women in the development process ; Enfants et femmes
Africa, General – Cameroon – Eritrea – Burkina Faso
Women – Refugees – War - Ethnic identitiy – Health and hygiene – Employment – Social conditions.
African language with English subtitles.
Africa, continent that overslept. Produced by Poul Erik Heilbuth and Hans Bulow for Danmarks Radio. 58 min. Young educated African businessmen and intellectuals address Africa’s lack of progress despite its wealth of natural resources.
See also: Africa and the myth of the sleeping giant ; The challenges of economic and institutional reforms in Africa ; Challenges of African growth ; Beyond the rhetoric: essays in Africa's developmental challenges ; Africa: continent of economic opportunities ; Building state capacity in Africa ; Africa rising ; Africa: open for business
Africa
Politics and government - Social conditions - Economic conditions, 1960-
English with voiceover translation of French and Danish
Continent that overslept: Africa - Kontinentet der Sovover sig
Africa dreaming. 1997. 104 min. A compilation of four 26
minute short narrative films by directors from four countries. Each is set
in contemporary societies and deals with the difficulties and mysteries of
relationships and their societal dimensions.
See also: Marriage and family life in South Africa ; Changing Kinship, family and gender relationships in sub-Saharan Africa ; Strengths and weaknesses ; Family structures in the RSA ; Values supporting quality family life
Namibia – Mozambique – Senegal – Tunisia
Love – Relationships
Nama, Arabic, French, Wolof, and Portuguese with English subtitles
Africa I remember: A musical synthesis of two cultures.
1995, 30 min. Tunde Jegede, musician and composer, travels to the Gambia to
immerse himself in the the oral traditions of the kora, an African harp lute.
See also: Kora music from Gambia ; Griot ; Performing Africa ; Songs of West Africa ; Great Great Great Grandparents’ Music ; Music in West Africa ; Jali Nyama Suso: kora player of the Gambia ; World music: a global journey ; The griot's craft ; African classical music
West Africa – Gambia
Jegede, Tunde – Music Folk music – Kora music – Kora (Musical instrument)
Africa in the 21st century series. See: Mali & Senegal: the power of Islam ; Somalia: the neglected civil war ; Zimbabwe & South Africa: still far from coexistence
Africa live: the Roll Back Malaria concert. A film by Mick Csáky; producers, Pierre-Olivier Bardet, Mick Csáky. [Paris, France?]: Idéale Audience International. 2006, 166 min. Features top African musicians performing before a local audience of more than 50,000 at the Iba Mar Diop Stadium in Dakar, Senegal in the fight against malaria.
See also: Malaria control strategy ; How to live in tropical Africa ; Report of the malaria expedition of the Liverpool school of tropical medicine ; Poverty and malaria in Africa ; Malaria and poverty in Africa
Dakar (Senegal)
Music festivals - Malaria - Documentary films - Musicians
English, French, and unidentified African languages with English subtitles; optional subtitles in English, French, Spanish, and Japanese
Malaria: Africa’s future at risk
Africa--living with corruption. Written by Sorious Samura; producer, George Waldrum; directed by Elizabeth C. Jones. New York, NY: Filmakers Library. 2007, 52 min. African journalist Sorious Samura reveals how corruption has become normal and accepted in Africa.
See also: Corruption in Africa: causes, consequences, and cleanups ; Institutional frameworks for addressing public sector corruption in Africa ; Syndromes of corruption: wealth, power, and democracy
Africa
Documentary films - Corruption - Public administration - Corrupt practices
Africa: open for business. Writer, producer and director, Carol Pineau. 2006, 58 min. Profiles ten entrepreneurs from ten different African countries who tell their own stories about how they overcame obstacles to build successful businesses.
See also: Africa: continent of economic opportunities ; Globalization & African self-determination ; Business and the state in Africa ; A game as old as empire ; Africa leads ; Learning to compete in African industry ; Learning to love Africa ; Africa, continent that overslept
Africa, General
Business enterprises - Business people - Entrepreneurship
Africa Project. Women's Video Collective, 1985. 8 videocassettes. Collection consists of footage from Forum ’85, the N.G.O. conference concurrent to the Third United Nations World Conference on Women, as well as interviews with six women attending the conference.
See also: Women in the new millennium ; Population, health, and development in Africa ; Agents of change
Nairobi (Kenya)
Women’s Video Collective (Cambridge, Mass.) - World Conference to Review and Appraise the Achievements of the United Nations Decade for Women (1985 : Nairobi, Kenya) - International Women’s Decade, 1976-1985 - Pro-choice movement - Women in development - Economic conditions - Congresses - Social conditions
Africa, search for common ground. Common Ground Productions,
1997. 13 videos, 26 min. each. Filmed in various countries in Sub-Saharan
Africa, this series profiles a wide variety of formal efforts to resolve contemporary
conflicts without resorting to violence.
See also: Politics and the past: on repairing historical injustices ; Through fire with water ; Conflict management and African politics ; The resolution of African conflicts ; South Africa: what's the common ground on -? ; The Organization of African Unity and conflict management ; Proceedings of the Conference on African Conflicts
Africa, General
Dispute resolution – Conflict management – Reconciliation - Politics and government – 1960-
English and various languages; English subtitles or voiceovers
Africa sings. Prologue by Paul Robeson; production and commentary
by Joseph Best. 1999, 45 min. Made in 1936, The first documentary from South
Africa to take a look at the lives of South Africans of all races.
See also: Culture and customs of South Africa ; SA tribes ; Siliva the Zulu ; Vanishing cultures of South Africa ; South Africa in the global imaginary
South Africa
Social life and customs
African art in motion. UCLA’s Fowler Museum of Cultural
History. 1976, 16 min. An overview of African dance videotapes produced
by the Fowler Museum as part of an exhibition of the same title.
See also: African art and motion ; African art in movement ; African art music in Nigeria ; African arts & cultures
Africa, General
Dance – Music
African culture: drumming & dance. 2000, 22 min.
Members are Margo Black, singer, choreographer and story teller, etc.,
Tony Rios and David C. Slosson, percussionists. Ashante-Sebei demonstrates
the culture found in Africa.
See also: Anthology of music of Black Africa ; African dance ; Danse africaine = Afrikanischer Tanz = African dance
Africa, General - Ashante (West Africa) – Sebei (East Africa)
Folk music – Folk dance Polyrhythms
African dance & percussion. Taffi Entertainers.
1996. Performances of a variety of traditional African dance and drumming
(approximately 80 min. in length) followed by 20 minutes of an African
pop music concert. Film has no narration.
See also: African dance ; Danse africaine = Afrikanischer Tanz = African dance ; African culture: drumming & dance
Uganda – Kenya – South western Central Africa
Baganda (African people) – Nyanza (African people) – Kongo (African people)
Taffi traditional dance
An African dance celebration. 1997, 90 min. Twenty
years after its fabulous opening in Johannesburg, South Africa, Ipi Ntombi
is back in an updated, slick extravaganza of dance and music that blends
the traditional and modern heartbeat of Africa.
See also: African dance ; Danse africaine = Afrikanischer Tanz = African dance ; African culture: drumming & dance ; African dance & percussion ; African art in motion
South Africa
Dance
Ipi ntombi
African dance: sand, drum and Shostakovich. Producer & director: Ken Glazebrook, Alla Kovgan. W 2004, 70 min. A documentary exploring African contemporary dance featuring eight modern dance companies from Africa, Europe and Canada, as well as interviews with dance historians.
See also: The Spirit's dance in Africa ; Si sa danse bouge ; Heya-- danse! ; Grenzenlos ;
Africa
Dance - Modern dance - Social aspects - Dance companies - Dance festivals
English and French with English subtitles
Sand, drum and Shostakovich
African guitar. Solo fingerstyle guitar music from Uganda,
Congo/Zaire, Central African Republic, Malawi, Namibia and Zambia. 1994,
1995, 60 min.
See also: The Garland handbook of African music ; Performing Africa ; Musical arts in Africa: theory, practice, and education
Africa, General
Guitar music - Popular music
African Jim. 1994, 51 min. A young African leaves his
village in Swaziland and seeks fame and fortune in Johannesburg.
See also: Swaziland moves ; Poverty in Swaziland ; Swaziland: contemporary social and economic issues
South Africa
Popular music
Jim comes to Jo’burg
The African Queen. Produced by S.P. Eagle; adapted for the screen by James Agee and John Huston; directed by John Huston. 1997, 104 min. This film centers on a journey down an uncharted river by a prim missionary and a derelict captain of a river boat as they battle nature, fall in love and attempt to destroy a German gunboat. Based on the novel by C.S. Forester.
See also: Black and white in colour: African history on screen ; Possessing the world ; World War II in Europe, Africa, and the Americas, with general sources
German East Africa
Feature films - Great Britain - United States - Adventure films - War films - World War, 1914-1918 - Drama
Available on both DVD and videocassette
An African recovery. By Sandra Nichols. Co-produced
by the UN. 1988, 26 min. Documentary about local efforts in Niger to prevent
the devastating effects of a future catastrophic drought similar to the
one that ravaged the Sahel in the 1980’s.
See also: La longue sécheresse du Sahel ; Rivers of sand ; Drought and aid in the Sahel
Africa - Sahel
Nomads Drought – Conditions of life
English narration and subtitles
African religions and ritual dances. Originally broadcast
on the television program: Tell It Like It Was, 18 min. Shows the rarely
seen African religious cult dances, the invocation to Igunnu and the ritual
fire dance to Shango, and portrays how dance itself is an expression of
religious devotion.
See also: African religions ; African religions in western scholarship ; African religions & philosophy
Nigeria
Rites and ceremonies - Dance
English
African religions: Zulu Zion. By Ronald Eyre, 1987,
52 min. Visits the Zulu Independent Churches of South Africa to explore
the Black African response to Christianity, using the Zulu Shembe movement
as a primary example.
See also: Zulu Zion and some Swazi Zionists ; The Zulu yesterday and to-day ; Drumbeats
South Africa
Church history - Zionist churches
Zulu Zion – Long search
Africans in America: the unfolding of ethnic identity.
Produced/directed by Ray LeJeune. 2004, 30 min. Africans who have immigrated
from Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Uganda talk about their
beliefs, experiences, and living in America.
See also: African brain circulation ; The struggles, challenges, and triumphs of the African immigrants in America
Africa, General
Emigration and immigration - Migrations - Social conditions
Afrique, je te plumerai. 1992. 88 min. A filmmaker’s
documentary-style essay on the history of colonialism in Cameroon, and
by extension, on the African continent.
See also: International influences and Baptist mission in West Cameroon ; Les perspectives de la colonisation ; Cameroun, Afrique--que faire?
Africa, General - Cameroon
History – Colonial influence - Politics and government
French with English subtitles
Africa, I’m going to fleece you
Afro@Digital. Written and directed by Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda;
Producer, N’Diagna Adéchoubou, 53 min. Looks at the information technology
revolution which has become a daily reality in many African countries
where the Internet, mobile telephones and digital video cameras are being
used with extraordinary creativity.
See also: Le Sénégal à l'heure de l'information ; Les technologies de l'information ... ; The digital divide in developing countries
Africa, General – Senegal – Congo (Brazzaville)
Information technology – Digital divide - Social aspects – Cybercafes
English and French with English subtitles
Afro digital
AIDS in Africa. Directed by Roger Pyke; produced by Simcha Jacobovici, Henry Gold, Roger Pyke; writer, Elliott Halper. N 1990, 52 min. Describes the war on AIDS in Africa, where the disease cuts across the entire population, affecting men and women of reproductive age and their children.
See also: Letting them die ; Condoms, fish & circus tricks ; Race against time ; Culture and sexual risk
Africa
AIDS (Disease) - Prevention
Aimé Césaire: une voix pour l’histoire. By Euzhan Palcy,
160 min. This monumental film on one of the founders of negritude weaves
Césaire’s life and poetry into a vast tapestry featuring some of the most
important artistic and intellectual figures from the Caribbean, Africa,
and Europe of the last six decades.
See also: Césaire et nous ; Léopold Sédar Senghor et la revue "Présence africaine" ; The African experience in literature and ideology
Africa, General
Negritude - Aimé Césaire – Biography
French with English subtitles
Aimé Césaire: A Voice for History
Ainsi meurent les anges. By Moussa Sene Absa. 2001,
56 min. The marriage of Mory, a troubled Senegalese poet living outside
Paris with his French wife and their children falls apart under cross-cultural
pressures, specifically his father’s demand that he take a second wife
in Senegal.
See also: Islam et mariage traditionnel wolof au Sénégal ; Les mariages mixtes en droit international privé sénégalais ; Dynamique d'une population traditionnelle
Africa – Senegal
Poets – Fathers and sons – Drama - Interethnic marriage – Abused children
French and Wolof with English subtitles
And so angels die
Alan Paton’s Beloved Country. By Catherine Meyburgh.
54 min. Biography of South African author of Cry, the Beloved Country.
See also: Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson's Lost in the stars ; Cry, the beloved country ; Cry, the beloved country: a verse drama ; A literary friendship : Alan Paton and Neville Nuttall ; Apartheid's landscape and ideas
South Africa
English
Alan Paton – Cry, the beloved country
Allah Tantou, a la grace de Dieu. Director: David Achkar.
1991, 62 min. Confronts the personal and political costs of widespread
human rights abuses on the African continent.
See also: La République de Guinée ; Africa on the move
Guinea
Politics and government – Drama - Prisoners
French and Soussou with English subtitles
Grace de Dieu – God’s will be done – Allah Tantou, God’s will be done
Al'lèèsi - an African actress. A film by Rahmatou Keïta; original script, Rahmatou Keïta; producer, Maryam M. Keïta. 2004, 69 min. Zalika Souley, in her fifties, lives with four children in a two-bedroom apartment with neither electricity nor water in Niamey, the capital of Niger. But thirty years ago, she was a movie star and Africa’s first professional female actress, working with such celebrated directors as Niger’s Oumarou Ganda and Moustapha Alassane.
See also: Women of the Sahel ; Femmes et développement en Afrique sahélienne
Niamey (Niger)
Souley, Zalika - Actresses - Biography - Women - Motion picture industry - Motion pictures - Documentary
French and undetermined Nigerien language with English subtitles
Almodou. Un film de Amadou Thior. 2002, 85 min. Modou, a young, courageous and determined talibe (pupil in a Koranic school) manages to escape from his corrupt and abusive teacher to find a better life in contemporary Dakar, Senegal.
See also: Représentations spatiales et mobilités des jeunes à Dakar ; Essai d'analyse sur les problèmes d'éducation et d'emploi de la jeunesse au Sénégal
Dakar (Senegal)
Teenage boys - Drama - Social life and customs - Comedy films - Feature films
Wolof and French with English subtitles
Amandla!: a revolution in four part harmony. Produced by Lee Hirsh/Sherry Simpson Dean; directed by Lee Hirsh. 2002, 103 min. Tells the story of black South African freedom music and the central role it played against apartheid.
See also: Brenda Fassie ; Rhythm of resistance ; Radio Freedom sound recording
South Africa
Apartheid - Music - Social aspects - Human rights workers - Documentary films
Ambush in Mogadishu. 2001, 60 min. Written, produced,
and directed by William Cran. Frontline investigates what went wrong with
the peace keeping mission in Mogadishu.
See also: Somalia: background information for Operation Restore Hope, 1992-93 ; Operation Restore Hope, the military operations in Somalia ; Somalia: from the dawn of civilization ; Black Hawk down: a story of modern war
Mogadishu (Somalia) – United States
History – Foreign relations – Aidid, Mohammed Farah Quaida (Organization) – Operation Restore Hope, 1992-1993 -
Frontline (Television program)
And still I rise. A Non Aligned Production for BBC Television; produced by Kanayo S. Onwurah & Sarah Carr; written & directed by Ngozi Onwurah. 1993, 30 min. Prominent African and African American women comment on their experiences in white European society. Includes interviews with Caron Wheeler (singer), Buchi Emecheta (novelist), Stella Dadzie (writer) along with many others.
See also: Motherlands: Black women's writing from Africa, the Caribbean, and South Asia ; Africana womanist literary theory
Europe
Women, Black - Interviews - Women, African - History - Stereotype (Psychology)
Angano. . . Angano: nouvelles de Madagascar. By Cesar
Paes. 1989, 64 min. This film pioneers a new approach to ethnographic
filmmaking, at once scrupulously non-interpretive yet deeply evocative.
See also: Angano: contes et histoires de Madagascar ; Ny angano: fijery ankehitriny = Vues actuelles sur les mythes et contes malagasy ; Littérature orale malgache
Madagascar
Tales - Creation
Malagasy and French with English subtitles
Tales of Madagascar
The angel returns. Director, Jacqueline Bakker; editors, Gulay Orhan, Ebra Baskan, Andries Udink. 2002, 50 min. Circumcision is a tradition of family honor, a religious rite, a means to control women’s sexuality, and what is often not expressed, a livelihood for the many women who perform this ritual.
See also: Born in the big rains ; Somali children and youth ; Female circumcision in Somalia ; Disability in local and global worlds
Somalia
Musso, Isnino Ahmed - Female circumcision - Clitoridectomy - Rites and ceremonies - Social life and customs - Social Change
Somali, with subtitles in English
Changing the tradition of female circumcision
Angola é a Nossa Terra. By Jane Pedro Camera. 1988,
45 min. Produced in conjunction with the Organization of Angolan Women
(OMA), highlights the contribution women make to the reconstruction of
a country where war has consumed more than half the national budget and
produced at least a million internal refugees.
See also: Angola and the politics of intervention ; The war for Africa ; At thy call we did not falter
Angola – United States
Women – Social conditions – History – Civil War 1975-2002 - Economic conditions – Interviews – South African Incursions 1978-1990
English and Portuguese with English subtitles
Angola is our country
Angola's future doctors. Videorecording of film produced
in 1989 by Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dept. for International
Cooperation. Directed by Alex Ben-Dor. Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive,
Hebrew University. 10 min.
See also: Re-creating Eden ; Angola: struggle for peace and reconstruction
Angola - Israel
Military eduction - Medicine - Study and teaching
Anteranaw. Alexandria, VA: E & M Productions, 2000s.
Ethiopia
Any child is my child. Director, Barry Feinberg. 1988, 27 min. Takes a look at the repression of children in South Africa.
See also: Rights of the child in South Africa ; Detention of children in South Africa ; Into the heart of darkness
South Africa
Social conditions - Apartheid - Children’s rights - Police misconduct
Apartheid gold and reparations. Directed and produced
by Ben Cashdan. 2001, 45 min. A film about Swiss Banks’ involvement in
South Africa during apartheid and the debt crisis.
See also: Gold mining and politics - Johannesburg, 1900-1907 ; Johannesburg: the making and shaping of the city ; Gold their touchstone
South Africa
Gold mines and mining – Economic conditions 1961-1991- Gold industry – Finance
English
The architect and the old village. Catarina Alves Costa; produced by Catarina Mourão. 2003, 70 min. Álvaro Siza Vieira, a famous visionary Portuguese architect, is called to coordinate the rehabilitation of the monuments and architectonic heritage of Cidade Velha (Old Village) in Santiago, one of the African islands of Cape Vert.
See also: Le moulin et le pilon ; Compreensão de Cabo Verde ; Vozes da cultura cabo-verdiana
Cidade Velha (Cape Verde)
Documentary - Acculturation - Social life and customs - Architectural heritage
Arlit, deuxième Paris. Une film de Idrissou Mora Kpai; collaboration á l'écriture, Isabelle Boni-Claverie; écrit et réalisé par Idrissou Mora Kpai. San Francisco, CA: California Newsreel. 2005, 78 min. A case study in migration and environmental racism set in an uranium mining town in the Sahara desert of Niger.
See also: Women of the Sahel ; Structural adjustment and stabilization in Niger ; Gouvernance et développement au Niger ; Le Niger
Arlit (Niger)
Uranium mines and mining - Environmental aspects - Economic conditions LinkArlit (Niger) - Social conditions - Social conditions - Emigration and immigration - Documentary films
French, Hausa, Bariba, and Tamashek (Tamachek, Tamasheq) with English subtitles
Arlit, the second Paris
The Art of the Dogon. 1988, 24 min. By the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, Office of Film and Television. The Dogon people of Mali
possess one of the richest art traditions in West Africa. Program is based
on Lester Wunderman’s extensive collection of Dogon sculpture at the Metropolitan
Museum, and his archival footage, shot on location in Mali.
See also: Art of the Dogon ; African art of the Dogon ; The Dogon of Mali and Upper Volta
West Africa – Mali
Dogon (African people) – Sculpture Art – Exhibitions
English
Arusi ya Mariamu. By Nangayoma Ng’oge and Ron Mulvihilll.
1996, 36 min. A contemporary story centering around the art and science
of healing through traditional medicine. (On the same video tape: Ushirika
ni Umoja = Sharing is Unity. 22 min.)
See also: Everyday spirits and medical interventions ; A history of traditional medicine and health care in pre-colonial East-Central Africa
East Africa – Kenya – Tanzania
Social life and customs – Villages - Traditional medicine – Teso (African people)
Swahili with English subtitles – English narration
Marriage of Mariamu – Sharing is unity – Ushirika ni umoja
Asante market women. Produced and directed by Claudia
Milne. 1991, 52 min. Examines the matrilineal and polygamous Asante society
of Ghana through interviews with women, who exercise complete authority
in the wholesale produce market, and with their husbands and children.
(Series: Disappearing world)
See also: At Christmas and on rainy days ; Onions are my husband ; The position of Asante women traders in Kumasi Central Market, Ghana
Ghana
Ashante (African people) - Asante - Women merchants - Ethnology - Social conditions - Economic conditions
Association for the physically disabled of Kenya. Producer and director, Richard Quinn. Ukweli Video Productions. 2002, 24 min. Profiles the programs and activities of the Association for the Physically Disabled of Kenya (A.P.D.K), a non profit, non-governmental organization founded in 1958.
See also: Community based rehabilitation ; Disability is not inability ; A gender analysis of disability ; Case studies in special education ; Mama Wahunzi
Kenya
Association for the Physically Disabled of Kenya - Services for people with disabilities - Rehabilitation centers
Physically disabled of Kenya
Asylum. Produced by Sandy McLeod and Gini Reticker.
2003, 20 min. Upon her father insisting that she undergo a circumcision
and then marry an old man, a young woman escapes Ghana for the United
States.
See also: The falling dawadawa tree ; Mutilated ; Female circumcision ; Female circumcision: human rites ; Female genital mutilation
Ghana - United States
Women immigrants - Female circumcision - Women refugees - Arranged marriage - Social life and customs - Documentary films - Case studies
Asylum, fleeing genital mutilation
Atlantico Negro: na Rota dos Orixás. Director, Renato
Barbieri. 2001, 55 min. This Brazilian-made film takes us to both shores,
to how spiritual life, dance and song came with the captive people and
took root in the new soil.
See also: The African contribution to Brazilian civilization ; Made in Africa: pesquisas e notas
Brazil – Bénin
African diaspora – African influences - Slave trade –History – Civilization
Portuguese with English subtitles
Black Atlantic: on the Orixas route – Black Atlantic
Atumpan, the talking drums of Ghana. Institute of Ethnomusicology
and African Studies Center, UCLA; School of Music and Drama, University
of Ghana; filmed and recorded by Mantle Hood, 1964, 43 min. Documentary
about Ashanti ceremonial drums.
See also: Listen to the silence ; The drums of Dagbon ; Drums, the heartbeat of Africa ; Our drums and drummers
Ghana
Ashanti (African people) - Rites and ceremonies - Dance – Music – Drummers – Drum Construction – Percussion music
Au Village, une école. 1996, 28 min. By Marie-Lou de
Burette and Françoise Fabre. A documentary on schools in small villages
in Mali, which are supported by remittances from villagers residing and
working abroad.
See also: Community schools in Mali ; Kids, schools & learning ; L'enseignement primaire au Mali
Mali
Primary education – Education – Children of Immigrants – Schools - Emigrant remittances – Villages – Rural conditions – Finances
French and an African language with French subtitles
B
Backlash. Directed and produced by Mary Migui; written by Cajetan Boy. Nairobi, Kenya. [2005?] ca. 81 min. A wealthy family hides the fact that their son is HIV-positive so that he can marry and provide for them a grandchild.
See also: AIDS in Kenya: trends, interventions, and impact ; Sexual decision-making and AIDS in Africa ; Gender aspects in HIV/AIDS infection and prevention in Kenya
Kenya
HIV-positive persons - Drama - Family - Feature films
Bamako. Directeur, Abderrahmane Sissako; Aïssa Maïga, [et al.]. Paris: Harmattan. 2007, 118 min. A symbolic courtroom drama in Sissako's family courtyard in which the defendants (World Bank and International Monetary Fund) are charged by the plaintiffs (people of Africa) with the deterioration of the African economy.
See also: The white man's burden ; IMF support and crisis prevention ; Development finance in the global economy ; The IMF, World Bank and policy reform ; When reality contradicts rhetoric ; Preparing Africa for the twenty-first century
Bamako (Mali)
International relations - Economic development - Developing countries - World Bank - International Monetary Fund - Drama
Bamako. Un film de Hassim Tell. Paris: l'Harmattan vidéo. 2007, 81 min. interview avec le footballeur Salif Keïta, fête de quartier.
See also: Bamako ; Legendes et vérités du football malien ; History of football in Africa
Bamako (Mali )
Social life and customs - Interviews
A Bamako les femmes sont belles. By Christiane Succab-Goldman.
1995, 65 min. Various women from Bamako, Mali discuss their memories of
the past and their lives in the present as they try to balance the demands
of tradition and development.
See also: Dictionnaire des femmes célèbres du Mali ; La situation de la femme malienne ; Enfants et femmes au Mali : une analyse de situation ; L'insertion urbaine à Bamako ; Citadines: vies et regards de femmes de Bamako
Bamako (Mali)
Women - Economic conditions
English with some dialogs in African Languages
Bamako sigi-kan = Bamako's pact. A film by Manthia Diawara; director, Manthia Diawara; production, K'a Yéléma Productions. New York. 2002, 77 min. This documentary uses personal accounts of men and women of Bamako to demonstrate how politics in the city and in everyday life is lived in a changing society alongside traditional values.
See also: A Bamako les femmes sont belles ; L'insertion urbaine à Bamako ; Urbanization of an African community ; Tradition et modernité dans l'oeuvre littéraire de Fily Dabo Sissoko
Bamako (Mali)
Culture and globalization - Islam and culture - Social life and customs - Motion pictures - Social conditions - Economic conditions - Documentary films
English, French, and undetermined indigenous language with English subtitles
Banguza Timbila. 1982, 30 min. An outdoor performance
by the Chopi Timbila Orchestra of Banguza, Zavala, Mozambique, composed
primarily of xylophones, drums, singers and dancers.
See also: Music from Mozambique ; Chopi musicians: their music, poetry, and instruments ; The 1973 Mgodo wa Mbanguzi ; The 1973 Mgodo wa Mkandeni ; A spirit here today ; A companion to the films "Mgodo wa Mbanguzi" and "Mgodo wa Mkandeni"
Mozambique
Chopi (African people) - Folk music - Folk dance – Folk music – Xylophone music
Narration of the chanted lyrics in English
Batouka 86. 1988, 52 min. By François Migeat and Marc
Huraux. Participants: Les Tambourinaires du Burundi, Adama Drame, Djoliba
Percussions, Akonio Dollo, Pierre Cheriza Fenelus, Martin St. Pierre,
Nana Vasconcelos, Carnot (“Agouba”). Filmed at the festival held in Guadeloupe
in Apr., 1986.
See also: A contemporary study of musical arts ; Musical arts in Africa: theory, practice, and education ; The drummers of Burundi ; African dance & percussion ; Drum gahu!: a systematic method for an African percussion piece ; Drum gahu cassette album
Africa - General
Percussion music - International festival
Narrated in French
Beau travail. Une coproduction La Sept Arte, Tanaïs
Com, SM Films; produit par Jérôme Minet et Patrick Grandperret; scénario,
Jean-Pol Fargeau et Claire Denis; un film de Claire Denis. 2002, 90 min. Story of a sergeant in the French Foreign
Legion in Djibouti whose ordered life is turned upside down with the arrival
of a new recruit who finds favor with the unit's commander. Loosely based
on Herman Melville's Billy Budd.
See also: Billy Budd: an opera ; Djibouti, les institutions politiques et militaires
Djibouti - France
Feature films - Drama - Armed Forces - Légion étrangère - Army
French with English subtitles.
Becoming a woman in Okrika. By Judith Gleason, Elisa Mereghetti Tesser; produced by Kamel Film.
1991?, 27 min. Five females, fifteen to seventeen years old, undergo a traditional rite of passage that used to be a necessary prelude to marriage in Okrika.
See also: Monday's girls ; Maidenhood ; Marriage form in Nigeria ; The Family in Africa ; Marriage and the family in Nigeria
Ogbogbo (Rivers State, Nigeria)
Okrika (African people) - Rites and ceremonies - Women - Social life and customs - Puberty rites - Initiation rites - Documentary films
English; songs in Ijo
Belonging. Producers, Rene Williams and Khetiwe Ngcobo. 2004, 52 min. Born into exile as the daughter of political émigrés, Kethiwe Ngcobo and her family returned to their longed-for homeland, South Africa in 1994.
Series: Real stories from a free South Africa; v. 3
See also: From 'foreign natives' to 'native foreigners' ; Do South Africans exist? ; Transnationalism and new African immigration to South Africa
South Africa
Women - Ethnicity - Social conditions - Documentary films
English and Zulu with English subtitles
Benjamin and his brother. 2002, 87 min. Directed by
Arthur Howes. Tells the story of the recent life of Benjamin and William
Deng, two young Sudanese men who left Sudan in a mass exodus of boy refugees
in 1987. This group became known as the “Lost Boys,” and in 2001, the
U.S. government began a project to resettle them in the United States.
See also: A great wonder ; No time for childhood ; Lost boys of Sudan ; Wanderings ; al-Ray al-ākhar
Sudan – Kakuma (Kenya: Refugee camp) – United States
History – Civil War, 1983 – Children Immigrants
English narration – some Dinka and Arabic dialogue with English subtitles
Benta. Director, Mary Migui; screenplay, Cajetan Boy. Nairobi, Kenya: Sisimka: Et Cetera. 2007, 110 min. After the death of her family in a road accident, Benta is employed by a Fulani household in order to survive and support her brothers.Unfortunately, she has to deal with a controlling and demanding family as well as with a lecherous head of the household.
See also: Colonial inscriptions: race, sex, and class in Kenya ; The Effects of maternal mortality on children in Africa ; Situation analysis of children and women in Kenya ; Skills training and beyond ; The African girl child, our multiple challenge
Kenya
Domestics - Drama - Brothers and sisters - Family - Orphans
English and Swahili (?) with English subtitles
Between Joyce and remembrance. A film by Mark J. Kaplan. 2004, 68 min. This video tells the story of the Mtimkulu family, stretching back over two decades and raises questions about the nature of truth, forgiveness and reconciliation.
See also: Political forgiveness ; Peace and reconciliation in South Africa ; A human being died that night ; Truths drawn in jest ; Overcoming apartheid ; Facing the truth ; Narratives of nation media, memory and representation ; Truth and reconciliation in South Africa ; Gerrie & Louise
South Africa
Mtimkulu, Siphiwo - Truth and Reconciliation Commission - Political aspects - Apartheid - Retribution - Race relations
Beyond the plains. 1982, 53 min. Produced by Michael
Raeburn. Shows the traditional world of the Maasai as it is confronted
by the westernized, technological world by telling the life story of a
young Maasai.
See also: The last of the Maasai ; The history and some traditions of the Maasai ; Enkishon
Kenya – Tanzania
Masai – Biography – Case studies - Social life and customs - Acculturation
English
The big debate. Organized by the Media Owners Association, moderator: Rose Kimotho. 2005. A debate on the contentious issues in the proposed new constitution to prepare Kenyans for the November 2005 referendum.
See also: Governance and transition politics in Kenya ; Raila Odinga: an enigma in Kenyan politics ; Kenya: the struggle for democracy
Kenya
Constitution of Kenya - Referendum, 2005
English
Bitter melons. Lorna Marshall, John Marshall. 1986,
30 min. Portrays the difficulty of survival in the central Kalahari Desert
in southern Africa. The musician Ukxone, a member of a group called the
/Gwi, performs songs about animals, the land, and the social life.
See also: Bitter melons: a study guide ; Voices of the San ; The way it used to be ; Remnants of a race ; Buschmänner in der Kalahari
Southern Africa – Kalahari Desert
San (African people) – G/wi (African people) - Social life and customs – Ethnology – Music
English
Black and white in color. Original screenplay by Georges Conchon and Jean-Jacques Annaud; produced by Arthur Cohn, Jacques Perrin, Giorgio Silvagni. 2003, 92 min. A satire on racism, colonialism, and war. Set in the Ivory Coast during the First World War, a group of French colonials learn that their country is at war with Germany.
See also: Black and white in colour: African history on screen ; A mission to civilize
Africa - Côte d’Ivoire - France
Racism - Drama - Colonies - Feature films
French, German, and English dialogue with optional English subtitles
Noirs et blancs en couleur
Black gold. Filmed, directed, and produced by Marc Francis & Nick Francis; executive producer, Christopher Hird.
2006,78 min. Black Gold asks us to 'wake up and smell the coffee', to face the unjust conditions under which our favorite drink is produced and to decide what we can do about it.
See also: The coffee-go-round ; Smuggling and supply response ; Javatrekker: dispatches from the world of fair trade coffee ; The global coffee economy in Africa, Asia and Latin America, 1500-1989 ; The 'latte revolution'?
Ethiopia
Coffee growers - Coffee industry - Employees - Labor unions - Economic aspects - Social responsibility of business - Documentary
Wake up and smell the coffee
Black Man’s Land: Images of Colonialism and Independence in Kenya.
1979. 3 cassettes, 154 min. By Anthony Howarth and David Koff. A trilogy
which traces the history of British imperialism in Kenya from early white
settlement through nationalist movements of the twentieth century and
up to the death of Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya’s first prime minister, in 1978.
Uses old photos, film clips, and more recent interviews.
See also: A modern history of Kenya, 1895-1980 ; Kenya Uhuru: whose freedom? ; Scram from Kenya! ; Kenya: from colonization to independence ; Mau Mau & nationhood ; Imperial reckoning: the untold story of Britain's gulag in Kenya
Kenya
History – 1895-1963 - Politics and government – 1963-1978
English
White man’s country – Mau mau - Kenyatta
Blaze Africa. Produced by Stereomax Disc Solution. 2006. Odongo Mayaka presents Luo traditional music.
See also: Luo of Kenya; A history of the Luo-Abasuba of western Kenya ; Raila jakom ; Ohanglaman
Kenya
Luo (African people) - Music
Blood & Sand: War in the Sahara. By Sharon I. Sopher.
1982, 58 min. The film provides the first Western coverage of the war
in the Western Sahara.
See also: Endgame in the Western Sahara ; International dimensions of the Western Sahara conflict
Algeria – Western Sahara – Morocco – United States
History – Economic conditions – Politics and government - Refugees Military relations – Foreign relations – 1975
English
Blood diamond. Story by Charles Leavitt and C. Gaby Mitchell; screenplay by Charles Leavitt; directed by Edward Zwick. 2007, 138 min. (2 videodiscs). Amid the explosive civil war overtaking 1999 Sierra Leone, two men join together for two dangerous missions: recovering a rare pink diamond of immense value and rescuing the fisherman’s son.
See also: Blood diamonds ; Blood diamonds: tracing the deadly path ; The Sierra Leonean tragedy ; A call to love for national development
Sierra Leone
Smugglers - Drama - Fishers - Diamonds - History - Feature films - Thrillers - Adventure films - Civil War, 1991-
English, French or Spanish dialogue, English, French or Spanish subtitles; closed-captioned
The Blooms of Banjeli: Technology and Gender in African ironmaking.
1986, 28 min. Carlyn Saltman, Candice Lee Goucher, Eugenia W. Herbert.
Presents the techniques, beliefs, and rituals associated with ironmaking
among the Bassari people in central Togo. Compares contemporary practices
with those recorded in 1914 by filmmaker Hans Schomburgk.
See also: Métallurgistes bassar ; Techniques de métallurgie au Nord-Togo ; Iron, gender, and power
Togo - Ghana
Bassari (Togolese and Ghanaian people) – Rites and ceremonies - Iron industry and trade – Social aspects
English
The body beautiful. A film by Ngozi Onwurah. 1991, 23 min. Dramatizes a daughter’s feelings toward her mother, and how a mastectomy has affected their relationship. Discusses women’s body image, especially as it is affected by a mastectomy. Includes views of scarred and healthy breasts.
See also: La femme dans la presse féminine africaine ; Through the looking glass ; Realizing rights: transforming approaches to sexual and reproductive well-being
Body image in women - Drama - Mothers and daughters - Mastectomy - Breast - Cancer - Patients - Short films - Documentary films
Bon voyage & Aventure Malgache. British Film Institute; Milestone Film & Video. 1998, c1993, 57 min. Two short films made by Hitchcock in 1944 at the request of the British government. When viewed by government officials they decided that the films were inflammatory and withheld them from distribution.
See also: Vichy in the tropics ; Resisting bondage in Indian Ocean Africa and Asia ; Les soldats de la Grande île : d'une guerre à l'autre, 1895-1918 ; Aux Heures troublées de l'Afrique française, 1939-1943
Great Britain - Madagascar
War films - Motion pictures in propaganda - Underground movements in motion pictures - Short films
French with English subtitles
Bopha! Arrest. 1987, 59 min. Directed and produced by
Daniel Riesenfeld. BOPHA! was a drama by South African Percy Mtwa about
the tensions between a Black policeman and his activist son during the
apartheid period. This documentary is about how the play came into being.
See also: Homes apart ; Hot wax ; Last grave at Dimbaza
South Africa
Apartheid – Race relations - Social conditions - Drama
English
Boran women. Editor, Judith von Daler; voice, Musindo Mwinyipembe; producer, Norman Miller. 1974, 18 min. Depicts the daily life of Boran women in the Marsabit District, Kenya.
See also: The Boran, Rendille, and Samburu ; Boran women
Kenya
Boran (African people) - Women - Social conditions
Born into struggle. Written and directed by Rehad Desai; producer, Bhekizizwe Peterson. 74 min. Rehad Desai’s father, Barney Desai, was a political activist and hero intensely involved in the struggle for freedom in South Africa. This film exposes the effects this had on Rehad himself and his family.
See also: The killing of the Imam ; Imagining the city
South Africa
Desai, Rehad - Political activists - Desai, Barney, 1932-
Born slave. Producers, directors, editors, Helen Aastrup-Samuels and Bo Harringer. 2003, 52 min. This documentary, shot secretly by the production team disguised as tourists, provides the outside world’s first look at slavery that still exists in contemporary Mauritania.
See also: Ending slavery ; Mauritania's campaign of terror
Mauritania
Slavery - Slaves
Borom Sarret. See La noire de-
Bosnia hotel. Directed by Thomas Balmès. 2000, 52 min. Reflections of Samburu warriors from Kenya upon their experience as part of the UN peace-keeping force in Bosnia juxtaposed with their traditional practices of circumcision and blood drinking.
See also: African warriors: the Samburu ; Samburu
Bosnia and Hercegovina
Samburu (African people) - United Nations - Armed Forces
African language with English subtitles
Bosnia hotel: Kenyan warriors in Bosnia
Brenda Fassie. 1998, 25 min. Portrait of South African
popular singer Brenda Fassie, whose music is a blend of soul, disco, and
Mbaqanga.
See also: Brenda remembered ; Brenda, the comeback queen ; Kwaito
South Africa
Singers – Protest songs - Popular music
English
Bringing justice home. Video director, Richard J. Quinn; producers, Henry Maina, Rhoda Igweta; script writer, Wanjiru Gikonyo. 2003, 20 min. Documentary on the Legal Resources Foundation’s paralegal training programme which is targeted at reducing legal illiteracy by enhancing legal and human rights awareness in the Kenyan community.
See also: Peaceful resistance ; Vision 2012 ; Human rights situation in Kenya ; Fundamental rights and freedoms in Kenya
Kenya
Legal Resources Foundation (Kenya Human Rights Commission) - Human rights - Legal assistants - Law - Study and teaching - Documentary films
Bruly Bouabré's alphabet. A film by Nurith Aviv. 2005, 17 min. The story of Ivory Coast artist, Frederic Bruly Bouabré, who created 400 hundred pictograms, based on one-syllable words in his language, Bété.
See also: Domin et Zézê légende ; Worlds envisioned ; Frédéric Bruly Bouabré ; La haute diplomatie ; Knowledge of the world ; Inscribing meaning ; Africa's hidden histories ; Débuts de l'écriture au Maghreb ; Indigenous knowledge and the integration of knowledge systems ; The art and science of writing in Africa ; Methode pratique d'ecriture N'ko, 1961 ; Collection of posters from Africa, in a variety of African languages
Côte d’Ivoire
Bruly Bouabré, Frédéric - Writing and art - Picture-writing - Bete language - Writing
Building a nation: Malawi youth pioneers set the pace. Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive, Hebrew University. 1999, 28 min.
See also: Israeli relations with sub-Saharan African states ; Israël et l'Afrique
Israel - Malawi
Foreign relations
Building peace. Produced by Joseph Caramazza. 2000s, 14 min. On cultural ways of ending conflict featuring mainly the Akamba Peace Museum.
See also: Postconflict reconstruction in Africa ; Indigenous democracy ; In quest for a culture of peace in the IGAD region
Kenya
Social life and customs
Buschmanner in der Kalahari, 1907-1909. Josef Weninger,
Universitat Wien. Anthropologisches Institut. 1910, 6 min. Portrays the
social life and customs of the “Bushmen “ of the Kalahari Desert in southern
Africa.
See above: Bitter melons ; The San: hunter-gatherers of the Kalahari ; Regopstaan's dream ; Dying for De Beers ; Chants des Bushmen Ju'hoansi
Southern Africa
San (African people) - Social life and customs
Bushmen in the Kalahari, 1907-1909
Bushman's secret: one cactus stands between hope and hunger. A documentary filmed by Rehad Desai. 2006, 85 min. South African filmmaker Rehad Desai travels to the Kalahari to investigate global interest in ancient Bushmen knowledge.
See also: The hunters ; Kalahari and Namib bushmen in German South West Africa ; A Kalahari family ; San Bush people of the Kalahari ; Anthropology and the bushman ; Writing in the San/d
Southern Africa
San (African people) - Ethnology - Medicine - Politics and government - Social conditions - Healers - Medicinal plants - Hoodia - Cactus
Afrikaans and English with English captions
Bye Bye Africa. Director: Mahamat-Saleh Haroun. 1999,
86 min. The first feature film from Chad. The director presents what he
calls a “documentary fiction” but which might just as well be called a
fictional documentary about the making of a film. One of the first films
to address the technical and economic difficulties of film production
in Africa.
See also: Daresalam ; A teenager in the Chad Civil War ; Journal d'un réfugié politique ; Connaissance du Tchad ; Tchad 1998
Chad
Haroun, Mahamet Saleh – Motion pictures industry - Description and travel
French and Arabic with English subtitles
C
Ça Twiste à Popenguine. 1993. 90 min. By Moussa Sene
Absa. This charming and fast-paced coming of age story is an African equivalent
of George Lucas’ American Graffiti or Godard’s Masculin, Feminine. Told
through the memories of Bacc, a street-smart little boy whom the whole
village has adopted.
See also: Set setal: des murs qui parlent ; Représentations spatiales et mobilités des jeunes à Dakar ; Introduction a l'étude sur les jeunes
Senegal
Drama – Teenage boys
French with English subtitles
Rocking Popenguine
Camp de Thiaroye. 1987, 157 min. By Ousmane Sembene
and Thierno Faty Sow. A powerful fact-based drama which deals with the
dilemma of African troops serving in the French Army at the end of World
War II.
See also: Hitler voulait l'Afrique ; L'Afrique dans les relations franco-allemandes entre les deux guerres ; Africa and the Second World War
Senegal
Military History – World War, 1939-1945 - Colonies
Wolof and French with English subtitles
Camp Thiaroye
Casa de lava. Director/writer, Pedro Costa; producer, Paulo Branco. 2004, 110 min. Mariana, a nurse assigned to care for an injured immigrant worker, returns to his Cape Verde village with him.
See also: Cabo Verde: um país em transição ; Compreensão de Cabo Verde ; The Cape Verdean diaspora in Portugal ; Cape Verde: Crioulo colony to independent nation
Portugal - Cape Verde
Drama - Immigration - Social conditions
Portuguese and Creole with optional subtitles in French, English and Portuguese
Down to earth
Ceddo. By Sembene Ousmane, 112 min. A historical epic
set loosely in the 19th century, the film examines the confrontation between
opposing forces in the face of Muslim expansion in Africa.
See also: Ceddo, lecture d'un texte filmique ; Mandingo kingdoms of the Senegambia ; Islam in tropical Africa
West Africa – Senegal
Drama – History – 19th century – Slavery and Islam Conversion – Kidnapping – Religious conflicts
Wolof and French with English subtitles
Chai: eighteen months of life. JAFI video produced for
UIA of Canada. New York: United Jewish Appeal, Dept. of Communications/Public
Relations. 1992, 15 min.
See also: Jews of Ethiopia: the birth of an elite ; Treacherous journey ; Falasha ; Birkat ha-kes ; Unfinished exodus ; Ethiopian Jews ; Africa's last empire
Ethiopia - Israel
Ethiopian Jews - Emigration and immigration
Challenges of the millenium. Producer, Albert Wandago; director, Ingolo wa Keya. 2003, 20 min. This documentary highlights the challenges facing Kenya in achieving the goals set out in the UN Millenium Declaration adopted by World leaders in September 2000.
See also: The political economy of education and health in Kenya ; Restarting and sustaining economic growth and development in Africa ; Institutional factors and foreign direct investment flows
Kenya
Economic development - International cooperation - Quality of life - Education - Public health - Medical care
Changing paths. Productie, Jacqueline Persson ... [et al.]; samenstelling en regie, Jacqueline Bakker. 2001, 46 min. This film documents the efforts of Mali's local NGOs to eradicate female circumcision. After five years, their hard work does bring results as old traditions make way for new ones.
Also: Een dorpstraject ; La route d'un village.
See also: L'excision au Mali ; Journées médicales de réflexion sur les mutilations génitales féminines ; Female "circumcision" in Africa
Mali
Documentary films - Female circumcision - Clitoredectomy - Social change
French and Bambara with English subtitles
Female circumcision in Mali
Chansons de maternité adioukrou. Footage made by Joan
Lincoln as material for her book, Chansons de maternité adioukrou.
1992.
See also: The sound recording ; The book ; Nkpiti: la rancune et le prophète ; Mariage en Côte d'Ivoire, de la polygamie á la monogamie
Côte d'Ivoire
Adyukru (African people) - Music - Folk songs
Chatsworth: Struggle for Shelter. 2001, 26 min. Directed
and produced by Ben Cashdan. Violence broke out when police and security
forces moved in to Chatsworth, Durban to evict Indian residents.
See also: From shantytown to township ; South Africa's "discarded people" ; Triomf
Durban (South Africa)
Social conditions - Housing
English
Chef! La Tete Dans Les Nuages. 1999 and 1994, 96 min.
By Jean-Marie Teno. These two provocative documentaries are searching
critiques of the political and economic stagnation besetting many African
states.
See also: Comment peut-on être opposant au Cameroun? ; Fight against corruption ; Cameroon: living on the edge of a volcano
Yaounde (Cameroon)
Biya, Paul – Politics and government – Women – Freedom of the press - Social conditions – Human rights – Economic conditions – Authoritarianism
French with English subtitles
Chief! - Head in the clouds
Chepokawat. Director-scriptwriter, Jane Mbiti. Alwan Communications. 2004, 22 min. The story of the valiant efforts of the Pokot women in Kerio Valley to put an end to the negative practice of cattle rustling.
See also: Kuria cattle raiders ; Cattle bring us to our enemies ; Honey and heifer
Masol (Kenya) - Pokot (Kenya) - Kerio Valley (Kenya)
Cattle stealing - Ethnic relations - Political relations - Culture conflict - Political violence
Chikin biznis: the whole story. Directed by Nthsaveni wa Luruli; produced by Richard Green and Michael Cheze; script Mthuthulezi [i.e. Mtutuzeli] Matshoba. 1998, 96 min.
See also: Nabantwa Bam' ; South Africa: macroeconomic challenges after a decade of success
Johannesburg (South Africa)
Comedy - Drama - Self employment - Small business ownership - Economic conditions - Post-apartheid
Child Brides. 1999, 51 min. Produced and directed by
Gill Barnes. This film travels to the most rural and poverty-stricken
regions of Ethiopia to expose the common practice of child brides and
the consequences for the young girls who often give birth before they
are out of childhood.
See also: Assets at marriage in rural Ethiopia ; The right to choose ; Marot ; Assets at marriage in rural Ethiopia ; Young wives' tales ; The rights of women under Ethiopian penal law ; Gender issues in Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Child marriage – Marriage customs and rites - Social life and customs – Cross-cultural aspects – Arranged marriage
English
A child's century of war. Produced by Bishari Film Productions Inc. in association with History Television; directed, produced and written by Shelley Saywell. 2003, 90 min. From the perspective of children, this documentary takes the viewer on a journey through the past century, examining the way in which modern wars have increasingly threatened and targeted children.
See also: The Sorious Samura collection ; Juvenile justice and children in armed conflict ; Re-examining voluntarism: youth combatants in Sierra Leone ; A long way gone: memoirs of a boy soldier
;
Ezra ; Armies of the young: child soldiers in war and terrorism
Russia (Federation) - Chechnia (Russia) - West Bank - Sierra Leone
Children and war - Children and war - War victims - Intifada, 1987 - History - Civil War, 1994 - Civil War, 1991 -Documentary films
Children of Africa: music concert. Produced and directed by Faith Isuakpere. 1991, 120 min. Features a 1991 concert held in Lagos (Nigeria) to raise funds for the Children of Africa Foundation, an organization formed to support the plight of children in Africa.
See also: Children on the boundaries of time and space in Sub-saharan Africa ; The condition of young children in Sub-Saharan Africa ; Report on the presidential mission on children orphaned by AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa ; Child soldiers, adult interests
Africa, Sub-Saharan
Children - Social conditions
Includes some interviews in French with English subtitles
Children of the revolution. Director, Zola Maseko; producer, David Max Brown. Maxi-D TV Productions. 2002, 52 min. This documentary focusses on the lives of former South African exiles in a democratic South Africa.
See also: Thabo Mbeki ; The rift ; Belonging ; Exiles: 13 South Africans tell their stories
South Africa
Exiles - Post-Apartheid - Documentary
Children of war. DR TV. 2001, 45 min. A therapist from Save the Children, Denmark, runs a rehabilitation program to help Ugandan child soldiers who escape from the rebel army to deal with their traumatic experiences, and hopefully, to return to their families.
See also: Uganda: The war of the children ; Child soldier: fighting for my life ; Pillars of the nation
Uganda
Kony, Joseph - Rheinstein, John - Children and war - Children - War - Psychological aspects - Politics and government, 1979-
Chocolat. By Claire Denis. 1989, 105 min. A memoir of
life in colonial Africa in the 1950’s, seen through the eyes of a young
French woman who has returned to Cameroon to trace her past.
See also: République et colonies ; Colonialism in Africa
Cameroon
Memoir – Colonial Africa
French with English subtitles
Choosing exile. A film by Marc Radomsky, produced with the assistance of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 2001, 55 min. Third-generation South African Marc Radomsky and his wife, Vivianne, have made the painful decision to emigrate to Australia after experiencing the growing lawlessness and crime in their community in post-Apartheid Johannesburg.
See also: Crime and crime prevention in Greater Johannesburg ; Kortboy: a Sophiatown legend
Johannesburg (South Africa)
Radomsky family - Crime - Emigration and immigration - Psychological aspects - Social conditions - Documentary films
The Chopi Timbila Dance. Produced by Gei Zantzinger,
directed by Andrew Tracey, Penn. State University. 1980, 39 min. An analytical
film on the Chopi music of Mozambique, one big orchestral sounds and men’s
dance of Africa.
See above: Banguza Timbila
See also: Music from Mozambique ; A spirit here today ; Marrabentar: vozes de Mocambique
Mozambique
Chopi (African people) – Xylophone music - Dance – Music
English narration; lyrics subtitled in English and transliterated in Chopi
Christine, lawyer in the slums. Executive producer, Maryknoll Missioners; director-producer-script, Richard Quinn, Sheila Mulinya. 2005, 35 min. Christine Bodewes, a Maryknoll lay missioner from the United States of America, is a lawyer, author, and human rights activist who was called to serve the marginalized of society, left her career as a partner in a well-known Chicago law firm and came to Kenya.
See also: Disability is not inability ; For love of neighbour ; Parish transformation in urban slums ; Access by women and the urban poor to urban land and credit ; Street children in Kenya ; The interview ; Urban children in distress: global predicaments and innovative strategies
Kenya
Church work with the poor - Bodewes, Christine
Chronicle of a Genocide Foretold. By Daniele Lacourse
and Yvan Patry. 1996, 141 min. This award winning documentary on Rwanda
was shot over three years and is divided into three parts. It deals with
events leading up to the Rwandan genocide, the many massacres, the behavior
of the international community and the search for justice.
See also: Innocence under siege ; God sleeps in Rwanda ; Silent accomplice ; With what remains ; Les secrets du génocide rwandais
Rwanda
History – Civil War, 1994 - Genocide – Tutsi massacre
English with some subtitles
Chronicle of a savanna marriage. A film by Stig Holmqvist. Produced between 1984 and 1997, 56 min. A look at the life of Nayiani, a Masai woman, over the course of 15 years.
See also: A wife among wives ; Maasai women ; Women at a loss ; Talking gender
Kenya, Savannas
Masai (African people) - Women, Masai - Marriage - Rural conditions - Documentary films
Narration in Swedish and Masai with English subtitles
Chuck Davis: Dancing Through West Africa. 1986, 28 min.
A filmed celebration of traditional African dance made during Davis and
the African-American Dance Ensemble’s trip to villages and towns on the
coast of Senegal and The Gambia.
See also: Music in West Africa ; The roots of the blues ; Great great great grandparents' music ; Music and culture of West Africa
Senegal – Gambia
Traditional Dance – Wolof (African people) – Mandinka (African people) – Diola (African people) – Davis, Chuck
English
Cinema in Senegal. By Roger Englander. 1997, 27 min.
Larry Kardish interviews Senegalese film directors Paulin Soumanou Vieyra
and Ousmane Sembene on the growth of the number of films from Senegal,
the production of these films, and cultural influences. Includes clips
from their films to illustrate points.
See also: Djibril Diop Mambéty ; The cinema of Ousmane Sembene ; Le cinéma au Sénégal de 1900 à 1995 ; Le cinéma au Sénégal ; Afriques 50: singularités d'un cinéma pluriel ; Postcolonial African cinema: ten directors ; Through African eyes: dialogues with the directors ; Guide to African cinema ; African cinema: politics and culture ; Sembene: imagining alternatives in film & fiction ; A Call to action: the films of Ousmane Sembène
Senegal
Motion pictures - Producers and directors - Vieyra, Paulin Soumanou – Sembène, Ousmane
English and French with English voiceovers
City of dreams. Produced and directed by Ruby Ofori, Edward Scott. New York 2005, 52 min. A tour of the city of Asmara, Eritrea, which has a wealth of modern Italian architecture as a result of its colonization by Italy during the early 20th century.
See also: Asmara: the frozen city ; Asmara: Africa's secret modernist city ; Development of Italian East Africa ; "Behold our new empire"--Mussolini
Asmara (Eritrea)
Rationalism (Architecture) - Buildings - History - Social conditions
Clando. By Jean-Marie Teno. 1996, 95 min. This thought
provoking feature addresses several issues confronting Africa’s professional
classes. It asks, should they stay and commit to the difficult work of
gaining political and economic democracy or pursue individual achievement
by immigrating to Europe?
See also: The banquet: a historical drama ; Trans-Atlantic migration ; Africa, Europe and (post)colonialism
Douala (Cameroon)
Politics and government – Drama
French with English subtitles
Clandestine
Coffee colored children. Written, edited, and directed by Ngozi A. Onwurah; produced by N.A. Onwurah and S.K. Onwurah. 1988, 15 min. A semi-autobiographical story of the experience of racism, prejudice, and self-definition, in England.
See also: Black Britannia ; Racialised barriers ; John Bull's nigger ; Women filmmakers of the African and Asian diaspora
England
Racism - Race relations
The coffee-go-round. Produced and directed by Joost de Haas. 2005, 2004, 26 min. Life visits Ethiopia, the cradle of coffee, and speaks to players in the international coffee trade to find out how individual coffee growers can survive the boom and bust of the global coffee market.
Series: Life 4; 8
See also: The global coffee economy in Africa, Asia and Latin America, 1500-1989 ; The economics of coffee ; Fair trade coffee
Ethiopia
Coffee industry - Coffee growers - International trade - Globalization
Lifeonline (Television program) - Life 4 (Bullfrog Films, inc.); 8
Colobane express. Un film de Khady Sylla. 1999, 53 min. A documentary on public vans that provide the traditional and sole means of city transportation in Dakar, Senegal.
See also: Inventory of data on the transport infrastructure of the Sahel ; Barriers to sustainable transport ; Borom Sarret ; La petite vendeuse de soleil
Dakar (Senegal)
Bus lines - Local transit - Transportation - Documentary films - Social conditions
Wolof with English subtitles
Colonial Cinema: Films from Central Africa 1940’s-1960’s.
This is a selection of films from colonial Rhodesia and Nyasaland made
for Africans.
See also: African images ; Symbolic narratives ; L'Afrique et le centenaire du cinéma ; Postcolonial African cinema ; Questioning African cinema
Central Africa – Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) – Malawi (Nyasaland) - Britain
Colonies - In motion pictures - Drama
Silent or in English
The Color of Gold. By Don Edkins and Mike Schlomer.
1992, 52 min. The action takes place in the underground stopes of the
President Steyn Gold Mine and in the miners’ barracks, where 8000 men
are enclosed in a compound next to a mine shaft.
See also: African labour problems on the South African gold fields ; Our precious metal ; The golden contradiction ; Going for gold
South Africa
Apartheid - Social conditions – Gold miners – Migrant workers
Sotho with English subtitles
Comedia infantil. Directed by Solveig Nordlund. 1997, 92 min. The film depicts the life of an orphan boy, Nelio, whose parents were killed by guerrillas. Based on a novel by Henning Mankell.
Reviews: http://www.inspector-wallander.org/otherworks/chronicler-of-the-winds/index.html
See also: (Book) Comédia infantil ; (trans.) Chronicler of the winds ; Steps for the future ; Orphans and vulnerable children
Mozambique
Orphans - Civil War
Portugese/Mozambican with English subtitles
Nelio's story
Community based rehabilitation: for persons with disabilities in Embu Diocese. Director-producer-script, Sheilah Joy Mulinya. 2005, 29 min. Created after a feasibility study of the Diocese, this project started by creating awareness and mobilizing communities for action on issues relating to persons with disabilities.
See also: Association for the physically disabled of Kenya ; --For love of neighbour ; Building a prosperous Kenya ; Servants of love ; My life as a paraplegic ; A gender analysis of disability
Kenya
Catholic Church, Community Based Rehabilitation Programme - People with disabilities - Services - Embu District - Documentary films
Conakry Kas. Directed by Manthia Diawara; production, K'a Yéléma Productions. New York: Third World Newsreel. 2004, 81 min. Manthia Diawara visited Guinea, in 2003 to see how the country and its artists and intellectuals have fared since the cultural revolution that began shortly after independence in 1958.
See also: La République de Guinée ; In search of Africa ; African experiences of cinema ; African intellectuals ; Intellectuels non europhones
Guinea
Artists - Intellectual life - Social conditions - Politics and government, 1984- - Documentary films
English and French with English subtitles
Condoms, fish & circus tricks. A documentary by Robert & Brenda Rooney. 2002, 47 min. A documentary on AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on the patients, the care-givers and how this disease is impacting African society.
See also: Implications of AIDS for demography and policy in Southern Africa ; AIDS in Southern Africa
Malawi - Zambia - South Africa
AIDS (Disease) - Social aspects - Prevention and control- Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome - Epidemiology - Health Promotion
AIDS pandemic in Sub-Saharan Africa
Connections between the Nyakyusa and the Nkonde from the viewpoint of dance and trade: with video data of dance. Kazuaki Kurita. 2005. Demonstrates Igoma, the most popular dance in the Nyakyusa and the Nkonde land.
See also: For men and elders ; Dances of the Nyakyusa & the Nkonde
Malawi - Tanzania
Nyakyusa (African people) - Music - Ngonde (African people) - Dance - Igoma (Dance)
Dances of the Nyakyusa and the Nkonde
Consequences. 1989, 54 min. by Media for Development
Trust. Documents the consequences of teenage pregnancy for a sixteen year-old
girl in Zimbabwe.
See also: The prevention of unwanted adolescent pregnancies ; Teenage pregnancy and parenthood
Zimbabwe
Teenage pregnancy
English
The constant gardener. Produced by Simon Channing-Williams; screenplay by Jeffrey Caine; directed by Fernando Meirelles. 2006, 129 min. In a remote area of Northern Kenya, activist Tessa Quayle is found brutally murdered. Tessa’s companion, a doctor, appears to have fled the scene, and all the evidence points to a crime of passion. Tessa’s widower, Justin risks his own life and will stop at nothing to expose the truth - a conspiracy more far-reaching and deadly than Quayle could ever have imagined.
See also: Jeffrey Caine's Shooting script and John Le Carre's novel ; International human rights standards
Kenya
Film and video adaptations - Human rights workers - Murder victims - Widowers - Drama - Feature films - Le Carré, John, 1931-
Dialogue in English with optional soundtrack in French, and with optional English, French or Spanish subtitles; closed-captioned /p
Consuming hunger. Produced by Michael Lavery, Freke
Vuijst, and Ilan Ziv; directed by Ilan Ziv. 1987, 3 videocassettes, 29
min. each. If the Vietnam conflict was a ‘television war,’ then the starvation
in Ethiopia was a ‘television famine.’ Consuming Hunger analyzes how these
images became our reality."
See also: An assessment of the economic consequences of drought, crop failure and famine in Ethiopia ; Evil days ; Enough with famines in Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Television in propaganda - Moral and ethical aspects - Famines - Social conditions
A costa dos murmúrios. Filme de Margarida Cardoso. 2005, 115 min. During the war for independence Evita moves from Lisbon to Mozambique to marry Luis. Based on the book by Lidia Jorge.
See also: Mozambique and the construction of the new African state ; Memórias em Voo Rasante ; Sleepwalking land
Portugal - Mozambique
Feature films - History - Independence and Civil War, 1975-1994 - Drama
Portuguese with optional subtitles in English and French
The murmuring coast
The cost of living. Producers, Steven Markovitz, Toni Strasburg; directed by Toni Strasburg. 2000, 24 min. Part 14 of a series on how the globalized world economy affects ordinary people. This program examines why AIDS drugs are unaffordable in developing countries, using as examples Thailand and South Africa.
Series: Life (Bullfrog Films); 14
See also: State of denial ; Financing health care for all ; Witness to AIDS ; My life with AIDS
Thailand - South Africa
Trade Organization - Rules and practice - Globalization - Economic aspects - Social aspects - AIDS (Disease) - Treatment - Costs - Pharmaceutical industry - Law and legislation - Medical care, Cost of
English, Tagalog and South African languages with English voiceovers
Countdown to freedom: 10 days that changed South Africa. Produced by Anant Singh; directed by Danny Schechter; writers, Rory O'Connor, Danny Schechter. 1994, 97 min. Examines a critical moment of South African history in the days leading up to the country’s first multi-racial democratic election, from April 23 to May 2, 1994, and the election of Nelson Mandela as President.
See also: Election '94 South Africa ; White voters and political change in South Africa, 1981-1983 ; Consolidating democracy
South Africa
Documentary - Elections - Presidents - Politics and government - History, 1961- - Mandela, Nelson, 1918-
Narrators, James Earl Jones, Alfre Woodard
10 days that changed South Africa; Ten days that changed South Africa
The Cow Jumped Over the Moon. By Christopher Walker.
1999, 52 min. Explores the consequences of drought on Fulani herders in
Mali. Documents the interaction between the tradition-based knowledge
of these nomads and the advanced technological knowledge of agencies such
as NASA and NOAA which is being used to improve Fulani access to water
and pasture.
See also: An outline to the movements of the pastoral Peul ; A brief history of Kaabu and Fuladu ; Mali, présentation du Sahel malien, bilan de la sécheresse
Mali
Fula (African people) – Social aspects - Technology – Droughts – Herders
English
The cows of Dolo Ken Paye: resolving conflict among the Kpelle. Script, narration, James L. Gibbs, Jr. 199*, 31 min. In Folkwele, Liberia, a town in transition to modern ways, conflicts arise because of differing life styles.
Originally produced as a motion picture in 1970.
See also: His, hers, or theirs ; Democracy, the call of the Liberian people
Folkwele (Liberia)
Kpelle (African people) - Politics and government - Conflict management - Folkwele - Ethnology - Social life and customs - Documentary films
Resolving conflict among the Kpelle
Crossroads. By Hillie Molenaar and Joop van Wijk. 1996,
55 min. Tells the story of the Rwandan massacres and refugees from the
perspective of a tiny crossroads hamlet which for a brief time became
a boom town when half a million Rwandan refugees settled there.
See also: Resettling returnees in Rwanda ; Le Rwanda et le problème de ses refugiés ; Accelerated plan of action for the reinstallation and reintegration of returnees
Rwanda
History, 20th century – Refugees – Massacres
English subtitles
Cry, the Beloved Country. Screenplay adaptation by Alan
Paton; directed by Zolton Korda. 1992, 100 min. Adapted from Alan Paton’s
novel by the same name.
See also: Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson's Lost in the stars ; Alan Paton's book ; Race, repression and resistance ; Last grave at Dimbaza ; Desmond TuTu: fighting apartheid
South Africa
Drama – Apartheid - Segregation
English
Cultivating opportunity. Writer/director, Michael Sheridan. 1997, 29 min. Documentary on how people in poor communities of Mozambique and the United States are using self-help solutions to improve their situations.
See also: Who rules this valley? ; Coping with extreme poverty through traditional skills ; Southern African Development Community, Maputo, Republic of Mozambique
Mozambique - United States
Community development
Self-help solutions to poverty in the U.S. and Africa
The cultural music of the people and church of eastern Africa. Producer, Richard J. Quinn. Ukweli Video Productions. 2004, 34 min. A look at liturgical hymns and songs by performers from various countries in East Africa.
See also: Music in East Africa ; Mashindano! Multiple interpretations of dynamics of creativity and knowledge in African music traditions ; Ethnomusicology and African music ; Form and analysis of African music ; Form, function, and style in African music
Uganda - Sudan - Rwanda - Tanzania - Kenya
Music - Church music - Social life and customs