6. Titles: H-L
H
Hado. Directed by Gaston Kabore. 1991, 12 min. Hado
Gorgo Leontine is a 60 year old grandmother and farmer in Burkina Faso
and leader of a 22 piece touring orchestra.
See also: Les chemins de la voix peule ; Sounds of change: social and political features of music in Africa ; Musiques africaines ; African music: new challenges, new vocations
Burkina Faso
Folk music – Dance music – Songs – Women singers – Biography
Mossi with English subtitles
The Hadza. James Woodburn, Hogarth Film. 1966, 42 min.
An ethnographic film about an East African hunting and gathering tribe.
Documents their way of life before resettlement.
See also: The Hadzabe of Tanzania ; The language of the land ; Hunters and gatherers ; Foraging group size and the Hadza
East Africa
Hatsa (African people)
Hamar trilogy. A BBC-TV production in association with
Arts & Entertainment Network. 1990. 3 videocassettes. The first program
in a trilogy focusing on the Hamar, an isolated people of Southwestern
Ethiopia. Shows harvest celebrations and the blessing ceremony for a new
baby.
See also: Child brides ; Tsemako women's roles and status in agro-pastoral production ; Culture, society, and women in Ethiopia ; Mar'ot ; Rivers of Sand ; The Hamar of southern Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Hamar (African people) – Women – Social conditions – Sex role – Rites and ceremonies – Ethnology
In an African language with English subtitles.
Hartseer Land. By Saskia Vredeveld. 1991, 50 min. An
extremely provocative look from within at right-wing Afrikaner extremists.
See also: Race, propaganda and South Africa ; The narrow margin ; Miriam's song ; Living under apartheid ; Phela-ndaba ; Last grave at Dimbaza ; Bopha! Arrest ; Homes apart ; Hot wax ; Skin deep
South Africa
Apartheid – Race relations – Religious aspects – Christianity – Public opinion – Politics and government, 1978-
Afrikaans with English subtitles
My beloved country
Hausar Baka: “Gani ya kori ji”. Elementary and intermediate
lessons in Hausa language and culture. Richard Randell, Abdullahi Bature,
and Russell G. Schhu. 3 videos, 100 min. each and accompanying text.
See also: Hausaland divided ; Mutumin Kirii ; Wasan bahaushe gaskiyarsa ; Hausa customs ; Ga-ta-ga-ta-nan ; Hausa sayings & folk-lore ; Hausaland, or, Fifteen hundred miles through the central Soudan
Africa, General
Hausa (African people) – Civilization - Hausa language – Textbooks for foreign speakers – Hausa Dictionary
Hausa with some English; the guide is in Hausa and English
Have you heard from Johannesburg?: apartheid and the club of the west. Franklin Lakes, NJ: Clarity Educational Productions. 2006, 90 min. This film looks at the relationship between the United States and South Africa during the 1980s.
See also: Movement matters ; Race for sanctions ; Contesting apartheid ; Exile and the (inter) national struggle ; Every secret thing: my family, my country ; Lessons of struggle ; The long march
South Africa - United States - Europe
Apartheid - History - Anti-apartheid movements - Race relations - Foreign relations - Documentary films
English audio track; closed-captioned in English
Apartheid and the club of the west
Hawa. Script/casting, Ombok Otieno, Mary G. Otuka; producer/director, Mary G. Otuka, producer, Wanjiru Gikonyo. 2003, 60 min. Dramatization of a true story of a young girl who is violently raped by three men and consequently becomes a mother at the age of 15 years.
See also: Women's silent cries ; Coalition on violence against women, Kenya ; In pursuit of justice ; FEMNET report of men against gender based violence ; Judicial attitudes of the Kenyan bench in sexual violence cases
Kenya
Women, Violence against
Violence against women
Healers of Ghana. Written by J. Scott Dodds. 1996, 58
min. Explores the traditional medical practices of the Bono people of
central Ghana and how their healers are accommodating the conflict between
the arrival of Western medicine and their religious beliefs.
See also: Whiteman's things ; Voices of affliction ; Inculturation and African religion ; The psychology of Akan religious healing ; The function of myth in Akan healing experience ; Christianity, or, Traditional beliefs and customs?
Ghana
Akan (African people) – Religious life and customs – Healers – Bono (African people) - Medicine – Religion – Medical anthropology
Heart and Stone: The Life and Times of Govan Mbeki.
Produced and directed by Bridget Thompson. 1997, 90 min. Feature-length
documentary on the life, history and politics of ANC stalwart Govan Mbeki.
See also: Class and colour in South Africa, 1850-1950 ; The making of a nation ; State and resistance in South Africa, 1939-1965 ; Freedom for my people ; Patrick Duncan: South African and Pan-African ; Believe in miracles: South Africa from Malan to Mandela and the Mbeki era ; Reflections in prison ; Robben Island prison dossier ; Learning from Robben Island: the prison writings of Govan Mbeki
South Africa
Mbeki, Govan – Biography – Robben Island Prison – Vice-president – History, 1909-1961 – Civil rights workers
Heart of the Congo. Written, directed, narrated & produced by Tom Weidlinger. 2004, 57 min. A film about courage, perseverance and ways in which humanitarian aid makes a lasting difference.
Note: Includes French version: Au coeur du Congo
See also: Les humanitaires en guerre ; Improving African and international capabilities ; L'hécatombe des réfugiés rwandais dans l'ex-Zaïre ; Surviving the slaughter ; War and peace in Zaire-Congo
Congo (Democratic Republic)
Humanitarian assistance - Refugees - Social conditions - History - Relief Work
English and French and an undetermined African language with English or French subtitles and voiceovers
Rebuilding life in the face of war
Help. Directed and written by Robby Bresson; co-produced by Nicole Ondieki, Linda Ngure, Amani Maranga. [Nairobi, Kenya]: Distributed by Bambika Home Entertainment. 2007, 81 min. George Simba, a small-time mechanic, is embarking on a new bus transport business when he is suddenly reunited with his estranged 18 years old son, Lumumba, who he has not met for the past 5 years.
See also: Breaking the vicious cycle of poor acccess to credit ; Formal and informal institutions' lending policies
Kenya
Fathers and sons - Drama - Small business - New business enterprises
Africa’s dilemma
O Herói. Director: Zeze Gamboa; producer Fernando Vendrell. 2005, 98 min. A military soldier Vitorio has just been discharged after almost 20 years of fighting in Luanda's 30-year war.
See also: From soldiers to citizens ; From soldiers to citizens: demilitarization of conflict and society ; On the bridge of goodbye ; Rebels and robbers ; Empire in Africa ; No one can stop the rain ; 1961: l'Angola colonial, histoire et société ; Bay of tigers: an African odyssey
South Africa - Luanda - Angola
Unemployed - Homeless persons - History - Social conditions - Economic conditions - Politics and government
Portuguese with English subtitles
The Hero
Hidah: masa'le-erets ha-Falashim. Tasrit u-vimui Yosi Godard. 2005, 45 min.
See also: A song of longing ; Marot ; Ahim shehorim ; The Falashas ; Les enfants de la reine de Saba ; Treacherous journey: my escape from Ethiopia ; The lost Jews: last of the Ethiopian Falashas ; Shaliah u-shemo Zimnah
Ethiopia
Jews, Ethiopian - Social life and customs - History - Rites and ceremonies
Hebrew and Amharic
Hip-hop colony. Produced by Michael Wanguhu; co-produced by Russell Kenya, Brian Opande, Annette Gathoni, Brian Kanyi. 2007, 93 min. Genge music, Kenya’s unique brand of hip-hop is a fusion of traditional African music with American hip-hop that is growing in popularity around the world.
See also: Popular music censorship in Africa ; Urban legends, colonial myths ; Extended handshake or wrestling match? ; Scratch, mix and-- ? ; Music, popular culture, identities
Kenya
Rap (Music) - History and criticism - Popular music - Documentary films
African hip-hop explosion
Home away from home. Producer, Johann Insanally; written & directed by Maureen Blackwood. 1995, 11 min. Miriam, a Nigerian woman in suburban Britain, dreams of her African childhood. She decides to build a home away from home, a mud hut in her backyard. This brings taunts, hatred and destruction, but Miriam has brought a sense of history and pride to her children.
See also: A son of Africa ; Black people in Britain, 1555-1833 ; Britain's Black population ; Changing Britannia
Great Britain
Emigration and immigration - Psychological aspects - Drama - Immigrants - Blacks - Short films
Homeless at home. Director, Albert Wandago; script, Albert Wandago. This documentary highlights the plight of hundreds of thousands of squatters in Kenya. 2002, 30 min.
See also: Street children in Kenya ; The interview ; Urban children in distress: global predicaments and innovative strategies ; Christine, lawyer in the slums ; For love of neighbour ; Parish transformation in urban slums ; Access by women and the urban poor to urban land and credit
Kenya
Documentary Films - Squatters - Squatter settlements
Narration in English; English subtitles for unidentified indigenous language(s).
Hot wax. Director, camera & sound, Andy Spitz; producer, Trish Urquhart. 2004, 49 min. Ivy is a big, bubbly Black woman who managed to run her own beauty salon surreptitiously during the dark days of apartheid. She lives in Alexandra, a restless and poor township, while her white, mostly elderly, clients.
See below: Last grave at Dimbaza ; Women in South Africa ; Female well-being: toward a global theory of social change ; Black business and economic power ; Demanding dignity
South Africa
Beauty operators - Alexandra - Women, Black - Economic conditions - Employment - Race relations - Documentary films - Social conditions, 1994-
English audio track with optional subtitles in English.
Real stories from a free South Africa
Hotel Rwanda. A film by Terry George ; produced by A. Kitman Ho, Terry George ; written by Keir Pearson & Terry George. 2004, 2005, 122 min. The deeply moving true story of a five-star-hotel manager who used his wits and words to save more than 1,200 lives during the 1994 Rwandan conflict.
See also: Forsaken Cries: The Story of Rwanda ; L'UEJF au Rwanda ; Une guerre noire ; The bishop of Rwanda ; Life laid bare: the survivors in Rwanda speak ; Rwanda means the universe ; Hotel Rwanda: bringing the true story of an African hero to film ; The debris of Ham ; Ghosts of Rwanda
Rwanda
Rusesabagina, Paul - Hotelkeepers - Drama - Genocide - Tutsi (African people) - History - Atrocities - Civil War, 1994 - Feature films
English or French dialogue with optional French or Spanish subtitles; closed-captioned
The Human race. Produced by Green Lion Productions Inc. 1994, 4 videodiscs (52 min. each). Historian and journalist Gwynne Dyer weighs the implications of the way we live together, the way we organize societies, and our complex relationship with the environment.
See also: Dixon & Lucas: The Human Race ; Figuier: The Human Race ; Philological proofs of the original unity and recent origin of the human race ; Man's environmental predicament ; Protection des écosystèmes et développement des sociétés ; Human impact on environment and sustainable development in Africa
South Africa - Egypt - United States - Mexico -India
Human ecology - Social ecology - Global environmental change
The Hunters. Directed by John Marshall in collaboration with Robert Gardner. 2004, 72 min. A chronicle of 13-day trek of four Ju/’hoansi men who undertake a hunt to obtain meat for their village.
See also: A Kalahari family ; Construction of the past and indigenous time concepts of the Ju/'hoansi San ; Paradigm shifts in anthropology as seen in the study of hunting and gathering societies
Tsumkwe District (Namibia)
!Kung (African people) - Hunting - Social life and customs - Documentary films
Hyenas. By Djibril Diop Mambety. 1992, 113 min. An adaptation
of a timeless parable of human greed into a biting satire of today’s Africa,
betraying the hopes of independence for the false promises of Western
materialism.
See also: Vies et paroles de femmes africaines ; Portrait of Altinè in the dry season ; Le Sénégal ; Gender and solidarity ; La société Wolof: tradition et changement ; The role and functions of the Griots among the Wolof of Senegal
Senegal
Feature films
Wolof and French with English subtitles
Hyènes
I
I Have a Problem, Madam. By Maarten Schmidt and Thomas
Doebele. 1995, 59 min. Examines the conflicts in the legal position of
women in Uganda through on site visits to legal clinics and courtrooms.
See aslo: The law of succession in Uganda ; Weeding the millet field ; Civic participation and legal awareness ; Commission on Marriage, Divorce and the Status of Women, 1965 ; Miria Matende: gender, politics, and constitution making in Uganda ; Women’s Agenda
Uganda
Legal status, laws – Women’s rights – Documentary – Uganda Association of Women Lawyers – Sex discrimination – Family violence – Social conditions
English and an African language with English subtitles
I talk about me, I am Africa. A film by Chris Austin and Peter Chappell; produced and directed by Chris Austin; researcher, Nadine Cohen. 1980, 54 min. Provides look at the response of black culture to the system of apartheid through performances in a variety of theatrical forms.
See also: In township tonight! ; African drama and performance ; Theatre and change in South Africa ; The politics of the National Arts Festival
South Africa
Apartheid - Blacks in the performing arts - Race identity - Race relations - Documentary films
Chiefly in English; some English subtitles
Ikhaya. Directed by Omelga Mthiyane; producer Liza Aziz. 2004, 51 min. In the decade between 1984 and 1994, more than 20 000 people were killed in political violence in KwaZulu-Natal. 10 years later, the filmmaker and her aunt, who was forcibly displaced from her home, return to their former community ...
See also: Resentment's virtue: Jean Améry and the refusal to forgive ; The age of apology: facing up to the past ; Transitional amnesty in South Africa ; The healing of nations: the promise and limits of political forgiveness ; Violence and belonging
KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa)
Reconciliation - Post-Apartheid South Africa
Zulu with English subtitles
Home
Ile de la Réunion: le pays du grand spectacle. Un film d'Alain Gerente et Jean-Paul Dupuis.
See also: L'ile de la Réunion: étude de géographie humaine ; L'invitation au voyage ; L'île de la Réunion: un volcan dans l'océan Indien ; Ile de la Réunion, 1920-1970 ; In léséyaz lékritir la lang kréol réyoné
Réunion
Description and travel
Imperfect Journey. By Haile Gerima. 88 min. Filmmaker
surveys his home country of Ethiopia today, after the fall of the Mengistu
dictatorship.
See also: Ethiopia: breaking new ground ; Held at a distance: my rediscovery of Ethiopia ; Ethiopia: population, resources, economy ; Arrested development in Ethiopia ; Livelihood insecurity among urban households in Ethiopia ; Economic development and nation building in Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Social conditions, 1974- – Economic conditions, 1974-
Tigrigna or Tigrinya with English subtitles
Inagina: l’Ultime Maison du Fer. 1997, 54 min. Eric
Huysecom and Bernard Agustoni work with 13 Dogon master smelters to recreate
the building of a traditional iron smelting furnace in Mali.
See also: Savoirs et savoir-faire des anciens métallurgistes ; La mère des masques : un Dogon raconte ; Dogon: Africa's people of the cliffs
Mali
Dogon (African people) – Metallurgy – History – Iron industry and trade – Industries Smelting furnaces – Iron works – Rites and ceremonies – Social life and customs
English and Dogon with English narration and subtitles
The Last House of Iron
In a Time of Violence. By Brian Tillery, 1994, 150 min.
3 parts. A fast-paced political thriller set during the final tense months
of apartheid.
See also: From fragmentation to wholeness: the Black South African family under seige ; Family violence ; Violent social relationships and family life in two Transvaal lowveld settlements ; A special bond: building a healthy family in the new South Africa ; Umntu ngumntu ngabanye abantu: the support networks of black families in Southern Africa
Johannesburg (South Africa)
Drama – Family – Ethnic reconciliation – Violence
Zulu with English subtitles
In and Out of Africa. Lucien Taylor and Ilisa Barbash.
1992, 59 min. This is a story about Gabai Baare, a merchant who brings
‘wood’ from West Africa to sell in the United States. It is a story about
the meaning of art.
See also: Collections africains: florilège ; Loan exhibition of the art of the kingdom of Benin ; The arts of Africa ; An anthology of African art ; Arts et peuples de l'Afrique noire ; Colon imagery ; Dieux d'Afrique ; "Peripheral markets" ; My journey through African Heritage ; The messages of tourist art ; Worlds together, worlds apart ; African ethnonyms
Africa, West
West Africa Art dealers – Marketing – Baaré, Gabai – Transnational trade – Sculpture – Wood-carved figurines
French with English subtitles
In Danku the soup is sweeter. Written, directed and
produced by Garry Beitel. 1992, 31 min. Describes the social conditions
of rural women in northern Ghana; also illustrated is the recent phenomena
of women establishing small businesses with the aid of international development
agencies.
See also: Women in agriculture in Ghana ; The village woman in Ghana ; Partners and competitors ; Women as small scale entrepreneurs in Zambia, Cameroon and Ghana ; The cultural foundations of economic development ; The role of women in Ghana's economy
Ghana
Rural women – Social conditions – Business women
Women and development in Ghana
In Darkest Hollywood: Cinema and Apartheid. By Peter
Davis. 1993, 2 videos, 54 min. each. Turns the lens on filmmakers and
the South African society they so often misrepresented. Includes newsreel
footage of violence in South Africa and interviews with producers, directors,
screenwriters, authors and actors.
See also: In darkest Hollywood: exploring the jungles of cinema's South Africa ; The history and social significance of motion pictures in South Africa, 1895-1940 ; Marginal lives & painful pasts ; To change reels ; The cinema of apartheid ; Screen Africa
South Africa
Apartheid – History – Motion pictures
In my country. Produced by Robert Chartoff, Mike Medavoy, John Boorman, Kieran Corrigan, Lynn Hendee; screenplay by Ann Peacock; directed by John Boorman. 2005, 2004, 103 min. A Washington Post journalist and an Afrikaans poet strike up a friendship and become romantically involved as they try to come to terms with their feelings about what they’ve learned at the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings.
Notes: Based on the book Country of my skull by Antjie Krog.
See also: The persistence of memory ; Red dust ; Facing the truth ; Living in the wake of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission ; Overcoming apartheid ; Between Joyce and remembrance ; Political forgiveness
South Africa
Truth and Reconciliation Commission - Drama - Apartheid - Political violence - Feature films - Race relations
In search of Africa. Written, produced and directed by Manthia Diawara. 1997, 26 min. Manthia Diawara visits his homeland of Guinea after 20 years living abroad in the U.S.
See also: Book of same title ; The Political thought of President Ahmed Sékou Touré ; Journey to Africa ; La République de Guinée
Guinea
Diawara, Manthia, 1953- - Journeys - Touré, Ahmed Sékou, 1922- - Postcolonialism - Politics and government
In the name of God. A film by Leyla Assaf-Tengroth.
30 min. This film takes us to the Fistula Hospital in Addis Ababa [Ethiopia],
one of the few places giving medical care to victims of infibulation.
See also: Culture, society, and women in Ethiopia ; Study of the situation of women in Ethiopia ; Between rites and rights ; Female circumcision: multicultural perspectives ; Female genital mutilation: legal, cultural, and medical issues ; Female "circumcision" in Africa ; Asylum ; Warrior marks ; White hotel: a documentary
Ethiopia
Female circumcision – Infibulation – Fistula
In the name of God: helping circumcised women – Helping circumcised women
In the shadow of the sun. see: A l'ombre du soleil: funérailles et intronisation du Hogon d'Arou (Im Schatten der Sonne: Begräbnisfeier und inthronisation für den Hogon von Arou)
In the wake of war. Directed by James Heer. 2005, 24 min. Thousands of refugees from Burundi are returning to their homeland convinced that the bitter civil war may be coming to an end.
Series: Life 4;
See also: A technical analysis of disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration ; Beyond conflict in Burundi ; Burundi after six months of transition ; Mission possible ; Burundi's peace process ; Engendering peace
Burundi
UN Millennium Project - Conflict management - Peace building - Reconciliation - Political aspects - Tutsi (African people) - Hutu (African people) - History - Civil War - Peace - Refugees - Ethnic relations
Lifeonline (Television program)
Innocence under siege: healing a scarred generation. Produced by Lank/Beach Productions, Inc. 2002, 47 min. This documentary travels to Rwanda and Sierra Leone and reveals the impact of armed conflict on modern warfare’s latest target-children.
See also: Les mille cris ; Kadogo: enfants des guerres d'Afrique centrale ; The Sorious Samura collection ; Juvenile justice and children in armed conflict ; A child's century of war ; Re-examining voluntarism: youth combatants in Sierra Leone
Rwanda - Sierra Leone
Documentary films - Children and war - War victims - History - Social conditions - Civil War, 1991-
Healing a scarred generation
Ipi Ntombi: an African Dance Celebration. PBS Home Video.
2001.
See also: Heya-- danse! , La danse africaine , African dance , African dance , The dances of Africa , African dance: a book of photographs
Johannesburg (South Africa)
Musicals – African Dance and Celebration
Iron ladies of Liberia. Directed by Daniel Junge; co-directed by Siatta Scott Johnson; produced by Henry Ansbacher, Jonathan Stack. 2007, 77 min. A focus on Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first elected female President of Liberia since January 2006 and her appointment of other women to leadership positions in many areas of government.
See also: Democracy versus dictatorship ; The first Liberian civil war ; The mask of anarchy ; Liberia: an uncivil war ; Liberia will rise again ; The Liberian Civil War ; Blood & bones in Liberia
Liberia
Johnson-Sirleaf, Ellen, 1938- - Women presidents - Women politicians - Politics and government, 1980- - History, 1980- - Documentary films
It's my life. A film by Brian Tilley; director, Brian Tilley; producers, Phillip Brooks and Steven Markovitz. 2001, 73 min. Zackie Achmat is an AIDS activist who refuses to take anti-retrovirals until they are available in public hospitals and clinics.
See also: Mortal combat: AIDS denialism , Positive people , Pathways to action , HIV + AIDS education through beadwork , The moral economy of AIDS in South Africa
South Africa
Achmat, Zackie - Treatment Action Campaign - AIDS activists - Antiviral agents - HIV infections - Treatment - Government policy - Documentary films - Biographical films
It's too late! just give me a chance to live. Directors, Richard J. Quinn, Martin Kivuva; script, Richard J. Quinn. Ukweli Video Productions. 2000, 29 min. Tuvumiliane Choir, made up of eighteen young men and women, all HIV positive, sing on the dangers of contracting AIDS to the uninfected youth of Oyugis in western Kenya.
See also: Politics and the AIDS epidemic in Kenya 1983-2003 , National guidelines for voluntary counseling , AIDS in Kenya , Gender, youth sexuality, and HIV/AIDS , The lost generation , Combating HIV/AIDS in Kenya
Oyugis (Kenya)
Tuvumiliane Choir - AIDS (Disease) - HIV (Virus) - Oyugis youth
It's too late - give me a chance to live
It’s Up to Us. Writer, Cathrine Kellison. 1986, 60 min.
Byllye Avery, representative of the National Black Women’s Health Project
and her friends from Georgia travel to Kenya to exchange ideas with Kenyan
women.
See also: The women's agenda , Women and health in Kenya , A gender analysis of health , Overview of the health of women and children
Kenya
Black women – African American women – Racism - Social conditions – Congresses – Arab-Israel conflict, 1993
It's up to you and me! By Niceguyz forever; produced by C. Quimancy, M. Uzele. Ukweli Video Productions. 2004, 6 min.
See also: Music is the weapon of the future , Africa o-ye!: a celebration of African music , The world of African music , Roots of rhythm , Stern's guide to contemporary African music
Kenya
Popular music - Music videos
It's up to you and me: a song for peace in Africa
J
Jaguar. Pierre Braunberger presents; by Jean Rouch. 93 min., 2003. Three young men from the Savannah of Niger leave their homeland to seek wealth and adventure on the coast and in the cities of Ghana. This film is the story of their travels, their encounters along the way.
See also: La caravane du sel , Jean Rouch , Revolution in the culture-markets of Niamey, Niger , Boundaries of self and other in Ghanaian popular culture , Culture and customs of Ghana , Ghana : understanding the people and their culture
Niger - Ghana
Ethnology - Social life and customs - Rural conditions - Economic conditions - Documentary films
French with English subtitles
Jali Nyama Suso: Kora Player of the Gambia. Produced
by Roderic Knight. 1992, 20 min. This performance of four songs from the
Mandinka repertory was recorded while Suso was teaching kora at the University
of Washington in 1971.
See also: Mandinka jaliya: professional music of the Gambia , Performing Africa , L'art de la kora , Jaliology sound recording , Kora music from the Gambia , Gambie: mandinka kora
Gambia
Mandingo (African people) Music – Kora music
Sung in Mandinka – Mandingo
Jean Rouch. Les Films de la Pléiade; Sodaperaga editions. 2005, 10 hrs., 47 min. (4 videodiscs) Presents ten films by ethnologist Jean Rouch, along with interviews of the filmmaker, famous for his Niger-based films.
See also: La caravane du sel , Revolution in the culture-markets of Niamey, Niger , Boundaries of self and other in Ghanaian popular culture , Culture and customs of Ghana , Ghana : understanding the people and their culture , Jaguar ; Rouch in Reverse ; Building bridges: the cinema of Jean Rouch ; Anthropology, reality, cinema
Africa, West - Niger - France
Rouch, Jean - Interviews - Ethnology - Ethnologists - Social life and customs - Documentary films
Jews in Distant Lands: The Falashas of Ethiopia. By
the Union of American Hebrew Congregations.
See also: Jews in distant lands; teacher's guide , Black Jews, Jews, and other heroes , Nous étions les seuls Juifs au monde , Opération Moïse , Jews of Ethiopia: the birth of an elite , Les Juifs et́hiopiens en Israël
Ethiopia
Ethiopian Jews – Falashas – History
Jit. By Michael Raeburn. 1993, 92 min. Inspired by the
Zimbabwean pop music known as Jit-jive, is a romantic comedy about one
young man’s determination to win over the prettiest girl in town.
See also: The book version , Zimbabwean drama: a study of Shona and English plays , Medicine for love and other plays , Women, men and work: rural livelihoods in South-Eastern Zimbabwe , African womanhood in Zimbabwean literature
Zimbabwe
Drama – Feature film – Comedy – Jit-jive
A joking relationship. A film by John Marshall. 2005, 13 min. Examines humor as an important part of institutionalized kinship behavior among the !Kung.
See also: A Kalahari family ; N!ai: the story of a !Kung woman ; Nisa, the life and words of a !Kung woman ; Kung bushman childhood
Africa, Southern
!Kung wit and humor - !Kung (African people) - Social life and customs - Ethnology
!Xũ dialog with English subtitles
!Kung San series
Juju Music! Produced and directed by Jacques Holender.
Rhapsody Films. 1991, 51 min. Features urban popular music of Nigeria.
See also: Jùjú: the historical development ; Juju Roots: 1930s-1950s ; Juju master, I.K. Dairo ; History of juju music in Nigeria ; History of juju music: a history of an African popular music from Nigeria ; Konkombe: Nigerian music
Nigeria
Juju music – Popular music
Narration in English
The JVC Smithsonian Folkways video anthology of music and dance of Africa. Director, Hiroshi Yamamoto; executive producers, Katsumori Ichikawa & Yuji Ichihashi. 1996, 3 videocassettes (156 min.) Presents ethnic music from Africa. Most segments are short. Includes folk music, folk songs, performances on traditional musical instruments, dances, and religious or ritual performances.
See also: African culture: drumming and dance , Africa folk music atlas , African music in perspective
Egypt - Uganda - Senegal - The Gambia - Liberia - Ghana - Nigeria - Kenya - Malawi - Botswana - South Africa
Folk dancing - Folk music - Folk songs
The JVC Video Anthology of World Music and Dance. JVC,
Victor Company of Japan, Rounder Records 1990. 3 of the 30 videocassettes
are on Africa. Includes folk music, folk songs, performances on traditional
musical instruments, dances, and ethnic ritual performances.
See also: African culture: drumming and dance , Africa folk music atlas , African music in perspective
Egypt – Tunisia – Morocco – Mali – Cameroon – Zaire – Tanzania – Chad – Ivory Coast – Botswana – South Africa
Folk dance music – Folk songs
Anthology of world music and dance – Video anthology of world music and dance
J'y crois: la route de la décentralisation au Mali. A film by Emile Adriaan van Rouveroy van Nieuwaal & Maarten van Rouveroy van Nieuwaal. 2005?, c2003, 55 min. A look at how Mali has been trying to transfer political and economic power to democratically elected political bodies in decentralized communities since the 1990s.
See also: La décentralisation au Mali vue d'en bas ; Historical and political foundations for participatory management ; Le pari de la décentralisation au Mali ; Loi no 96-059 portant création de communes ; Pouvoirs locaux, pouvoir d'etat, démocratie
Mali
Decentralization in government - Political participation - Documentary - Social conditions
French, Bambara and Tamacheq with English subtitles. Narration in English
I believe in it: the road to decentralization in Mali - Route de la décentralisation au Mali
K
Kafi’s Story. Arthur Howes and Amy Hardie. 1989, 53
min. Kafi’s Story and Nuba Conversations, two films shot in the same places
by the same filmmaker only ten years apart, offer an opportunity to measure
the full devastation of Africa’s civil wars.
See also: Nuba conversations ; National integration and local integrity ; War and survival in Sudan's frontierlands ; God grew tired of us ; They poured fire on us from the sky ; Darfur: a short history of a long war ; The Sudanese civil conflict, 1969-1985 ; War and slavery in Sudan ; Me against my brother
Sudan
Nuba (African people) – Social conditions – History – Ethnic relations – Civil War, 1983 – Documentary
English, Nuba and Arabic with English subtitles
A Kalahari Family. 2002, 336 min. 1951, Laurence and
Lorna Marshall and their two children, Elizabeth and John, set out to
find the “Bushmen” of the Kalahari Desert. Encapsulating 50 years of Namibian
history, this film represents a lifetime of documentation, research, and
personal contact by filmmaker John Marshall.
See also: N!ai: the story of a !Kung woman ; Journal of Elizabeth Marshall Thomas ; Nisa, the life and words of a !Kung woman ; Where are the Ju/wasi of Nyae Nyae? ; The hunters ; Kung bushman childhood ; The Bushmen ; Histories of Namibia ; Speaking out: Namibians share their perspectives on independence
Tsumkwe District (Namibia)
!Kung (African people) – Kung – Politics and government, 1946-1990 – Economic conditions – Government relations – Social conditions – Ethnology
English and San with English subtitles
Far country – End of the road – Real water – Standing tall – Death by myth
Karmen Gei. By Joseph Gaï Ramaka. 2001, 82 min. Shot
mostly on Goree Island, this Senegalese remake of Carmen features a bisexual
Carmen, hilarious, bawdy tasu songs by women in prison, and fabulous music
by Doudou Ndiaye Rose, Yande Coudou Sene, El Hadj Ndiaye and jazz sax
player David Murray.
See also: Inspired by Prosper Mérimée's Carmen and opera ; La société Wolof: tradition et changement ; La Femme sénégalaise ; Gender and solidarity: a village in rural Senegal ; African experiences of cinema
Senegal
Drama – Musical – Women prisoners – Lesbians – Man-woman relationships
French and Wolof with English subtitles
Karoo kitaar blues. Producer, Philip Key; director, Liza Key. 2004, 144 min. South African songwriter, David Kramer and slide guitarist, Hannes Coetzee travel into remote regions of South Africa on their quest to find musicians who play an almost forgotten folk music.
See also: South African music ; Afrique du sud: les ménestrels du Cap ; The world of South African music
South Africa
Blues (Music) - Folk songs
English commentary, with dialogue in Afrikaans and English subtitles
Keeping a Live Voice: 15 years of Democracy in Zimbabwe.
1995, 54 min. The views of a wide cross section of Zimbabweans, 15 years
after gaining their independence, in the run up to the what were eventually
uncontested elections.
See also: History of resistance ; Never the same again ; Zimbabwe: ten years of destabilization ; Beyond the house of hunger ; Cry Zimbabwe: independence -- twenty years on ; Zimbabwe: the death of a dream ; Zimbabwe after the elections: post poll 2002 ; Robert Mugabe: a life of power and violence ; Zimbabwe: the next 25 years ; Dinner with Mugabe ; Trampled no more: voices from Bulawayo's townships
Zimbabwe
Politics and government, 1980-
Keïta!: l’Héritage du Griot. By Dani Kouyaté. 1995,
94 min. The story of Mabo Keïta, a contemporary boy from Burkina Faso,
learning the history of the family.
See also: African film: re-imagining a continent ; La grande geste du Mali ; Sunjata: le fondateur de l'empire du Mali ; The epic of Son-Jara: a west African tradition ; In search of Sunjata ; Sundiata: an epic of old Mali ; Sundiata: the epic of the Lion King, retold ; Ancient Ghana and Mali ; Living memory: six sketches of Mali today
Burkina Faso
Legends – Drama – Keita, Soundiata – Sundjata – Son-Jara
Jula – Dyula and French with English subtitles
Keïta!: The Heritage of the Griot
Kenya, gem of Africa. Nairobi: Kashmircraft. 1990s, 33 min. A documentary on Kenya; its people, vegetation, animals, towns.
See also: Kenya: from colonization to independence, 1888-1970 ; Culture and customs of Kenya ; Kenya: the land, the people, and the nation ; Kenya under my skin
Kenya
Social life and customs
Kenya women pioneers. Director, Albert Wandago. Alwan Communications. 2000, 40 min. A compilation of short autobiographies by some eleven pioneer women in various fields in Kenya.
See also: Kenya women reflections ; Kenya women look ahead ; The Kenya women's manifesto ; Our mothers' footsteps ; Out of my rib ; Talking gender: conversations with Kenyan women writers
Nairobi (Kenya)
Women pioneers - Biography - Pioneers
Kenyatta University, muziki wetu. Executive producer, Emilly Akuno; director, Albert Wandago. Nairobi, Kenya: Alwan Communications. 2003, 60 min. Kenyatta University, the craddle of music scholarship and performance in Kenya presents its music.
See also: Public & private universities in Kenya ; Music education in Kenya ; Education in Kenya: information handbook ; National action plan on education for all
Kenya
Kenyatta University, Department of Music and Dance - Music in universities and colleges
Title in Swahili
Musiki wetu
Khalfan and Zanzibar. A videotape by Lina Fruzzetti, Alfred Guzzetti, Ákos Östör. 1999, 25 min. Story of the life and work of Khalfan Hemed Khalfan, founder of the Zanzibar Association of the Disabled. Also includes scenes from the lives of Zanzibar’s disabled and information on the history and culture of Zanzibar.
See also: Registration of the disabled in Zanzibar ; Final report of the project on enhancement of disabled peoples ; Moving beyond the classroom ; Under the mango tree ; Poverty and social exclusion in Tanzania
Tanzania - Zanzibar
Khalfan, Khalfan Hemed - Biography - People with disabilities
Konkombe: Nigerian Music. 1988, 50 min. A kaleidoscope
of Nigerian pop music. Includes performances, interviews, and recording
sessions with Sunny Ade, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, I. K. Dairo, Sonny Okoson,
Lijadu Sisters, and others.
See also: Jùjú: the historical development ; Juju Roots: 1930s-1950s ; Juju master, I.K. Dairo ; History of juju music in Nigeria ; History of juju music: a history of an African popular music from Nigeria ; Juju Music!
Nigeria
Popular music – Juju music – Nigerian pop music scene
Kosodo: the village of grandmothers. Directors, Martin Kivuva, Richard Quinn; producer-script, Agnes Lucy Lando. 2003, 21 min. Documentary on Help Orphan Project, a community based project that helps AIDS orphans who are left under the care of their grandparents in Kosondo Village of Rongo Division, Kenya.
See also: Father to the fatherless ; Endangered bodies ; The lost generation ; The odds against us - but there's hope ; African kids: between warlords, child soldiers, and living on the street
Kenya
Help Orphan Project - Orphans, Services for - Children of AIDS patients - Child welfare
Kounandi. Ecrit et réalisé par Apolline Traore; producteur, Idrissa Ouedraogo. 2004, 50 min. An adult fairy tale about love, friendship and sacrifice. Also addresses social conflict and prejudices.
See also: The soul eaters ; Enfants et femmes vivant dans des circonstances particulièrement difficiles ; Mariage et célibat à Ouagadougou
Burkina Faso
Husband and wife - Drama - Domestic relations - Feature films
Jula (Dioula) with English subtitles
Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson's Lost in the stars. Screenplay by Alfred Hayes; producer, Ely Landau; director, Daniel Mann. 2003, 97 min. Stephen Kumalo, a black South African minister searches the unfamiliar back alleys and shanty towns of Johannesburg for his son, Absalom. His unwavering faith is put to the test when he finds Absalom in jail facing a capital murder charge. Based on the novel Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton.
See also: Cry, the beloved country videorecording ; Orality, memory and the past ; The casspir and the cross: voices of Black clergy ; South Africa's racial past ; A Long struggle: the involvement of the World Council of Churches in South Africa
South Africa
Paton, Alan - Film and video adaptations - Clergy - Families, Black - Trials (Murder) - Racism - Drama - Feature films - Musical films
Lost in the stars
Kuxa kanema: la naissance de cinema. Un film de Margarida Cordoso; scénario et réalisation, Margarida Cordoso. 2003, 52 min. Discusses the history of Mozambique’s National Institute of Cinema’s weekly newsreel and shows the relationship between the films, President Samora Machel, and FRELIMO (Mozambique Liberation Front)
See also: Memórias em Voo Rasante ; Moçambique, a terra e os homens ; Mozambique and the construction of the new African state ; Mondlane, Machel e Chissano ; Revolution, counter-revolution ; Mozambique: the tortuous road to democracy ; The tree of our forefathers ; Mozambique: the struggle for survival ; Revolução na Africa austral
Mozambique
Instituto Nacional do Audiovisual de Cinema - History - Kuxa kanema - Newsreels - Motion picture journalism - Independence and Civil War, 1975-1994 - Documentary
Portuguese with English subtitles
Kuxa kanema: the birth of cinema
L
Lagos/Koolhaas. Written and directed by Bregtje van
der Haak. Produced by Sylvia Baani. 2003, 55 min. The film follows noted
architect Koolhaas during his research in Lagos as he wanders the city,
talking with people about the problems of city life.
See also: Globalization and urbanization in Africa ; Nigeria's urban history: past and present ; Under siege: four African cities ; Lagos handbook, or a brief description ; Issues in physical planning in Nigeria
Lagos (Nigeria)
Urbanization – Urban sociology – Urban land use – Social conditions – Economic conditions
Lake side. Director, Doreen Fonju; producer, Sylveria Anye. Alwan Communications. 2004, 20 min. A documentary on the social economics of Kisumu, Kenya focusing mainly on fisheries, transportation, and the legendary Kit Mikae cultural/touristic site.
See also: Kenya's marine fisheries: an outline of policy and activities ; The institutional and organizational structure of public road transport in Kenya ; The role of the matatu in Kenya
Kisumu (Kenya)
Fisheries - Transportation - Economic conditions - Social conditions - Documentary films
English with English subtitles for Swahili dialogue.
Lakeside
The Language You Cry In. Producer/Directors: Alvaro
Toepke & Angel Serrano. 1998, 52 min. A scholarly detective story
reaching from 18th century Sierra Leone to the Gullah people of present-day
Georgia, this film demonstrates how African Americans have retained links
with their African past.
See also: Defiant maids and stubborn farmers ; The Mende of Sierra Leone: a West African people in transition ; A view of Sierra Leone ; An introduction to the pre-colonial history of the Mende of Sierra Leone ; The Gullah: rice, slavery and the Sierra Leone-American connection ; Gullah; dedicated to the memory of Ambrose E. Gonzales
Sierra Leone
Mende (African people) – African Americans – Georgia (USA) – Race identity – Ethnomusicology Gullahs – Music – Burial – Folk songs – Relations with Africans – History and criticism – Mende songs
English and Mende with English subtitles
Story of a Mende song
Last grave at Dimbaza. Directed by Chris Curling & Pascoe Macfarlane. 2006, 55 min. Shot illegally in the Republic of South Africa, this documentary exposes the oppression of Blacks and other people designated as colored under apartheid rule in South Africa.
See also: Bopha! Arrest ; Homes apart ; Hot wax ; Justifying oppression ; On tiptoe ; A study of racial oppression ; A South African farm
South Africa
Social conditions - Blacks - Economic conditions - Colored people - Social conditions - Apartheid - Race relations - Documentary films
The last king of Scotland. Produced by Lisa Bryer, Andrea Calderwood, Charles Steel; screenplay by Peter Morgan and Jeremy Brock; directed by Kevin Macdonald. 2007, 123 min. Chronicles Idi Amin’s rise and fall. Amin’s despotic reign of terror is viewed through the eyes of Nicholas Garrigan, a Scottish doctor who arrives in Uganda in the early 1970s to serve as Amin’s personal physician. Based on the novel by Giles Foden.
See also: Général Idi Amin Dada ; The most evil dictators in history ; Talk of the devil: encounters with seven dictators ; Uganda: the rise and fall of Idi Amin ; Escape from Idi Amin's slaughterhouse
Uganda
Amin, Idi, 1925-2003 - Drama - Dictators - Physician and patient - Genocide - Despotism - Politics and government - History - Feature films - Thrillers - Biographical films
Dialogue in English or Spanish, with optional subtitles in English, French or Spanish
The last salt caravan. Produced by M. Mayer-Hohdahl for Journeyman Pictures. 2000, 28 min. Photographed in long dramatic shots, the film captures the grandeur and harshness of the desert as well as the strength of those who eke out a living in its harsh solitude.
See also: Wonders of the African world ; Timbuktu: the Sahara's fabled city of gold ; Small-scale mining, rural subsistence and poverty in West Africa
Mali
Salt industry and trade - Caravans - Commerce - Social life and customs
Mali: the last salt caravan - Mali: the salt caravan - Salt caravan
The Last Warriors. Written by Ben Ulm. 2001, 294 min.
5 cassettes. Filmed over a four-year period, this five-part series films
weddings, funerals, rites of passage, and celebrations among seven of
Africa’s so-called “warrior” ethnic groups.
See also: The Hamar of southern Ethiopia ; Rivers of sand ; Hamar trilogy ; The social practice of symbolization ; A box full of spirits ; Disappearing world ; Pastoral livelihoods in danger ; Memoirs of a Mbororo ; Among the pastoral Afar in Ethiopia ; Maalika: my life among the Afar nomads of Africa
Africa, General
Hamar (African people) – Murzu (African people) – Bororo (African people) – Tuareg (African people) – Afar (African people) – Dinka (African people) Rites and ceremonies – Marriage customs and rites – Funeral rites and ceremonies – Ethnology – Social life and customs
English; some dialogue in African languages with English translations
The Lesser Child. UNICEF film by Raphael Tuju. 1993,
32 min. Traditional society in Kenya valued the birth of a girl less than
that of a boy. Not only that, but girls were treated very differently
from boys and men throughout their lives, having to defer to men continually.
See also: Precious blood ; Gender inequalities in Kenya ; Talking gender ; "Women forget that men are the masters" ; Skills training and beyond ; Politics of the womb: women, reproduction, and the state in Kenya ; Saikati, the Enkabaani ; Changing images
Kenya
Girls – Sex role in children
Liberation women. Produced and directed by Beata Lipman. 1985, 30 min. This documentary features interviews with South African women who were active in the anti-apartheid movement.
See also: Strike a woman, strike a rock ; Forced to grow ; Lilian Ngoyi ; My storie loop so ; Every secret thing ; Not the end of the world ; Black women activists ; The careers of women teachers under apartheid ; Women of South Africa ; Mama Awethu! ; Cries of freedom ; Winnie Mandela ; Maids and madams
South Africa
Women political activists - Biography - Government, Resistance to - Apartheid - Politics and government - Social conditions - History, 1961-1994
Liberia: a fragile peace. A film by Steven Ross. 2005, 60 min. Chronicles the period from the departure of [dictator] Charles Taylor to the election of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.
See also: Liberia: an uncivil war ; Beyond plunder: toward democratic governance in Liberia ; Returning dreams ; Peacekeepers, politicians and warlords ; Behind rebel line: anatomy of Charles Taylor's hostage camps
Liberia
Taylor, Charles Ghankay - Sirleaf, Ellen Johnson - History - Civil War, 1989- - Peace - Politics and government - Documentary films
English audio track with optional English subtitles; closed captioned in English
Fragile peace
Liberia: America's stepchild. Written and directed by Nancee Oku Bright; a production of Grain Coast Productions for WGBH. 2002, 60 min. This program looks at events leading up the founding of Liberia and its history up through the twentieth century.
See also: A History of the state of Maryland in Liberia ; An African republic: Black & White Virginians in the making of Liberia ; Historical dictionary of Liberia ; Swing low, sweet chariot ; American involvement in Africa south of the Sahara, 1800-1860 ; Black colonialism: the Americo-Liberian scramble for the Hinterland
Liberia
History - Foreign relations - United States
Liberia: an uncivil war. Co-producer & co-director, James Brabazon; producer & director, Jonanthan Stack. 2005, 103 min. Liberia, the summer of 2003, two armies are in the final battle of a decade-long civil war, holding the capital under siege while thousands die from mortar shells launched from afar. While the rebel army, the LURD, attempts to overthrow the Liberian government, President Charles Taylor and his army maintain a strong grip on the city.
See also: Beyond plunder: toward democratic governance in Liberia ; Returning dreams ; Liberia: a fragile peace ; Peacekeepers, politicians and warlords ; Behind rebel line: anatomy of Charles Taylor's hostage camps
Liberia
Taylor, Charles Ghankay - Political violence - History - Civil War, 1989- - Politics and government - Foreign relations - Documentary films
Liberia: the promised land. Produced by Journeyman Pictures. 1996, 43 min. Provides an exposé of the long involvement of the U.S. in Liberia, and the events which led to the downfall of this once promising nation.
See also: A History of the state of Maryland in Liberia ; An African republic: Black & White Virginians in the making of Liberia ; Historical dictionary of Liberia ; Swing low, sweet chariot ; American involvement in Africa south of the Sahara, 1800-1860 ; Black colonialism: the Americo-Liberian scramble for the Hinterland ; Liberia: America's stepchild
Liberia - United States
Politics and government - History - Relations - Documentary films
The Life and Times of Sara Baartman. By Zola Maseko.
1998, 52 min. A documentary film about the fascinating story of this Khoi
Khoi woman who was taken from South Africa in 1810, and then exhibited
as a freak across Britain.
See also: The return of Sara Baartman ; Miscast: negotiating the presence of the Bushmen ; The cape herders: a history of the Khoikhoi of Southern Africa ; Blood ground ; De testimoniis = The testimony of Aethiopians, Chinese and other pagans as well as of the Hottentots
South Africa – Europe
African women – Khoikhoi (African people) – History – 19th century – Social aspects – Foreign public opinion – Somatotypes Sara Baartman – Biography – Racism in anthropology – Racism in popular culture – Exhibitions – Human beings – Human body
English, some interviews in French with English subtitles
Life must continue. Directed by Stephen Makau; story development by Sam Mulyanga, Rosaline Njiru, George Maundu. 2003, 35 min. Explores the conflict of attitudes, beliefs, and the consequences of female genital mutilation and HIV/AIDS.
See also: Politics of the womb: women, reproduction, and the state in Kenya ; The Nandi immortality ;
The day I will never forget ; Youth voices ; Female circumcision ; AIDS in Kenya ; Backlash
Kenya
HIV-positive men - Family relationships - Drama - Female circumcision
Lighting a peace candle for Masol, West Pokot District. Organised by Rural Women Peace Link; director/scriptwirter, Jane Mbiti; executive producer, Albert Wandago. Alwan Communications. 2004, 12 min. Masol has been known as a hotbed for armed warriors and constant conflicts, and so the Rural Women Peace Link Network organized a special candle-lighting ceremony in order to encourage the women of this region to keep up with the peace process.
See also: The practice of war ; Women building peace and good neighbourliness ; Champions for peace ; Chepokawat ; We the women-- for peace ; Peaceful co-existence
Masol (Kenya)
Women - Peace - Rural Women Peace Link (National Council of Churches of Kenya)
Lines in the dust. Produced by Cassandra Mc Grogan; directed by Lucinda Broadbent; TVE International. 2001, 30 min.
In a small village in northern Ghana, a group of men and women discuss their daily chores with the help of a chart they’ve drawn in the dust. This village is part of a program called Reflect, which aims to reach the 900 million illiterate adults across the world.
See also: Impact assessment of psychosocial interventions involving the emancipated trokosi and woryokwe women/girls ; Tradition and change in Ghana ; Technology, literacy and the evolution of society
Ghana - India
Globalization - City and town life - Economic aspects - Social aspects - Literacy programs - Social change
Narration in English with some dialogue in various other languages with English voiceovers
City life
Língua: vidas em português. Um filme de Victor Lopes. 2002, 91 min. Documentary about the Portuguese language and people who speak it around the world.
See also: África no Brasil: a formação da língua portuguesa ; Portuguese oceanic expansion, 1400-1800 ; A "questão linguística" na Africa pós-colonial ; A língua portuguesa em Africa: educação, ensino, formação
Mozambique - India - Brazil - France - Japan
Portuguese language - Foreign countries - Social aspects - Documentary films
Portuguese with optional Portuguese and English subtitles
Vidas em português
Listen to the silence: a film about African cross rhythms as seen through Ghanian music. Written and produced by Peter Bischoff. 2002, 33 min. Explores a kaleidoscope of musical examples from Ghana: children’s games and their musical bands; traditional drums; sensual dances; trance dances; animated funeral music, and other examples from the Ewe, Ashanti, Ga, and Frafra peoples of Ghana.
See also: The creative potential of African art music in Ghana ; African music in Ghana ; Female song tradition and the Akan of Ghana ; The drums of Dagbon ; Stage-shakers! ; Rhythms of life, songs of wisdom sound recording ; Folk music of Ghana
Ghana
Ashanti (African people) - Ewe (African people) - Gã (African people) - Frafra (African people) - Folk dance music
Listening to the silence: African cross rhythms
Lives together, worlds apart: men and women in a time of change.
Produced by Jonathan Silvers and Beth Dembitzer. 2003, 57 min. This film
documents the complex issue of gender equity with segments profiling three
countries: that have struggled with gender issues for decades.
See also: Child maintenance and violence against women and children project ; Metlhaetsile Women's Information Centre ; Changing roles of women in Botswana ; National Conference for Women in Botswana, Strategies for Change (1983: University of Botswana)
Botswana – Morocco – Great Britain
Sex discrimination against women – Women’s rights – Crimes against women – Reproductive health – Social conditions – 20th century – Documentary
In English; some interviews in Arabic and French, with subtitles in English
Men and women in a time of change
Living memory: six sketches of Mali today. Conceived and directed by Susan Vogel; written by Susan Vogel, Samuel Sidibe. 2003, 53 min. A documentary about Mali’s ancient culture and the place of that culture in the modern country. The six sections are ritual arts, culture on display, style, architecture, contemporary artists and music.
See also: Nation-building in Mali: art, radio, and leadership in a pre-literate society ; Ancient Ghana and Mali ; The quest for Timbuctoo
Mali
Civilization
Narration in English; dialogue in French and other languages with English subtitles
Living the hiplife. Producer-director, Jesse Weaver Shipley. 2007, 63 min. The film follows the birth of Hiplife music in Accra, Ghana, a mix of various African musical forms and American hip-hop.
See also: Boundaries of self and other in Ghanaian popular culture ; Ghana: understanding the people and their culture ; Culture and customs of Ghana ; Tradition and change in Ghana
Ghana
Rap (Music) - Rap musicians - Popular music - Popular culture - Documentary
Chiefly in English, portions in other languages with English subtitles
Lobola. Contemporary Films/McGraw-Hill. 1954, 26 min.
A vintage film which purports to illustrate some of the social problems
confronting millions of South Africans and offer glimpses of the daily
life in a village far removed from European influence.
See also: Lobola: its implications for women's reproductive rights ; Primitive marriage and European law ; The South African law of husband and wife ; Harmonisation of the common law and the indigenous law ; Problems relating to customary and statutory marriage laws in South Africa
South Africa
Social life and customs - Marriage customs and rites - Apartheid
Lobola: the bride price
Long Night’s Journey into Day. Iris Films/Iris Feminist
Collective. Directors, Frances Reid & Deborah Hoffmann. 2000, 95 min.
When apartheid collapsed in South Africa, its enforcers wanted amnesty
for their crimes. Their victims wanted justice. As a compromise, the Truth
& Reconciliation Commission was formed.
See also: Long night's damage: working for the apartheid state ; Overcoming apartheid: can truth reconcile a divided nation? ; Living in the wake of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission ; Equity, mercy, forgiveness
South Africa
Truth and Reconciliation Commission – Apartheid – Human rights – History Reparation (Criminal justice) – Politics and government – 20th century – Race relations
South Africa’s Search for Truth and Reconciliation
The long tears - an Ndebele story. 1998, 52 min. This program, seen through the eyes of one family, documents five years in the life of a South African tribe, the Ndebele, exploring their art, culture and traditions.
See also: Ndebele: a people & their art ; Paint, pride and politics ; The Ndebele: art and culture ;
Ndebele: the art of an African tribe ; The Ndebele of J. Kekana ; Ndebele: artist nation
South Africa
Ndebele (African people) - Art, Ndebele - Dwellings - Costume - Mural painting and decoration, Ndebele - Women painters, Ndebele - Ethnic art - Rites and ceremonies - History - Social life and customs
English and Ndebele with English subtitles
Ndebele story
Lorang's way: a Turkana man. Produced and directed by David and Judith MacDougall. 1980, 67 min. Insightful profile of a senior man of the seminomadic Turkana of northwestern Kenya. Because the Turkana are relatively isolated and self-sufficient, most see their way of life continuing unchanged into the future.
Originally produced as a motion picture in 1977.
See also: A wife among wives ; The scattering time ; Lopae, geographical dispersal of friendship in Turkana ; No man's land: an investigative journey through Kenya and Tanzania
Turkana District (Kenya)
Turkana (African people) - Social life and customs - Documentry films
Turkana with English subtitles
Turkana man
Lost boys of Sudan. Directed and produced by Megan Mylan, Jon Shenk. 2004, 90 min. This video follows two Sudanese refugees as they immigrate to the United States, leaving one life behind and coping with a new and complex culture.
See also: Wanderings ; Wanderings ; A great wonder ; Benjamin and his brother ; Future Search Conference on Child Soldiers ; UNICEF:3551 ; Sudanese society in the context of civil war ; Sudan's predicament ; No time for childhood ; Sudan: the elusive quest for peace
Sudan - United States
Chuor, Santino Majok - Dut, Peter Nyarol - Emigration and immigration - Refugees - Social conditions - Assimilation (Sociology)
With conversation in Dinka and Swahili and English subtitles
The lost generation: everyone's problem. Executive producer, Julianne & Joe Kurowski; producer-director, Agnes Lucy Lando. Ukweli Video Productions. 2003, 27 min. The story of an American missionary couple in Kisumu, Kenya. Julianne and Joe Kurowski adopt eleven children and care for the many HIV/AIDS orphans in the area.
See also: Between two mountains ; If I die ; Tracks in the dust ; Social adjustment of Kenyan orphaned grandchildren ; Kevin's questions
Kisumu (Kenya)
Missionaries - Orphans - HIV (Viruses) - AIDS (Disease)
Lou waay def. Vinasha Productions. Edited by Nana Ama Ofori-Atta. Directed by Amadou Sillah. Presents a new set of cultural values that re-writes Western perceptions of marriage, relationships and family.
See also: Plural marriage among the Wolof in the Gambia ; La société Wolof: tradition et changement ;
History of the Wolof state of Jolof until 1860
Gambia
Social life and customs
Gambian Wollof language feature film subtitled in English
Whatever one does
Lumumba. Directed by Raoul Peck; screenplay by Raoul
Peck & Pascal Bonitzer. 2001, 115 min. This theatrical release is
a gripping political thriller which tells the story of the legendary Congolese
leader Patrice Lumumba and his assassination after only two months as
President of his country.
See also: Lumumba: a biography ; Lumumba: Africa's lost leader ; Lumumba: la mort du prophète ; P. Lumumba, justice pour le héros ; Lumumba speaks ; Lumumba Patrice: les cinquante derniers jours de sa vie (English translation) ; Lumumba's Congo: roots of conflict
Congo (Democratic Republic)
Lumumba, Patrice – Biography – Drama – Politics and government History – Civil War, 1960-1965
French with English subtitles
Lumumba: La Mort du Prophète. Raoul Peck. 1992, 69 min.
An acclaimed documentary on Patrice Lumumba and the Congo, it examines
the life and legacy of one of the legendary figures of modern African
history.
See also: Lumumba: a biography ; Lumumba: Africa's lost leader ; Lumumba ; P. Lumumba, justice pour le héros ; Lumumba speaks ; Lumumba Patrice: les cinquante derniers jours de sa vie (English translation) ; Lumumba's Congo: roots of conflict
Congo (Democratic Republic)
Lumumba, Patrice – Biography – Politics and government – History – Civil War, 1960-1965
French with English subtitles
Lumumba: the Death of the Prophet – Lumumba, Death of a Prophet