10 Screenings To Catch At London's Film Africa
The Royal African Society's Film Africa 2013 series in London runs from November 1st-10th.
<p><em>London's ten day <strong><a href="http://www.filmafrica.org.uk/" target="_blank">Film Africa</a></strong> series kicks off this Friday across six venues. To celebrate the third coming of the UK's largest African film festival, we've picked out ten must-see full-lengths showing next week. The <strong><a href="http://www.royalafricansociety.org/" target="_blank">Royal African Society</a></strong>'s incredible selection of films runs from November 1st-10th.</em></p><p>__________________________________________________________________________________</p><p><strong><em>Of Good Report</em></strong></p><p>Dir. <strong>Jahmil X.T. Qubeka</strong>, South Africa, 2013.</p><p>Stars <strong>Mothusi Magano</strong>, <strong>Petronella Tshuma</strong>, <strong>Phoenix Mabote</strong></p><p>Fri 1 Nov., 18:45, Hackney Picturehouse</p><p><span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c4026d5970adee7d6b61936c04695de0"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7hnpg1LdlJU?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span></p><p>Qubeka's <em>Lolita</em>-<strong>Hitchockian</strong> ode to classic film noir was briefly <a href="http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/provocative-south-african-thriller-of-good-report-will-screen-at-toronto-intl-film-fest" target="_blank">denied a rating</a>, and thus banned, by the <strong>South African Film and Publications Board</strong> on account that it "promotes child abuse & pornography" despite viewers reading the film as an anti-misogyny/gender-based violence narrative (the board, who it came out had seen only 28 minutes of the 109 minute-running film, ultimately reversed its decision after <a href="http://www.journal-online.co.uk/article/11126-of_good_report_but_contentious_reception" target="_blank">huge public outcry</a> and gave the film a US equivalent 'R' rating).</p><p><div class="preroll-video"></div><ora-player></ora-player></p><p>__________________________________________________________________________________</p><p><strong><em>Grisgris</em></strong></p><p>Dir. <strong>Mahamat-Saleh Haroun</strong>, France/Chad, 2013.</p><p>Stars <strong>Souleymane Démé</strong>, <strong>Anaïs Monory</strong>, <strong>Cyril Guei</strong></p><p>Sun 10 Nov, 19:00, Cine Lumiere</p><p><span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6230b06d311723653ea47300082a9457"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DxfidDnBoMQ?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span></p><p>We <a href="http://www.okayafrica.com/2013/05/08/african-film-cannes-film-festival-abdellatif-kechiche-mahamat-saleh-haroun/" target="_blank">previously took note</a> of Chadian filmmaker <strong>Mahamat Saleh Haroun</strong>'s most optimistic film yet when Cannes rolled around earlier this year (<em>Grisgris</em> won the 2013 Vulcan Award for Best Cinematography). The French-Arabic-language film tells the story of 25 year-old Grigris who, despite a paralyzed leg, dreams of becoming a professional dancer, and, in an effort to save his ailing uncle, gets mixed up with petrol smuggling. Two other Haroun films will also be screening - <em><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEjbCKpoF7Y" target="_blank">Dry Season (Daratt)</a></em> and <em><a href="http://www.okayafrica.com/2012/02/13/film-10-movies-for-queue-consideration/" target="_blank">A Screaming Man (Un homme qui crie)</a></em>/</p><p><div class="dfp_atf-slot" data-not-loaded="true"></div><script type="text/javascript">
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</script></p><p>__________________________________________________________________________________</p><p><strong><em>Tey (Aujord’hui)</em></strong></p><p>Dir. <strong>Alain Gomis</strong>, France/Senegal, 2012</p><p>Stars <strong>Saul Williams</strong>, <strong>Djolof Mbengue</strong>, <strong>Anisia Uzeyman</strong></p><p>Sat 9 Nov, 14:00, NFT1 l BFI Southbank</p><p><span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="57af3cb0404aaeba16df3380bcff5bed"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GbR-5FiVCQg?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span></p><p>French/Senegalese filmmaker <a href="http://www.okayafrica.com/2013/09/26/tey-film-alain-gomis-saul-williams/" target="_blank">Alain Gomis</a>' Dakar-set <em>Tey</em> is a stunning celebration of life through a narrative that begins and ends with death. <a href="http://www.okayafrica.com/2012/07/24/saul-williams-africa-in-your-earbuds-23/" target="_blank">Saul Williams</a>, in a role short with words and heavy in emotion, plays the part of Senegalese returnee Satché who wakes up to the news that he'll die by the end of the day. Other Gomis films showing include <em><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1yPF-OWInc" target="_blank">L'Afrance</a></em> and <em><a href="http://www.haff.fi/2013/en/elokuvat/item/179-andalucia" target="_blank">Andalucia</a></em>.</p><p>__________________________________________________________________________________</p><p><strong><em>Hoodrush</em></strong></p><p>Dir. <strong>Dimeji Ajibola</strong>, Nigeria, 2012</p><p>Stars <strong>Okechukwu Ukeje</strong>, <strong>Bimbo Akintola<strong>, <strong>Gabriel Afolayan</strong></strong></strong></p><p>Sat 2 Nov, 12:00, Rich Mix</p><p><span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2ec873b53bb11d7d68f675c86caa83e2"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hsff1i0qnBw?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span></p><p>"Musical thriller" <em>Hoodrush</em> is showing as a part of the series' celebration of 21 years of Nollywood. OC Ukeje and Bimbo Akintola star as popstar-aspiring brothers who enter a TV game show and thereafter are mixed up in fame's compromising world.</p><p>__________________________________________________________________________________</p><p><strong><em>The Battle of Tabatô (A batalha de Tabatô)</em></strong></p><p>Dir. <strong>Joao Viana</strong>, Portugal/Guinea-Bissau, 2012</p><p>Stars <strong>Fatu Djebaté</strong>, <strong>Mamadu Baio</strong>, <strong>Mutar Djebaté</strong></p><p>Tue 5 Nov, 21:00, Hackney Picturehouse</p><p><span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0050d3c68896deb14690c79797ab067a"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iV9n7eRYrto?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span></p><p>The dreamlike tale of a father-daughter relationship is a cinematic look (in monochromatic form) at post-colonial themes in Portuguese-speaking Africa. After 30 years of exile in Portugal, Baio returns to Guinea-Bissau for his daughter's wedding to a famous singer in musician village Tabatô. Baio's arrival is marked with resurfaced memories of the war of independence.</p><p>__________________________________________________________________________________</p><p><strong><em>Touki Bouki</em></strong></p><p>Dir. <strong>Djibril Diop Mambéty</strong>, Senegal. 1973</p><p>Stars <strong>Magaye Niang</strong>, <strong>Mareme Niang</strong>, <strong>Aminata Fall</strong></p><p>Sat 9 Nov, 17:00, Hackney Picturehouse</p><p><span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5d0c9ff978726347b4fa209c85e6d521"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xaWmfqrQjU4?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span></p><p>Forty years ago a tale was told of a young Senegalese pair's travels on the road to Paris. The experimental cult masterpiece is significant in both the narratives of African cinema as well as Senegalese history.</p><p>__________________________________________________________________________________</p><p><strong><em>Mother Of George</em></strong></p><p>Dir. <strong>Andrew Dosunmu</strong>, USA, 2013</p><p>Stars <strong>Danai Gurira</strong>, <strong>Isaach De Bankolé</strong>, <strong>Yaya Alafia</strong></p><p>Sun 3 Nov, 20:30, Hackney Picturehouse</p><p><span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="43b885a26e662a7e044cc1b0dcec61d1"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EF7IPYNElKA?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span></p><p>Come Fridays nowadays weekly procedure is talk of making plans to finally catch Nigerian filmmaker <a href="http://www.okayafrica.com/2013/09/18/andrew-dosunmu-music-videos/" target="_blank">Andrew Dosunmu</a>'s follow-up to <em><a href="http://www.okayafrica.com/stories/interview-andrew-dosunmus-restless-city/" target="_blank">Restless City</a></em> (and, potentially, pre-cursor to the <a href="http://www.okayafrica.com/2013/09/17/fela-kuti-biopic-andrew-dosunmu/" target="_blank">Fela biopic</a>). The toast of town <em>Mother Of George</em> tells the story of a Nigerian newlywed couple living in NYC whose struggles with fertility become the issue of an entire extended family.</p><p>__________________________________________________________________________________</p><p><strong><em>The Pirogue (La pirogue)</em></strong></p><p>Dir. <strong>Moussa Touré</strong>, France/Senegal/Germany</p><p>Thu 7 Nov, 21:00, Ritzy Cinema</p><p><span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8f510f98670487c86ce692f4283f0de1"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6PAnomIt54M?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span></p><p>The <a href="http://www.okayafrica.com/2012/11/21/new-york-african-diaspora-film-festival/" target="_blank">Senegalese odyssey</a> is a stunningly-shot drama of a retired boat captain who agrees (reluctantly) to take a 29 man group across the Atlantic to Spain aboard a wooden pirogue boat.</p><p>__________________________________________________________________________________</p><p><strong><em>Jeppe On A Friday</em></strong></p><p>Dirs. <strong>Arya Lalloo</strong>, <strong>Shannon Walsh</strong>, Canada/South Africa, 2013</p><p>Mon 4 Nov, 18:30, Hackney Picturehouse</p><p><span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7a0dfa5e462bc5117d1b4afa0b72af01"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VPhfQlIVnNw?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span></p><p>Filmmaker Arya Lalloo (SA) and Shannon Walsh (Canada) invited eight South African directors (all women) to make a movie about Joburg neighborhood Jeppe, all of which was to be shot in a single day. What transpired was the snapshot of the lives of five people living in a community threatened by gentrification.</p><p>__________________________________________________________________________________</p><p><strong><em>2morrow Far Away</em></strong></p><p>Dirs. <strong>Jean Baptiste Saurel</strong>, <strong>Pierre-Emmanuel Urcun</strong>, France/South Africa, 2012</p><p>Sat 9 Nov, 17:00, Ritzy Cinema</p><p><span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8bfa9b2754429ad36e6e9addf69d7e3a"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/K8eW6h9V5Cg?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span></p><p>The documentary/fiction hybrid tells the story of four young people in Paris suburb Saint Denis who had the chance to become reporters at 2010's World Cup in SA.</p><p>__________________________________________________________________________________</p><p><em>The Royal African Society's Film Africa runs from November 1st-10th. Head <a href="http://www.filmafrica.org.uk/programme/" target="_blank">here</a> for a full listing of events. Tickets to screenings can be purchased <a href="http://www.filmafrica.org.uk/tickets/" target="_blank">here</a>.</em></p>
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