The Best African Films of 2023
It was a big year for African directors making history with their films – many of them debut films, at that. Here are our top ten of the best ones from over the past 12 months.
The most moving of films from the past year dug deep into relationships – with family members, with lovers, with friends and enemies, with ancestors. From Asmae El Moudir’s The Mother of All Lies and Alain Kassanda’s Colette and Justin, which both see the filmmakers interview their parents to gain a greater understanding of a period in their country’s history, to Sira and Banel & Adama, which portray the vastly different ways a woman’s love can give her strength. This year more than built on the spoils of 2022; it gave us so many memorable encounters with names we can’t wait to see more from in the near future.
Interactions with myth, legend, curse and blessing gave us the thrilling Mami Wata, the kaleidoscopic Augure (Omen), and the poignant Milisuthando. With each film, the African directors on this list sought to open up their minds and show us their hearts. And in doing so, each one allows us the opportunity to expand what we know about ourselves and each other.
Here are our top ten films of the year, in no particular order:
'Augere (Omen)' – Baloji
For years, Baloji had been trying to show the world what he can do with a script and a camera if given half the chance. The release of his debut feature film, Augere (Omen), cemented his cinematic abilities – so much so that he won the New Voice Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, where the film premiered in the Un Certain Regard program in May. Bold set design and swirling visuals combined to bring his artistic vision, previously channeled into music and painting, to the big screen. The film, which tells the intertwined stories of four Congolese people who are each accused of sorcery and witchcraft, includes an audacious cameo by singer Bongeziwe Mabandla, and a recently-released soundtrack of songs.
'Banel & Adama' – Ramata-Toulaye Sy
French Senegalese filmmaker Ramata-Toulaye Sy wrote her name into film history as the first director to enter the main competition of the Cannes Film Festival with her debut feature. She may not have won the top prize, the Palme d’Or, but she for sure won over audiences there – and everywhere else the film has screened since. And for good reason. Set in a remote Senegalese village, Banel & Adama follows a couple whose love colors their world in luscious shades and rich tones. For them, nothing exists outside the bubble of their relationship. But when Adama forgoes being chief, everything turns dry and barren, and he must decide whether to fulfill his duty to his village or to his Banel.
'Colette and Justin' – Alain Kassanda
“How do you make a film from the oppressor’s archives?” asks Alain Kassandra, the Kinshasa-born Paris-bred director. Through Colette and Justin, he shows us his best attempt at that, using black and white archival footage to reclaim the story of how the Democratic Republic of the Congo came to be. The film is a fascinating watch, as Kassanda interviews his grandparents – and in doing so, unravels their role in the country’s early history, revealing some secrets about his grandfather along the way. It’s both poetic and absorbing, as Kassanda shares with us what his dual identity means to him.
'Goodbye Julia' – Mohamed Kordofani
You know you’ve made something moving and impactful when Lupita Nyong’o comes on board as an executive producer, which is what happened with Goodbye Julia. Mohamed Kordofani has earned much praise for his debut feature (he used to be an engineer!), which was the first Sudanese film to play Cannes, where it won the inaugural Freedom Prize. But above the good words that are being said about it is the warm, engaging approach he’s taken in the film. Set in the leadup to South Sudan’s secession, Goodbye Julia revolves around two women who are brought together by a series of lies. Kordofani brings a tender hand to sharing his own understanding of the class, social and racial divide between Arab Africans and Black Africans in his country.
'Mami Wata' – C.J. ‘Fiery’ Obasi
2023 has been a thrilling ride for C.J. ‘Fiery’ Obasi. The Nigerian filmmaker stunned early viewers of his black and white fable-noir at the Sundance Film Festival, where Mami Wata won a Special Jury Award for Best Cinematography. Working with cinematographer Lílis Soares, Obasi lured us into the world of the water deity, Mami Wata, with Rita Edochie as the mythical being’s interpreter and our defacto guide. More accolades followed at Fespaco and the Africa Movie Academy Awards, and Mami Wata has been selected as Nigeria’s official submission to the Oscars best international feature film category. The stand-out film continues to play around the world, even if its home screenings didn’t go quite as well.
'Milisuthando' – Milisuthando Bongela
Milisuthando is one of those films that you can’t stop thinking about, even months after seeing it. A documentary in five parts, the South African filmmaker took eight years to figure out what she wanted to say about her life growing up in a former homeland created out of apartheid – and how. As we wrote when we spoke to her in January, the doc is more than just a strikingly honest and exquisitely crafted look into parts of one person’s life; it’s the chance for other South Africans – and indeed other humans born into the unequal systems that operate in this world – to be in dialogue with where we come from and who we come from, and how an honest contemplation of this is necessary to inform a future that is truly more inclusive and loving and kind.
'The Mother of All Lies' – Asmae El Moudir
The word inventive may get used a lot when describing The Mother of All Lies, but it truly fits. Asmae El Moudir recreates her family’s neighborhood in Casablanca with her mason father, who carefully, painstakingly, builds all the houses and people in miniature mode. The Moroccan filmmaker uses this to coax out of her parents and neighbors information about what happened during the 1981 Bread Riots in Casablanca, a protest over food that was violently quelled by the government with very little tangible, photographic evidence left behind. The film recently became the first Moroccan film to win the top prize at the Marrakech Film Festival – another testimony to its vitality.
'Four Daughters' – Kaouther Ben Hania
At first, Kaouther Ben Hania’s followup to her Oscar-nominated The Man Who Sold His Skin can seem a bit of an uncomfortable watch, as we witness actresses play real-life disturbing scenes that took place within this Tunisian family. But the director uses these dramatic elements to riveting effect, in the award-winning film, highlighting how generational trauma can be passed on as we learn more about what led the two eldest daughters of the family to become radicalized by Islamic extremists and leave their kin behind.
'Sira' – Apolline Traoré
In Sira, Apolline Traoré has given us a hero for our times. A heroine, to be precise. The titular character, Sira (played by Nafissatou Cissé) is a young Fulani bride on her way to meet her fiance when a band of terrorists attacks her family. Left for dead, Sira refuses to give up and takes a brave stand against Islamist extremists. The Burkinabé filmmaker leaned on true stories within the Sahel, where the film takes place, to give voice to the women there whose perspectives often go unheard. She shared with us the challenges in making this film, but it’s a vital film that leaves you inspired to keep on believing in the good that exists in this world.
'The Cemetery of Cinema' - Thierno Souleymane Diallo
In a year that marked the centenary of Ousmane Sembène, Thierno Souleymane Diallo gave us much to consider, asking questions about what we know to be true about the early origins of African cinema. Taking us along on his idiosyncratic quest to find a long-lost Guinean film – one he believes to be the true first African film – the director allows us to see the value in unearthing and preserving history, and shows us the beauty of being unwaveringly faithful to this cause.
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