Africa on screen

Wulu

Image by Wulu

South Africa, Nollywood and migration almost steal the show at this year’s Film Africa (28 October-6 November) – but this year’s festival is bigger than that, with more than 50 titles from 22 countries.

Nevertheless, it opens with a South African feature - Kalushi: The Story of Solomon Mahlangu – that is noteworthy not simply because of his importance in the anti-apartheid struggle or the film’s sweeping cinematography, because, as the publicity says, “South Africans are finally able to watch an anti-apartheid story brought to the screen by a black filmmaker, and told wholly from the black perspective”. 

Mahlangu missed the June 1976 Soweto protest, which is marked in a powerful double-bill: Soweto, Times of Wrath and Sarafina! In the former, six young filmmakers look at anger and frustration in the township today. In the latter, an inspirational teacher (Whoopi Goldberg) at the time of the protest has an impact on all her pupils, but particularly on one of them.

Like the London Film Festival that preceded it, Film Africa’s programme is presented as “strands”, to help punters find their way round the plethora of films. The “flagship” strand is migration, consisting of four documentaries and two features.

It’s hard to single one out because I haven’t seen them, but Those Who Jump looks interesting: a Malian refugee films his experiences, “capturing the heartbreak, humour and boredom of camp life as he and hundreds of other refugees await the next ‘jump’”.

Film Africa festival producer Rachael Loughlan says she’s championing To The Forest of Clouds, in which the director films his Belgian family’s visit to the parent’s country of origin, Ivory Coast .

The Nollywood Nights strand (“tales of love, deception and gender equality”) and the three music documentaries will fill seats (“the Nigerian diaspora are active and easy to find,” points out Loughlan. Similarly, “whenever there’s an Ethiopian film [Roaring Abyss, Shashamane, Asmarina] it’s booked up”.

Documentaries include Hissein Habre: A Chadian Tragedy, based on interviews with survivors; a Ugandan transgender story; and Gurumbe: Afro-Andalusian Memories.

And if you just want a good story, there are films such as A United Kingdom, an epic (and true – well, based on truth) love story between a London office worker and Seretse Khama, who became first president of Botswana and one of whose sons is today’s president. It’s an exciting, big screen tear-jerker and, incidentally, is an antidote to those who want to rewrite history to show that the British were benevolent paternalists who wanted the best for their colonial charges.

Many of the festival screenings are followed by Q&As, and in a few cases, live music. There’s an industry forum, workshops, a family day and an education programme. You’ll surely find something of interest.

* Film Africa runs from 28 October-6 November. Info: http://www.filmafrica.org.uk/