Portal:African cinema/Selected film
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Dahomey is a 2024 documentary film directed by French-Senegalese filmmaker, Mati Diop and winner of the 2024 Golden Bear Award, the highest prize awarded at the Berlin International Film Festival. It was also nominated for the Berlinale Documentary Film Award. An international co-production (France, Senegal and Benin) the film explores the return of 26 royal treasures of the Kingdom of Dahomey to present-day Benin. The artifacts were looted during French colonial rule and were previously on display in a Parisian museum before being repatriated.
The film uses a blend of fact and fiction to tell the story and emphasizes the symbolic value of the artifacts to the Kingdom of Dahomey. The film includes a discussion by students at the University of Abomey-Calavi, presenting their views on the repatriation of cultural assets. Some of the students criticize the Paris museum for returning only 26 of the 7,000 worldwide ethnographic objects it holds.
In her acceptance speech Diop said “To rebuild we must first restore, and to restitute we must do justice..We are among those who refuse to forget”. The film is scheduled for theatrical release in France on 25 September 2024..
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Mami Wata is a 2023 black-and-white fantasy thriller written and directed by C.J. “Fiery” Obasi. The film premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival making it Obasi’s third film to screen at Sundance and where its cinematographer Lílis Soares won the Special Jury Prize in the World Dramatic Competition. In an interview with CNN, Obasi stated he "wanted to make a hyper-stylised film" with its style rooted in substance, taking inspiration from his favourite filmmakers such as Akira Kurosawa and David Lynch. The characters Prisca and Zinwe were inspired by Obasi's late sisters.
The film was listed as the Nigerian entry for Best Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards and its accolades include nominations for Best International Film at the Independent Spirit Awards and Outstanding International Motion Picture at the NAACP Image Awards in addition to three wins at the 2023 FESPACO festival including for best cinematography and set design. Cast members include Evelyne Ily Juhen, Uzoamaka Aniunoh, Kelechi Udegbe and Emeka Amakeze. The film received praise for its cinematography, depth of narration and the infusion of folklore with socio-political commentary. It holds a perfect 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
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Elesin Oba, The King's Horseman is a 2022 Yoruba historical drama film directed by Biyi Bandele based on Wole Soyinka's Death and the King's Horseman, a stage play he wrote while in Cambridge, where he was a fellow at Churchill College during his political exile from Nigeria, and is based on a real incident that took place in Yorubaland during British Colonial rule. The screenplay was translated into Yorùbá and the film subsequently subtitled into English by Nigerian linguist Kola Tubosun, a decision described as "one of [the film's] more ticklish conceits" and “the only way to make the film immediately accessible to a global audience.” The film is a co-production between Netflix and Ebonylife TV Studio. The movie premiered at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on 9 September 2022, the first the first Yoruba-language film to premiere at TIFF, and was released in Nigerian cinemas on 28 October 2022 followed by a Netflix release on 4 November.
It is Soyinka's first work to be made into a motion picture since the 1970s film Kongi's Harvest directed by Ossie Davies.
The film is set in the 1940s Oyo Town in southwestern Nigeria. The king has just died, and as tradition demands Elesin Oba, the King's horseman, must perform ritual suicide in order to join his deceased king in the afterlife so that the king may gain unhindered passage into the land of the gods, thus preventing calamity from befalling the community. Elesin Oba's sexual appetites cause him to shirk in his duty, which leads to a lethal confrontation with the British and with devastating consequences. When the horseman is unable to fulfill his final obligation to the king, his ghost wanders the earth, spelling calamity for the land and its people
The film stars Odunlade Adekola as the titular character, with Shaffy Bello, Brymo, Deyemi Okanlawon, Omowunmi Dada, Jide Kosoko, Langley Kirkwood, Joke Silva amongst others in supporting roles. Read More.
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