Portal:African cinema/Selected anniversaries

Selected anniversaries list

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Connie Furgeson

Heart of the Hunter a South African thriller based on the novel by the same name by South African writer Deon Meyer premiered on 29th March on Netflix. Within its first week it took the #1 spot in Netflix’s global ranking. Directed by Mandlakayise Dube of Silverton Siege and starring Bonko Khoza, Connie Furgeson, and Masasa Mbangeni the film is set in post democratic South Africa and follows one man’s mission to thwart a corrupt politician’s bid for the presidential seat.

April 18 is Zimbabwe’s National Independence Day. Check out Neria 21 (2024), a film directed by Trust Sayi and recently released in its entirety on YouTube. The drama is a remake of the classic Zimbabwean film Neria (1994) based on the eponymous novel by Tsitsi Dangarembga and directed by Godwin Mawuru. It became the highest-grossing film in Zimbabwean history.

The Festival Films Femmes d’Afrique takes place April 26-May 4 in Dakar and in various regions of Senegal from May 5-10. Established in 2013, the festival celebrates films that document the stories of African women. Films in competition this year include Banal et Adama by Ramata Toulaye Sy, Twenty Years Later by Moussa Touré, and Big Little Women, a documentary by Nadia Fares.

The Nollywood Centre at the Pan-Atlantic University’s School of Media and Communications Studies is hosting a “Film Financing in the Nigerian Film Industry: Opportunities, Challenges and Prospects” on April 20 in Lagos. Attendance is free but registration is required.

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Gina Yashere

The Africa Film Academy, the organizers of the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) has opened a call for submissions ahead of its 20th edition. Submissions end in April, 2024.

Real Estate Sisters, Netflix’s South African comedy premiered on the country’s Freedom Day, April 27, and two days ahead of its general elections. Produced by Zoe Ramushu, the series features Galaletsang Koffman and Leera Mthethwa as sister real estate business partners aiming to go upmarket from the township of Atteridgeville to the suburb Waterkloof.

Bob Hearts Abishola (stylized as BOB ❤️ ABISHOLA)  an American television sitcom is having its series finale May 17 after 5 seasons. The show was conceived by producer Chuck Lorre who was inspired to showcase the lives and  contributions of immigrants in the United States. His co-creator includes  British Nigerian comedian and actress Gina Yashere and stars Billy Gardell and Folake Olowofoyeku as the respective titular characters, in addition to Shola Adewusi, Barry Shabaka, Bayo Akinfemi, Anthony Okungbowa, Saidah Arrika Ekulona, and Yashere in supporting roles.

Seven films from African filmmakers were selected to screen at the 77th edition of the Cannes Festival taking place May 14-25. These include works by Somalian-born Mo Harawe (The Village Next to Paradise), Egyptian filmmakers Nada Riyadh and Ayman El Amir (The Brink of Dreams), French-Moroccan screenwriter, director, and producer, Hamich Benlarbi (La Mer Au Loin/ Across the Sea), French-Algerian filmmaker Emma Benestan (Animale), Zambian-Welsh director and screenwriter Rungano Nyoni (On Becoming a Guinea Fowl), Egyptian artist and film director Hala Elkoussy (East Noon), and Franco-Moroccan director, Nabil Ayouch (Everybody Loves Touda).

This Year’s Cannes Film Festival includes a number of African Jury Members for its various sections:French-Senegalese filmmaker Maïmouna Doucouré (Un Certain Regard), Moroccan filmmaker and producer Asmae El Moudir (Un Certain Regard), Belgian-Moroccan actress Lubna Azabal (Cinéfondation and Short Films Competition), Belgian-Congolese singer and filmmaker Baloji (Caméra d'Or), Dyana Gaye, French-Senegalese filmmaker (L'Œil d'Or), and Eliane Umuhire,Rwandan actress (Critics’ Week),

The biopic of Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, directed by Bolanle Austen-Peters and starring Joke Silva, Kehinde Bankole, and is set to premiere in Nigerian cinemas nationwide on May 17. The film chronicles the life of the Nigerian educator, political campaigner, suffragist, and women's rights activist and the mother of the Afrobeat legend, Fela Kuti.

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Portal:African cinema/Selected_anniversaries/41

Week 41

Timbuktu, released on December 10, 2014, was ranked as the 12th best film of the 21st century so far by the New York Times in 2017.

Tsotsi, released on December 23, 2005 won the 2006 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

16 December 2021, A Naija Christmas was released on Netflix.

18 December 2015, Oxford Gardens premiered in Nigeria.

18 December 2015, Nigerian romantic drama film, Fifty, was released.

24 December 2021, Christmas in Miami was released.

25 December 2020, Omo Ghetto: The Saga was released.

29 December 2021, Superstar was released by Inkblot Productions.

29 December 2018, Wives On Strike: The Revolution was released in cinemas.

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Elesin Oba, The King's Horseman premieres in Nigerian cinemas on 28 October and on Netflix 4 November. The historical drama is the screen adaptation by Biyi Bandele of Wole Soyinka's Death and the King's Horseman, a stage play he wrote during his political exile from Nigeria. The story is based on a real incident that took place in Nigeria during British Colonial rule.

Lusala, a 2019 Kenyan drama is being released on Netflix on 4 November. The story is of a young man adopted by an affluent Nairobi family a decade ago who is forced to leave home and start on his own and is Mugambi Nthiga's directorial debut. The film was co-written by Silas Miami of Supa Moda and Wanjeri Gakuru and Oprah Oyugi creators of the 2021 Netflix drama series Country Queen.

Paranormal is an Egyptian supernatural-horror drama streaming television series based on Ahmed Khaled Tawfik's best-selling supernatural book series Ma Waraa Al Tabiaa premiered on Netflix on November 5, 2020. The paranormal is the streamer's first original Egyptian Arabic-language series and the first to reach the its global top 10 ranking.

Algeria celebrates the Anniversary of the Revolution 1 November . Watch Outside the Law a 2010 dramatic film directed by Rachid Bouchareb. The story takes place between 1945 and 1962, and focuses on the lives of three Algerian brothers in France, set against the backdrop of the Algerian independence movement and the Algerian War. The film represented Algeria at the 83rd Academy Awards, where it was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film.

Film Africa (28 October - 6 November) is a festival presented by the Royal Africa Society celebrating contemporary African cinema in the UK.

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Maryam Touzani

Africa International Film Festival (6 - 12 November) is an annual festival that takes places in Lagos, Nigeria. The 11th edition will screen over 50 movies, including the African premier of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (starring Lupita Nyong'o) and Nikyatu Jusu’s Nanny, winner of the 2022 Sundance Grand Jury Prize, and starring Anna Diop. The festival's programming also includes masterclasses given by directors Ryan Coogler and Nikyatu Jusu and scriptwriter Tunde Babalola.

Marrakech International Film Festival (11-19 November) After a 2-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the 19th edition of Morocco's biggest film festival is back with a star-studded jury that includes Paolo Sorrentino Susanne Bier, Oscar Isaac, Vanessa Kirby, Diane Kruger, Justin Kurzel, Nadine Labaki, Laïla Marrakchi, and Tahar Rahim.  14 films are in competition including Maryam Touzani's The Blue Caftan, Morocco’s submission for consideration in the 2023 Oscar’s Best International Feature Film category.

Angola Independence Day is celebrated 11 November. Check out Sambizanga, a 1972 film by director Sarah Maldoror. Set in 1961 at the onset of the Angolan War of Independence, it follows the struggles of Angolan militants involved with the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), an anti-colonial political movement.  In 2012, the Guardian’s film critic  listed Sambizanga as one of the 10 best classic African films.

Wild is the Wind is a South African crime drama that premiered on Netflix October 28th. The film depicts the corruption and racism in the South African judicial system through the investigation of the murder of an Afrikaner girl by two corrupt policemen played by Mothusi Magano and Frank Rautenbach. It ranked in the streamer's Global Top 10 within the first week of its release.

Elesin Oba,The King's Horseman is the screen adaptation by Biyi Bandele of Wole Soyinka's Death and the King's Horseman, a stage play he wrote during his political exile from Nigeria. The story is based on a real incident that took place in Nigeria during British Colonial rule. The film premiered in Nigerian cinemas on 28 October and on Netflix 4 November.

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Reyka, the award-winning South African crime thriller series is up for two awards at the November 21st International Emmy Award ceremony: Best Drama and Best Performance by an Actress for Kim Engelbrecht.

Nafsi, the 2021 Kenyan drama starring Mumbi Maina and Catherine Kamau about a friendship put in jeopardy when a mutual agreement surrounding surrogacy goes south, is now available on Netflix.

Anna Diop

The Blue Caftan clinches The Jury Prize at the Marrakech International Film Festival. Maryam Touzani’s drama involving a closeted gay tailor, his dying wife and his apprentice, is Morocco’s submission to the 95th Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film.

Nanny is a 2022 American horror fable written and directed by American-Sierra Leonean Nikyatu Jusu. Starring American-Senegalese Anna Diop, the film offers a unique twist on the American immigrant experience filtered through the lens of African superstitions and folklore. It won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance has a theatrical release on 23 November prior to streaming on Prime Video in December.

The 44th edition of the Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) (Arabic: مهرجان القاهرة السينمائي الدولي) runs 13-22 November. Held annually in the Cairo Opera House, CIFF is one of only 15 Festivals with a category "A" status by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations. It is the oldest and only internationally accredited cultural feature film festival in the Arab World, Africa and the Middle East.

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Alice Diop, director of Saint Omer

Rwandan filmmaker Anisia Uzeyman secured a 2022 Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Cinematography for her film Neptune Frost, an Afrofuturist romantic musical taking place in Burundi, and which she co-directed with Saul Williams.

Jahmil X.T. Qubeka’s 2013 South African thriller Of Good Report received its long overdue premiere at the Africa Rising International Film Festival (ARIFF) in Johannesburg on 24 November. It was banned on the day it was to open the 34th Durban International Film Festival in July 2013. The film went on to win Best Film at the 2014 Africa Movie Academy Awards. Now available on Netflix.

Saint Omer, a French legal drama film directed by French-Senegalese Alice Diop premiered in French cinemas on 23 November. Based on the true story of a Senegalese woman accused of murdering her 15-month-old child, the film won the Silver Lion Grand Jury prize at the 79th Venice International Film Festival and is the French entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards.

Central African Republic celebrates its Independence Day 1 December. The Silence of the Forest, a 2003 Central African Republic drama directed by Bassek Ba Kobhio and Didier Ouenangare, is the first ever CAR produced feature film. The story centers around 'pygmies' or more properly known as BaAka, and the racism they encountered by other Africans. It received critical acclaim and was screened at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival, the only African film to do so that year.

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