African Video Collections

Dialogue in English a Maa dialect with English subtitles

Saikati, the Enkabaani. Produced by Catherine W. Muigai; written and directed by Anne G. Mungai. 1998, 90 min. This is the dramatic story of a young village girl who goes beyond traditional, rigid cultural barriers to become a flying doctor.
Note: Sequel to Saikati.
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 ; Changing images ; Maasai women: life in a patriarchal society

Kenya

Women, Masai - Drama - Aeronautics in medicine - Man-woman relationships - Feature films

Enkabaani

Samora Machel: son of Africa. A video by Ron Hallis; produced by Ron Hallis, Joyce Sikakane, Ophera Hallis; director, Ron Hallis. 1989, 29 min. Life of Samora Machel, commander of FRELIMO and first president of Mozambique after independence, told through interviews with Machel himself and others.
See also: Samora Machel: morte anunciada ; Samora Moises Machel - a tribute ; Samora, why he died ; Samora: o destino da memória ; Samora Machel speaks: Mozambique speaks ; Samora Machel, a biography ; Democratic transition and consolidation in Africa ; War and peace in Mozambique

Mozambique

Machel, Samora, 1933- - Presidents - Biography - Politics and government

Narration in English; voice-over translations from Portuguese

The sand dams of Kitui-- where there is no water. Director-producer, Martin Kivuva, Richard Quinn; script writer, Martin Kivuva. 2000, 30 min. This documentary highlights the successful efforts of providing water "where there is no water", through the intervention and technical assistance of an NGO, SASOL (Sahelian Solutions).
See also: Climate variability and water resources degradation in Kenya ; Where there is no water ; Women, water, and workload ; Impact and economics of community water supply ; Environment and development in Kenya

Kenya

Hydrology - Water resources development – Water supply - NGO projects

Sango Malo. Directed by Bassek Ba Kobhio. 1991, 93 min. A new high school teacher brings turmoil to a rural Cameroonian village when he tries to change the world.
See also: Sango Malo: le maître du canton ; A century of western education in Cameroon ; La décentralisation, l'éducation ; Searching for national education policies for Subsaharan Africa ; The family in education ; Cameroon educational system ; Une éducation libérale pour la démocratie ; The work of teachers in a public and private school in Cameroon

Cameroon

Cameroon fiction (French)

French with English subtitles

Sangoma: Traditional Healers in Modern Society. Directed by Peter Davis. 54 min. Shows how traditional medicine still thrives in South Africa.
See also: Sangoma: my odyssey into the spirit world of Africa ; Sangoma ; Healing traditions ; Working with spirit ; Gestion traditionnelle de la maladie ; South African traditional healers' primary health care handbook ; White woman witch doctor ; Is there a role for traditional healers

South Africa

Traditional medicine

Saaraba. By Amadou Seck. 1981, 86 min. Presents an unsparing indictment of a corrupt older generation and of alienated urban youth.
See also: Culture and customs of Senegal ; Senegal: a state of change ; Modernisation des hommes, l'exemple du Sénégal ; Représentations spatiales et mobilités des jeunes à Dakar ; Essai d'analyse sur les problèmes d'éducation

Senegal

Social life and customs – Feature films

Wolof and French with English subtitles

Utopia

School's out. Producer/director, Dick Bower. [2007, 23 min. Explores the issue of private versus public schools in Makoko, a shantytown in Lagos, Nigeria.
Series: Life series 5
See also: Maroko: the agonies of displacement ; Practical issues in human settlements and health ;
Family and social change in an African city ; Lagos/Koolhaas ; Lagos wide & close ; Educational development in Lagos State

Lagos (Nigeria)

Private schools - Public schools - Squatter settlements - Economic conditions

Life (Bullfrog Films, inc.). Series 5; program 2

Science wages war on hunger: modifying Africa through biotechnology. Producer, Elliot Haimoff; director, Denny Hooten. 2002, 46 min. Documentary on the use of biotechnology to boost food production in Africa.
See also: Food and revolution in Africa ; Understanding Africa's food problems ; The biotechnology revolution ; Biotechnology in Africa: which choices? ; The Political economy of African famine

Africa

Plant biotechnology - Agriculture - Food supply - Documentary films

Scratch, mix and-- ? Tomas Films in collaboration with Acacia Entertainment; co-produced by Abdulkadir Ahmed Said, Bridget Thompson; directed by Abdulkadir Ahmed Said. 2003, 52 min. Features the emergence of rap, kwaito and hip hop in Zanzibar, Johannesburg and Cape Town, together with the musicians who take this music to the youth.
See also: Taarab, an ocean of melodies ; Kwaito ; Rapping the nation ; Where is the way ; Lucky Dube ; Kwaito: South African hip hop ; Voëlvry: the movement that rocked South Africa

Zanzibar, South Africa

Rap (Music) - Kwaito (Music) - Popular music - Hip-hop (Music)

Searching for Hawa’s Secret. Directed by Larry Krotz. 1999, 47 min. Canadian scientist Frank Plummer discovered that a small group of sex workers in the Nairobi shanty-town seemed to be immune from HIV.
See also: The odds against us-- but there's hope ; Gender aspects ; The Intersection of human capital, gender and HIV/AIDS ; Funding the fight against HIV/AIDS ; Access and barriers to HIV information ; Local women, global science ; Organisations working in Kenya to address HIV and AIDS in women ; AIDS in Kenya

Nairobi (Kenya)

AIDS (Disease) – Research – AIDS vaccines – Prevention and control – Prostitution – HIV Infections – Immunology – Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

Selbe: one among many (as women see it). Producer, Pierre Hoffman; director, Sali Faye. 1982, 30 min. Due to economic constraints, women in Senegal are often left with the sole responsibility of raising their families. Depiction of one such woman’s struggles under these trying circumstances.
See also: Reassemblage ; Faat Kine ; Femmes Aux Yeux Ouverts ; A way to move on ; Femmes wolof

Senegal

Women - Family - Economic conditions - Social conditions

Sembene: the making of African cinema. A film by Ngũgĩ wa Thiongo and Manthia Diawara. New York: Third World Newsreel. 1994, 61 min. Follows the Senegalese filmmaker Sembene Ousmane from the Pan African Film Festival in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso back to Senegal, and finally the locations of his films.
See also: The cinema of Ousmane Sembene, a pioneer of African film ; Cinema in Senegal ; 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 - Africa

Sembène, Ousmane, 1923-2007 - Motion picture producers and directors - History

Primarily in French with English subtitles or voice-over English translation

Senator Obama goes to Africa.  Directed by Bob Hercules; produced by Bob Hercules and Keith Walker; a Media Process Group production.  2007,  60 min. From South Africa to Kenya to a Darfur refugee camp in Chad, Obama explores the vast continent that is gaining increasing importance in this age of globalization.
See also: Barack Obama and the future of American politics ; Meet the next president ; The Obama nation ; Africa ; Africa (National Geographic Television)

Africa

Obama, Barack - Travel - Presidential candidates - Description and travel

Senegal: the power to change. Producer, Solveig Helvik; director, Gerd Inger Polden. 1999, 30 min. The protest against female genital mutilation started with an educational program set up by the United Nations in cooperation with a local NGO. This is a success story which shows that education makes all the difference.
See also: Les convergences culturelles ; Sénégal ; Mon village au temps des blancs ; Tribal scars and other stories ; Culture and customs of Senegal ; Mutilée ; Excision au Sénégal ; L'affaire des hommes: roman ; Sexualité et fécondité dans la grande ville africaine

Senegal

Female circumcision - Infibulation - Clitoridectomy - Women’s rights - Women - Social conditions - 20th century - Social life and customs - Documentary films

Various African languages with English subtitles

Combatting female genital mutilation

Sept Nuits et Sept Jours. By Maurice Dorès. 1992, 58 min. This film documents an unusual healing ceremony in Senegal.
See also: Le peuple Lébou de la presqu'île du Cap-Vert ; The Wolof of Senegambia ; Ndeysaan: Le Prix du Pardon ; La confrérie layenne et les Lébou du Sénégal ; The return: the N'Deup healing ceremony

Senegal

Lebou (African people) – Healing – Traditional medicine – Rites and ceremonies

Seven nights and seven days – Seven days and seven nights

Servants of love. Producer-script, Mary Otuka. Nairobi. 1999, 15 min. Fr. Godfrey Biseko, a priest from the Diocese of Musoma, Tanzania, is a modern day version of St Francis of Assisi. Together with forty volunteers, who call themselves "Servants of Love", they dedicate themselves to serving the most abandoned and rejected of the society.
See also: Building a prosperous Kenya ; Community based rehabilitation ; Association for the physically disabled of Kenya ; --For love of neighbour ; Disability is not inability ; My life as a paraplegic ; 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

Health services accessibility – Documentary films – Poverty – Social conditions - Charity organisations

Shackles of Memory: The Atlantic Slave Trade. 1994, 55 min. From the port of Nantes, located on the French Atlantic coast, more than 1800 slave ships plied their human cargo during the 18th and 19th centuries.
See also: La mémoire enchaînée ; Abécédaire de l'esclavage des noirs ; La traite des nègres sous l'Ancien Régime ; Guide des sources de la traite négrière ; De l'esclavage dans les colonies ; The Atlantic slave trade ; Guide des sources de la traite négrière

France

Historical films – Slave trade Slaves – Social conditions – Atlantic slave trade

Shadow company. Directed and written by Nick Bicanic and Jason Bourque. 2006, 86 min. How private military corporations are changing the face of modern warfare.
See also: The wonga coup ; The Wonga coup: guns, thugs, and a ruthless determination ; Servants of war: private military corporations ; Mercenaries: the history of a norm in international relations ; Guns for hire ; Someone else's war

Equatorial Guinea - Iraq - Sierra Leone

Mercenary troops - History - Documentary films

Shake hands with the Devil: the journey of Roméo Dallaire.  Director, Peter Raymont; producers, Peter Raymont, Lindalee Tracey. 2005, 91 min. This film follows Lt. General Roméo Dallaire, Commander of the UN peacekeeping troops, back to Rwanda ten years after the massacre.
See also: Shake hands with the devil: the failure of humanity in Rwanda ; Gacaca: living together again in 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 ; Hotel Rwanda

Rwanda

Dallaire, Roméo- United Nations - Peacekeeping forces - History, 20th century - Genocide - Civil War, 1994 - Personal narratives

Journey of Roméo Dallaire    

Shaliah u-shemo Zimnah. sirto shel Mikhah Shagrir. 1993, 50 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 ; Hidah: masa'le-erets ha-Falashim ; Shelah et ami u-maher

Ethiopia - Israel

Jews, Ethiopian - Ethnic relations

Hebrew with English subtitles

Emissary named Zimna

Shelah et ami u-maher. Menasheh Raz. 1999, 60 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 ; Hidah: masa'le-erets ha-Falashim ; Shaliah u-shemo Zimnah

Ethiopia - Israel

Jews - History - 20th century - Emigration and immigration -- Emigration and immigration - Politics and government - Ethnic relations

Shouting Silent. Produced by Xoliswa Sithole. Directed by Renée Rosen. 2002, 51 min. Xoliswa Sithole, an adult orphan who lost her mother to AIDS in 1996, explores the devastation wrought on the orphaned children of South Africa by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
See also: A dime in the dust ; We are together ; A census report ; Multiple vulnerabilities ; HIV/AIDS, stigma and children ; The role of stigma and discrimination ; A situational analysis of orphans ; Impacts and interventions ; HIV/AIDS and discrimination in schools

South Africa

AIDS (Disease) – HIV (Viruses) – Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome – Social aspects – Motherless families – Orphans – Social environment – Women’s health

Sia: le rêve du python. ArtMattan Porductions. La direction de la Cinématographie Nationale de Burkina; un film de Dani Kouyate. 2001, 96 min. An epic drama set in Kombi, a poverty-stricken city dominated by a tyrant king, who in order to bring back prosperity, is advised to sacrifice Sia.
See also: La légende du Wagadu ; Speaking with God ; Sagesse et initiation ; Cinéma et littérature du Burkina Faso ; Traditions et modernité au Burkina-Faso ; Structures of social life

Burkina Faso

Feature films - Legends - Serpent worship -- Drama

Bambara with subtitles in English, French and German

The dream of the python; Le rêve du python

Siaka, an African musician. Sélénium Films presents a film by Hugo Zemp. 2005, 79 min. Documentary about Siaka Diabaté, a traditional Mande and Senufo musician and griot in Bouaké, Côte d’Ivoire.
See also: Masters of the balafon:friend, well come! ; Masters of the balafon: the joy of youth ; Masters of the balafon: the wood and the calabash ; A lecture/ demonstration with balafonist Neba Solo ; Siaka, an African musician

Bouaké (Côte d’Ivoire)

Diabaté, Siaka - Mandingo (African people) - Senufo (African people) - Music - Musicians - Griots - Balo music - Kora music - Djembe music - Dance - Documentary films - Social life and customs

Introduction in English; most dialogue in French; vocals in Mandingo and Senari; English intertitles and subtitles.

Side by Side: Women Against AIDS in Zimbabwe. 1993, 50 min. Directed and produced by Peter Davis. Now, in the wake of the AIDS pandemic women also serve as care-givers to family and community members afflicted with HIV or AIDS.
See also: Sexual rights and access to treatment ; Gender and HIV/AIDS: an analysis of Zimbabwe's National policies ; Gender and HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe ; Picture my life: experiences of women and men

Zimbabwe

AIDS (Disease) – Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome – Documentary films

Women against AIDS in Zimbabwe

Sidet: Forced Exile. Written, produced, and directed by Salem Mekuria. 1991, 60 min. Presents the stories of three Ethiopian women who each sought refuge in the Sudan.
See also: Storm and sanctuary ; Sparkle: a women's determination to break the cycle ; Pray God and keep walking ; Peaceful co-existence ; Profile of Ethiopian women ; Humanitarian needs of war-displaced people ; A history of modern Ethiopia, 1855-1991

Ethiopia – Sudan

Women refugees – Economic conditions

Tigrinya and Arabic with English subtitles

Sierra Leone's refugee all stars. A film by Zach Niles and Banker White. 2007, 80 min. This dramatic seven-time award-winning film tracks the journey of a group of six musicians who formed a band after being displaced from their home during a brutal decade long civil war.
See also: Salia Koroma: my life story ; Living like a refugee ; Seeing with music ; The African diaspora : a musical perspective ; A dirty war in West Africa ; Between democracy and terror

Sierra Leone - Guinea

Refugee All Stars - Reggae music - Rap (Music) - Biography - Musicians - Refugee camps - Documentary films

Si-Gueriki, the queen mother . Producer, director, Idrissou Mora Kpai. 2002, 63 min. Si-Gueriki examines patriarchy and the role of women in a polygamous society.
See also: A woman who is a husband and father ; Integrated rural development in Nigeria and women's role ; Proceedings of the National Conference

Benin (Nigeria)

Bariba (African people) – Family – Social conditions – Documentary films

Bariba and French with English subtitles

Si-gueriki

The silent crisis. Directed by Amanda Felton. 2005, 26 min. Explores the economic and social crises facing the Central African Republic by examining the country’s ill-equipped health system.
Series: Life series 5
See also: Intégration des données de santé ; La pauvreté, les conflits sociaux et leurs influences ;
Histoire économique et sociale du Centrafrique au XXe siècle

Central African Republic

Public health - Economic conditions - Social conditions - Politics and government, 1979-

English and French with English voice-overs

Life (Bullfrog Films, inc.)

The silent world. Script and direction, Albert Wandago. 1993. Describes the activities of the Kenya Society for Deaf Children founded in 1958. The Society is concerned with the education, health, and general welfare of deaf children and has been involved in the setting up of the 35 schools and units for deaf children in Kenya.
See also: Kenyan sign language & simultaneous communication ; International perspectives ; East African Sign Language Seminar ; Handbook on African approach to sign language ; Deaf me normal ;
Ancestors

Kenya

Kenya Society for Deaf Children - Deaf children - Special education

Siliva the Zulu. By Attilio Gatti & Prof. Lidio Cipriani. 2001, 62 min. Archival films from South Africa taken in 1927 overlaid with a drama concerning the coming of age and marriage of a Zulu warrior.
See also: Zulu life as drawn by the Zulu artist Jabulani Ntuli ; Zululand: its traditions, legends, customs and folklore ; Transvaal Ndebele texts

South Africa

Zulu (African people) - Social life and customs - Ethnology - Drama

Silent film with English intertitles

Simbi nyaima. Director, Albert Wandago; scripted by Jane Mbiti. 2004, 30 min. Simbi is based on an oral story from Nyanza in western Kenya which explains the existence of a mysterious lake by the same name.
See also: Asenath Odaga's Simbi nyaima (English) and Simbi nyaima (Luo) ; So they say ; A history of the Luo-Abasuba ; Oral literature of the Luo ; Luo of Kenya

Kenya

Legends

Simon & I. Directors, Bev Palesa Ditsie, Nicky Newman. 2001, 52 min. Recounts the lives of two giants in the South African gay and lesbian liberation movement, Simon Nkoli and the filmmaker herself, Bev Ditsie.
Series: Steps for the future
See also: AIDS: the challenge for South Africa ; The moral economy of AIDS in South Africa ; The social and economic impact ; Long life - positive HIV stories ; The silent killer ; Three-letter plague

South Africa

AIDS (Disease) - Social aspects - Gay rights

Steps for the future 2

Sipho Hotstix Mabuse. 1998, 25 min. Producer and director, John R. Bowey. Sipho Mabuse discusses influences of American jazz and other genres on mainstream South African contemporary music.
Series: African Wave, South African Music and its Influences
See also: Rhythm of resistance ; African jazz pioneers ; Focus: music of South Africa ; In township tonight! ; Nightsong ; Rhythms of resistance sound recording ; Music and identity

South Africa

Music – Mabuse, Sipho

South African Music and Its Influences – African Wave

Sisters in law. A film by Kim Longinotto and Florence Ayisi. 2005, 104 min. A documentary record of a courtroom in Kumba, Cameroon, where a female prosecutor and judge work to put an end to their community’s tacit acceptance of child abuse, wife beating and rape.
See also: Le mariage d'aujourd'hui ; HIV/AIDS and violence against women in Cameroon ; Les enfants de la transition ; Reproductive & sexual health rights ; The queen of power ; Women of the world

Kumba (Cameroon)

Women - Legal status, laws, etc. - Children - Courts - Justice, Administration of - Child Abuse - Rape - Social Justice- Spouse Abuse

English and pidgin English, with English subtitles

Sizwe Bansi is Dead. 60 min. This film of Athol Fugard’s short play (done in collaboration with John Kani and Winston Ntshona). This is a live performance of the play, originally staged in 1974 at the Royal Court Theatre, London.
See also: Modern African drama ; File on Fugard ; A Sizwe Bansi workshop ; The township plays ; Drum ; Cry freedom ; In my country ; Bopha! = Arrest ; Mooi Street and other moves ; South Africa's racial past ; Beyond racism ; The making of a racist state ; Southern Africa, Black America ; Statements

South Africa

Drama – Blacks – Race relations – Apartheid

Sizwe Bansi Workshop. 1983, 43 min. South African actor-writers Athol Fugard, John Kani, and Winston Ntshona discuss and re-write the play “Sizwe Bansi is Dead.”
See also: Modern African drama ; File on Fugard ; Sizwe Bansi is Dead ; The township plays ; Drum ; Cry freedom ; In my country ; Bopha! = Arrest ; Mooi Street and other moves ; South Africa's racial past ; Beyond racism ; The making of a racist state ; Southern Africa, Black America ; Statements

South Africa

Apartheid – Blacks – Race relations – Drama – Fugard, Athol

Baptism on a Durban beach

Skin deep. A co-production of WGBH Boston and BBC. 1999, 60 min. Examines the fight against legal, institutionalized racism in the United States and South Africa.
See also: Skin deep(US) ; Skin deep: how race and complexion matter ; Skin deep: the truth about beauty aids ; A city divided ; Raymond Mhlaba's personal memoirs ; Apartheid: power and historical falsification ; Power!: Black workers, their unions ; Apartheid narratives ; Apartheid narratives ; Twelve disciples of Nelson Mandela

South Africa - United States

Apartheid - Civil rights - Anti-apartheid movements - Civil rights movements - Race relations - History

Skin deep

Solel Boneh overseas. Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive, Hebrew University - WZO, 1999. Produced by Ben Oyserman.
See also: Israel and Africa ; Israel, South Africa and black Africa ; Israel and black Africa ; Besieged bedfellows: Israel and the land of apartheid ; Strengthening ties ; La beauté de Cham ; Israel & South Africa ; Israel's changing policy ; Ephemera collection 11

Israel - Africa - Turkey

Construction industry - Relations

Somalia: the neglected civil war. Director, Seijun Hata. 2002, 49 min. Independent since 1960, Somalia has seen virtually constant political upheaval. Some eighty percent of the nation is under the power of guerillas and local warlords.
See also: Somalia: countering terrorism in a failed state ; Somalia: state collapse and the threat of terrorism ; Search for a new Somali identity ; Weapons and clan politics ; War clouds in the Horn of Africa ; Yesterday, tomorrow ; Whatever happened to Somalia? ; Removing barricades ; A modern history of Somalia ; Somalia: from the dawn of civilization to the modern times

Somalia

Social conflict - History - 21st century - Insurgency - Social aspects - Politics and government - Social conditions - Documentary films

English narration; some interviews with English subtitles

Africa in the 21st century

Sometimes in April. Producer, Daniel Delume; written and directed by Raoul Peck. 2005, 140 min. Based on the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, during which about 800,000 people were killed.
See also: A Republic Gone Mad: Rwanda 1894-1994 ; Hotel Rwanda ; 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

Genocide - Tutsi (African people) - Hutu (African people) - History - Civil War, 1994 - Drama

English with, English, French or Spanish subtitles

A son of Africa. Writer, Danny Padmore; producer, Hugh Williams; director, Alrick Riley. 1996, 28 min. A docudrama based on the book, The interesting narrative of the life of Oloudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vaasa the African, which was the first influential slave autobiography.
See also: Black people in Britain, 1555-1833 ; Black Atlantic writers of the eighteenth century ; Equiano, the African ; Olaudah Equiano and the Igbo world ; The trader, the owner, the slave ; Slave trade journals and papers ; A short account of the African slave trade ; Black imagination and the Middle Passage

Africa - Great Britain - United States

Slave trade - History - 18th century - Equiano, Olaudah, b. 1745 - Slaves - Biography Africans - Race relations - Documentary films

Equiano, Olaudah b. 1745 - Interesting narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano

Song of Africa. Produced by the South African company, African Films. Directed by Emil Nofal. 1951, 58 min. Musical Director: Charles Berman, et al. "This is a fantasy tale about a young Zulu who leaves his village to go to the city, falls in love with the new music he hears there, and returns home to form a Zulu jazz band."
See also: Music of South Africa ; Jazz, blues & swing ; Beyond the blues ; Jazz people of Cape Town ; Afro-American music, South Africa, and apartheid ; History of contemporary music of South Africa

South Africa

Zulu (African people) – Drama – Music – Jazz – African Americans – Popular music

SongoLoLo: Voices of Change. 1993, 54 min. Presents a cross-section of Black South African anti-apartheid culture. In their poetry, music, politics and social life, Blacks express their feelings against apartheid. Includes interviews with Black South African intellectuals.
See also: In township tonight! ; Black political thought ; Dilemmas of African intellectuals ; A good-looking corpse ; Drum magazine (1951-1961) ; A people's voice ; Black writers from South Africa

South Africa

Anti-apartheid movements – Blacks – Music - Intellectual life – Social conditions – Politics and government, 1978-1989

Dialogue in English and local languages with English subtitles

Voices of change

Songs of the Adventurers. David Coplan, narrator; Welcome Msomi, recitations in English; with Molefi Motsoahae and other reciters. Constant Springs Productions. 1987, 47 min. Depicts the poetic songs, known as difela, of Sotho migrant workers, who must go from their homes in Lesotho to work in the mines in the Republic of South Africa.
See also: In the time of cannibals ; The ethno-musicology of the Basotho ; An introduction to the music of the Basotho ; Music of Lesotho ; Sheshwe: sound of the mines ; Lesotho

South Africa – Lesotho

Sotho (African people) – Folk poetry – Folk music – Music – Social conditions

Songs of the Badius. Produced, directed, and narrated by Gei Zantzinger. Constant Springs Productions. 1986. 35 min. Depicts the dance music of the Kriolu people of Santiago Island in the Cape Verde Islands.
See also: Performing Africa ; Music in West Africa ; Les musiques du Cap-Vert ; African dance: sand, drum and Shostakovich ; Grenzenlos ; Aspectos político-sociais na música de Cabo Verde do século XX ; Aspectos evolutivos da música cabo-verdiana

Santiago (Cape Verde) – Säo Tiago Island

Kriolu (African people) – Folk songs – Documentary films – Folk dance music – Folk music – Portuguese music

English and Portuguese with English subtitles and voiceovers

The Sorious Samura collection: Cry Freetown, Exodus, Return to Freetown. Written and presented by Sorious Samura. London: Insight News Television. 2005, 134 min. Sorious Samura documents the civil war in Freetown during which thousands of children were abducted by a ruthless rebel leader and forced to become soldiers.
See also: Bite of the mango ; A child's century of war ; Juvenile justice and children in armed conflict ; Casualties of war ; Re-examining voluntarism ; Africa's young soldiers ; A lost generation

Freetown (Sierra Leone)

Immigrants - Europe - Economic conditions - Boy soldiers - Child abuse - Children and war - History, 1961- Emigration and immigration - Civil War, 1991-

The soul eaters. A Witness production; writen and produced by Stephanie Lucas.  2001, 7 min. Examines the challenges facing women in Western Africa, who are held responsible for unexplained deaths in their communities, and are accused of engaging in witchcraft and sorcery.
See also: Prix des épouses, valeur des sœurs ; Enfants et femmes vivant dans des circonstances particulièrement difficiles ; Formation et intégration socio-économique des femmes ; Traditions et modernité au Burkina-Faso

Burkina Faso

Women - Social life and customs

South Africa: The Apartheid Years. 1998, 196 min. Four video documentaries by Peter Davis about the Apartheid era in South Africa.
See also: A history of the ANC ; A South African farm ; South Africa 1990: The Year of Change ; Justifying oppression ; South Africa Belongs to Us

South Africa

Documentary films – Apartheid – History – Race relations – Nationalism – Afrikaners – Mandela, Nelson – Mandela, Winnie

White laager – Generations of resistance – Winnie Mandela under Apartheid – Remember Mandela!

South Africa Belongs to Us. Chris Austin. 1980, 35 min. This intimate portrait of five typical black South African women reveals the dehumanizing reality of life under apartheid.
See also: A history of the ANC ; South Africa: The Apartheid Years ; A South African farm ; South Africa 1990: The Year of Change ; Justifying oppression

South Africa

Black women – Social conditions – Apartheid – Race relations – Apartheid

South Africa: beyond a miracle. Co-producers, John Michalczyk, Paul Goudreau; scriptwriter/interviewer, Clark Booth. 2005, 55 min. This video chronicles the evolution of South Africa from the tragic years of apartheid to the release of Nelson Mandela and to the efforts today to build a strong democracy.
See also: Other lives ; Walter & Albertina Sisulu ; Raymond Mhlaba's personal memoirs ; Justifying oppression ; The rise, fall, and legacy of apartheid ; Anti-apartheid and the emergence of a global civil society

South Africa

Apartheid - History - Politics and government - Race relations - Economic conditions - Documentary films

South Africa 1990: The Year of Change. 1991, 37 min. A Broadcast International Production.
See also: A history of the ANC ; South Africa: The Apartheid Years ; A South African farm ; Justifying oppression ; South Africa Belongs to Us

South Africa

Documentary films – Race relations – Politics and government, 1978-1989

South Africa, The Nuclear File. Produced by Peter Davis of Villon Films, 55 min. How South Africa acquired nuclear capability with help from Western friends.
See also: Why do states want nuclear weapons? ; The nuclear debate ; South Africa's nuclear capability ; South Africa's future defense and security ; The history of South Africa

South Africa

Nuclear weapons – Nuclear testing

South Africa: The Wasted Land. 1990, 52 min. Documentary portrait of South Africa presents the waste of a land and people struggling against toxic wastes, asbestos poisoning, and air pollution.
See also: Going green ; A socio-economic atlas ; Black migration to the PWV complex ; Poverty and inequality ; Back to earth ; The rise of conservation ; South African environments into the 21st century ; Natures of colonial change

South Africa

Economic conditions – Race relations – Apartheid

A South African farm. Written, directed and edited by Paul Laufer. Documentary Educational Resources. 1983, 56 min. After a five-year absence from South Africa, filmmaker Paul Laufer returned to his country to film a microcosm of a society in turmoil.
See also: Bopha! Arrest ; Homes apart ; Hot wax ; Justifying oppression ; On tiptoe ; A study of racial oppression ; Last grave at Dimbaza ; South Africa Belongs to Us ; Frontier family

South Africa

Documentary Films - Agriculture - Apartheid

South African propaganda films of the Apartheid era. Selection II. Distributed by Villon Films. 2004, 61 min. The African National Congress as Communist-inspired corrupters of black youth in South Africa.
See also: Selection III ; Selection V ; Selection VI ; Selection VII ; Selection VIII ; Selection IX ; South Africa Belongs to Us ; A history of the ANC ; South Africa: The Apartheid Years ; A South African farm ; South Africa 1990: The Year of Change ; Justifying oppression

South African

African National Congress - Propaganda - Motion pictures in propaganda - Apartheid - Race relations

Soweto green. Produced by Carl Fischer and Richard Green; directed by David Lister. 2000, 100 min. Dr. Curtis Tshabalala, a South African expatriate living in Beverly Hills with his American wife Cora returns to his Soweto homeland with hopes of planting trees and dreams of a utopian South Africa.
See also: Western civilization and the natives of South Africa ; Tradition and transition ; Methods of study of culture contact in Africa ; South Africa: a modern history ; An African-American in South Africa ; South Africa in the American mind

Soweto (South Africa)

Acculturation - Drama - African Americans

Sowing in tears: a Christian response to HIV/AIDS of the Diocese of Tzaneen, South Africa.  A Metanoia Media production; produced and directed by Norman Servais. [South Africa] 2007, 57 min. Bishop Hugh Slattery, the Bishop of Tzaneen, speaks about the challenges involved in fighting HIV/AIDS in his diocese.
See also: State of denial ; Conversations ; A situational analysis of orphans and vulnerable children ; Multiple vulnerabilities ; Who will care for the children? ; AIDS: a Christian response ; Nkosi's story

Tzaneen (South Africa)

AIDS (Disease) - Home care - Orphans - Children of AIDS patients - HIV-positive persons - Church work with the sick - Catholic Church - Religious aspects

English and an undetermined language with English subtitles

Sowing seeds of hunger. Produced & directed by James Heer. 2002, 27 min. Part of a series examining the issue of globalization and its effect on ordinary people around the world. This segment looks at the AIDS epidemic in Zambia and other sub-Saharan African nations which has crippled the agricultural community, forcing children to undertake the responsibilities of farming.
Series: Life. Series 3
See also: Findings of the orphans and vulnerable children ; Forgotten children ; Orphan programming in Zambia ; We can tell them ; Zambia's orphans and vulnerable children ; Africa's orphaned generations

Africa, Sub-Saharan - Zambia

Children of AIDS patients - Orphans, Services for - Agriculture - Economic aspects - Social aspects - Family farms - Globalization

English and African languages with English voiceovers

Speaking of Nairobi: forum '85: a world meeting for women. Director and commentator, Tina Horne; producers, Signe Johansson and Barbara Janes. 1986, 56 min. 17,000 women gathered in Nairobi in July 1985 for the official conference concluding the United Nation’s Decade for Women and the unofficial conference, "Forum ’85".
See also: Seminar on the Participation of Women in the Economic Life ; The status of women ; Progress and obstacles ; African women's perspectives and expectations ; "Bringing Beijing to Malawi"

Kenya

World Conference to Review and Appraise the Achievements of the United Nations Decade for Women (1985: Nairobi, Kenya) - International Women’s Decade, 1976-1985 - Economic conditions - Congresses - Social conditions - Women’s rights - Feminism - Developing countries

Speaking out: women, AIDS, and hope. Produced and directed by Joanne Burke. 2002, 56 min. Profiles an HIV and AIDS support project in Bamako.
Series: New directions
See also: Women's health ;Sexual decision-making and AIDS in Africa ; Women and HIV/AIDS ; Gender and HIV/AIDS in Africa ; HIV/AIDS, gender, and rural livelihoods ; Health and hope in our hands ; A holistic approach to HIV and AIDS in Africa

Bamako (Mali)

AIDS (Disease) in women - Health and hygiene - Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome - HIV Infections - Social Work - Documentary films

Dialogue in French with English subtitles.

Women, AIDS, and hope in Mali

Speaking with God: a Mossi baga diviner in Burkina Faso. Produced, edited and narrated by Christopher D. Roy. 2006, 25 min. This spectacular video, filmed in Burkina Faso in 2005 and 2006, shows an elderly diviner called a baga, who wears a complex costume as he speaks with God.
See also: L'intérieur des choses ; Man and his vision ; Les savoirs locaux ; Sorciers, féticheurs et guérisseurs

Burkina Faso

Divination - Dablo - Mossi (African people) - Religion - Religious life and customs - Documentary

Narration in English; dialogue and ceremonies in Mooré with some English subtitles

The spectre of hope. A Minerva Pictures production in association with Amazonas Images. 2001, 52 min. Noted Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado and art critic John Berger pore over Salgado’s photographic collection "Migrations," six years and 43 countries in the making.
See also: Globalisation, enterprise and knowledge ; Rethinking Freire ; The Somali diaspora ; Africa: the holocausts of Rwanda and Sudan ; From Rhodesia back to Zimbabwe ; Forgotten war ; As they came in Africa ; Migrations, development, and urbanization policies ; The Migration experience in Africa

Africa - Asia - Eastern Europe - Latin America

Salgado, Sebastião, 1944- Migrations - Refugees - Pictorial works - Documentary photography - Social aspects - Globalization - Developing countries

The speeches of Nelson Mandela. 1995, 70 min. A demonstration of Mandela's oratory prowess in the course of his long political career.
See also: Nelson Mandela, speeches 1990 ; No easy walk to freedom ; The struggle is my life ; The speeches collection ; The age of hope ; Red on black ; The struggle for South Africa ; Twentieth-century South Africa

South Africa

Mandela, Nelson, 1918 - Politics and government - 20th century - Race relations

Sphere project: an introduction to humanitarian challenges. Produced by Nan Buzard, Daniel Farhi; directed and edited by Daniel Farhi. 2003, 42 min. This film outlines some of the key issues of humanitarianism that confront and challenge those who are committed to alleviating the suffering of populations affected by disaster.
See also: Humanitarian action and human rights in Africa ; Humanitarian emergencies ; Frontline diplomacy ; Impossible missions? ; Humanitarian assistance during conflict in a state-less society ; Not breaking the rules, not playing the game

Sierra Leone - Guinea

Humanitarian assistance - Emergency management - Disaster relief - Documentary films

English, French, and Spanish versions

A spirit here today: a scrapbook of Chopi village music. Producer/director, Gei Zantzinger; writers, Michael Bailey, Gei Zantzinger, Andrew Tracey. 1998, 44 min. Presents parts from the 1973 film documenting a performance of music and dance in a Chopi village in Mozambique with a 1992 update on the Chopis.
See also: The Chopi timbila dance ; Banguza Timbila ; A companion to the films ; Chopi musicians ; A spirit here today ; Music from Mozambique ; The 1973 Mgodo wa Mkandeni ; The 1973 Mgodo wa Mbanguzi ; Chopi, Moc̜ambique

Mozambique

Chopi (African people) - Music - Dance

English and Chopi, with English subtitles

Scrapbook of Chopi village music

Spirits of defiance: the Mangbetu people of Zaire. Producer/director, Jeremy Marre. 1989, 59 min. Depicts the life of the Mangbetu people in areas such as hunting, smelting, growing crops, and making tools.
See also: Forest music ; Mangbetu-Zaire ; Histoire des Mangbetu et des Matshaga ; A history of art in Africa ; The history of Congo ; Congo: a brief history and appraisal

Zaire - Congo (Democratic Republic)

Mangbetu (African people) - Music - Songs, Mangbetu - Documentary films

Mangbetu people of Zaire - Under the sun (Television program)

Stage-shakers!: Ghana's concert party theatre. Presented by Kwame Braun and Indiana University Press; written, videotaped, and edited by Kwame Braun. 2001, 104 min. Documents Ghana’s concert party theatre.
See also: Ghana's concert party theatre ; Critical theory and performance ; Us/them ; Theater in Ghana ; Come to laugh ; Issues in African theatre ; Nkyin-kyin: essays on the ghanaian theatre ; Theatre in Africa

Ghana

Performing arts - History - 20th century - Traveling theater - Documentary films

English, Twi, and other African languages, with English subtitles.

State of denial. Directed & produced by Elaine Epstein. 2003, 83 min. Illustrates how South Africans must fight not only the disease but the drug cartels and the inactivity of their own government to get treatment for HIV/AIDS infection.
See also: Sowing in tears ; Conversations ; Khabzela ; Yesterday ; Aidsafari ; AIDS: a Christian response

South Africa

AIDS (Disease) - Treatment - Costs - Patients - HIV-positive persons - Medical care

English, Sotho and Zulu with English subtitles; closed captioned in English.

The state visit to Africa of His Excellency the President of Israel and Mrs. Ben-Zvi: July 29th - August 7th 1962. Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archives. 1992, 14 min.
See also: Land of Legends ; Israel and Africa ; Africa and Israel ; Israel and black Africa ; Israel and Africa: forty years, 1956-1996 ; A journey of brotherhood

Israel - Liberia - Congo (Brazzaville) - Africa, Central

Ben-Zvi, Itzhak, 1884-1963 - Ben-Zvi, Rael Yanait, 1886-1979 - Foreign relations

Steps for the Future. Produced by Don Edkins. 2002. 25 videocassettes. This unique collaboration between filmmakers from Southern Africa and broadcasters from the Northern countries looks at how individuals are coping and societies changing under the impact of HIV/AIDS.
See also: Sowing in tears ; Conversations ; Khabzela ; Yesterday ; Aidsafari ; AIDS: a Christian response ; Journeys of faith ; AIDS and STDs in Africa ; Vive e ajuda a viver ; Impacto demográfico do HIV/SIDA em Moçambique ; Experience and responses ; Joining hands ; Turning a crisis into an opportunity

Angola – Lesotho – Mozambique – Namibia – South Africa – Zambia – Zimbabwe – South Africa

HIV infections – Short films AIDS (Disease) – Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

English and multiple African languages with English subtitles

Strange Beliefs. Written and produced by Bruce Dakowski. 1990, 52 min. Sir Edward Evans-Pritchard was the first trained anthropologist to do work in Africa, where he lived among the Azande and studied their belief in witchcraft.
See also: Witchcraft among the Azande ; Essays in social anthropology ; La superstizione Zande ; The logic of African science and witchcraft ; Witchcraft, oracles, and magic among the Azande

Sudan – Congo (Democratic Republic) – Central African Republic

Zande (African people) – Azande (African people) – Religion –Anthropology – History – Evans-Pritchard, E.E. – Documentary films

English; some dialogue in Zande with English subtitles

Struggle for shelter. Director, Ben Cashdan. 2000, 34 min. Includes a debate between anti-apartheid activist Professor Fatima Meer and ANC parliamentarian Trevor Bonhomme about housing policies.
See also: Squatters, violence ; The Durban housing survey ; Durban: a study in racial ecology ; From shantytown to township ; The dilemmas of community development ; The poors of Chatsworth ; Insiders and outsiders ; Durban: les Indiens, leurs territoires, leur identité

Durban (South Africa)

Housing - Poor - Social conditions, 1994- -Documentary films

Chatsworth: struggle for shelter

Story of a beautiful country. Written and directed by Khalo Matabane; produced by Don Edkins. B 2004, 73 min. The passengers of filmmaker Khalo Matabane talk about their feelings and impressions of South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994 while traveling through the nine provinces of South Africa in a minibus taxi.
See also: How beautiful this place can be ; End of part one ; Desire lines ; Belonging ; Notes from a fractured country ; "Not the democracy we struggled for" ; Umgidi ; Domestic differences

South Africa

Documentary - Social conditions, 1994-

Sudan: the harsher face of Islam. Produced by Journeyman Pictures. 2000, 44 min. Describes the suffering and cruelty of the civil war in Sudan, focusing on how Dinka woman and children are being abducted by militiamen in the south and sold as slaves to their Arabic enemies in northern Sudan.
See also: Slavery and Muslim society in Africa ; War and slavery in Sudan ; The human commodity ; Black Ivory ; Human security in Sudan ; Escape from slavery ; Sudan's civil war ; Sudan's blood memory

Sudan

Dinka (African people) - Slavery - Slave trade - Documentary films - Social conditions, 1973-

Sudan: slipping back in time - Harsher face of Islam