via This Is Africa

I’d go.

I love that about 70% of their programming is Rwandese and extremely diverse. From family adventure film ‘Africa United‘ to art house ‘Grey Matter‘ and Sundance winner and 2011 Oscar nominee ‘Kinyarwanda‘, everyone that’s nearby with varying tastes in cinema is pretty much covered.

It’s pretty exciting. Not only are they showing African favorites, ‘Bamako‘ from Mali and Chadian Cannes winner ‘A Screaming Man‘, but ‘Surfing Soweto’ which has not yet been released to the festival circuit and creating waves already!

Surfing Soweto is a South African film directed by Sarah Blecher about young people

“Born too long after the demise of apartheid to have anything worth fighting for, but, at the same time, they are also born not long enough after it to reap any of the benefits of freedom. Much as train surfing is an articulation of their impotence and frustrations – so is the Film.”

These guys remind me so much of Kenyan ‘makangas’ (bus conductors with a death wish or ‘surfing?’ bus conductors…) before the matatu culture was squelched by being slapped between stringent government regulations and the local mafia, when matatus denoted optimistic rebellion and joyful youthful abandon (I was really young so I could have been naive).

Check out the awesome trailer for it below:

If you’re in or near Rwanda at the time, go see one of these films. They are great! I’ve seen some of them.

Click here to view the complete festival programme guide.

Love and Peace,

KP

From the Oscars.com education and outreach page:

“One of the goals of the Academy’s international efforts is to encourage more countries to submit entries for its Foreign Language Film Award, which is presented annually at the Academy Award ceremony. The Academy members on this trip will be meeting with the national submission committees in Kenya and Rwanda in an effort to ensure that more films from sub-Saharan Africa participate in the Oscar competition.”

For more information go to their website, oscars.com.

More specifically, to find out what the delegates (including Alfre Woodard) are up to through videos and posts, check out their blog/ update page.

KP

NB: Some spoilers.

Africa United is a roadtrip movie for children, about children going to South Africa for the world cup when one of them misses his try outs for the opening team. I got to finally see it at the New York African Film Festival earlier this year.

The first act opens with a close up on UN volunteer (Dudu) giving a speech about contraceptive health. He seems alittle young, but his confidence and maturity distract from this fact. He is in the process of making a ball using a well displayed condom, some plastic bags and discarded rope. The camera quickly widens and pans 180 degrees to  his audience, a bunch of little tykes ready to play football!

Such is the charm of this film, and as ridiculous as any children’s film or programme. Remember Famous Five? Seen anything on the Disney Channel ever?

The director, Debs Paterson and writer Rhidian Brooks were smart to set this tone, as some of the subject matter is pretty intense, to get the audience really rooting for the team.

There is some great puppet-mation made mostly with leso that accompanies the stories Dude tells on the journey that are absolutely priceless. Check out some images and more information on the African Digital Art Network.

The performances by Eriya Ndayambaje as witty and charming UN volunteer ‘Dudu’, as well as Yves Dusenge as ‘Foreman George’, a former child soldier with gravitas, carried the film. The other children were not by any means terrible. Those two just shone really bright. I look forward to observing their career trajectories.

In a surprising but pertinent casting choice, Emmanuel Jal’s appearance as child soldier recruiter provided the real stakes that kicked the second act into high gear. There is one more, very exciting cameo, but I won’t spoil that! You’ll have to see it yourself dahling.

The only sense of disappointment was in the end of the film,where, after being invested in the characters’ success, there is no clue given about how they will get home, or if they even have a chance. The open-endedness would have worked in an Hollywood film, because you can easily buy that a bunch of tiny orphans that have illegally crossed many state lines will get home if they get to the American Embassy… on the other hand, I haven’t ever been to the Rwandese embassy in South Africa. There is also a very ambiguous ending that’s a super downer as well, that makes it impossible to just be happy they made it. I guess hoping for a feel-good ending to match the general feel-good ‘ness’ of the film would be trite, but throwing in a bit of ‘reality’ in what is clearly a fantasy film (not to say that people probably tried and maybe some succeeded in sneaking into the world cup) right at the end, is the same level of cop out that a trite ending would have had.

To be fair, endings are hard enough without having to wrap the ‘Captain Planet’ of African social issues of the last three decades all at once in a children’s film. Also, I would watch another Rhidian Brooks or Debs Paterson film. Love the color and clarity? Me too. The editorial team is the same one working on exciting upcoming documentary on Oswald Boateng that I spoke about in my fifth to last post: A Man’s Story.

The end is also less than ten minutes of the entire film, so don’t let this stop you watching it. It’s a fun romp, and you should definitely check it out, especially, but not necessarily, with kids!

Currently playing all over the USA, go to http://www.frombritainwithlove.org/venues/screening-schedule to see when it’s playing near you. It is also available in DVD format in the UK thanks to partners Comic Relief, as well as on Amazon.com!

For more information go to http://www.africaunitedmovie.com/ or search ‘Africa United’ on facebook!

Peace,

KP

Shall we begin with a slightly amusing but interesting phenomenon, Vampire Weekend’s ‘Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa’, which is literally Congo’s kwassa kwassa, super slowed down, so the rich, white kids don’t have to sweat on their polos. I LOVE that this video was directed by Richard Ayoade (Nigeria/UK), who was my personal favorite on IT Crowd. He has quite a portfolio and his first feature film Submarine (which I get to see soon!) made its debut at TIFF earlier this year.

And on to my actual point.

Let’s move on to commercial pop artist with a positive spin, Kenna (Ethiopia/ US), who’s written for and worked with Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams, Justin Timberlake et. al. I adore this video, directed by Marc Klasfeld, who’s behind Floetry’s ‘floetic’, Jay-Z’s ‘Girls, girls’ and tonnes of other videos and commercials. Check out Kenna’s other music and videos. They’re just as creative and fun.

Next is lesser known but awesome, chilled out, soul singer Michael Kiwanuka (Uganda/UK), who opened for Adele at the beginning of her tour this year! His sound is incredible.

It doesn’t get better than ASA (Nigeria/US), who has a new album out and this is the second single. I love this song and video!

Someone I recently discovered in the blogosphere is Ntjam Rosie (Cameroon/ Holland) whose effortless amalgumation of fashion and music from Cameroon to Europe is exhibited in this and her other music videos. Enjoy!

Last, but certainly not least, Blitz the Ambassador (Ghana/US), is making waves with his recent release, Native Sun, which was drawn from his experience visiting Ghana after being away ten years! He is currently on tour. This album is a great companion piece to ‘Distant Relatives’ by NAS and Damien Marley from this time last year, which I still overdose on from time to time, and gives a complete sense of nostalgia from the ten to 400 year span. Still relevant if you’ve been away for six months.

This song features Corneille (Germany/Rwanda/Canada) a soul/neo-soul singer, and is directed by Terence Nance (US) whose art is focused on creating culture. Look out for this one.

Have an inspired week!

KP

I have to say, that the film and series that I am sharing in this post, I found in January and have been holding back for a long time in order to share them with you today, because it’s a special day for my country.

Here’s a soprano rendition by a young, former schoolmate of mine, and musician, with great tone and an arrangement not so different from the SSA version we sang at choir, but upgraded into absolute loveliness.

Madaraka day is the day our government attained internal self rule, before independence day on 12th January in  1963. So much has happened since then, but today I would like to focus on the past, as shown in documentary film shot at the time.

Alot is available online, but one of the most remarkable and controversial things I have seen is ‘Africa Addio’ (1966) by Italian shockumentarians Gualtiero Jacopetti and Franco Prosperi. It portrays the Africans in the grotesque and uses softer lenses on the colonialists, literally, in terms of cinematography and sound, and metaphorically, in terms of agenda, BUT, the one thing this film has that few other films of the time have is a lot of rare footage. We know what happened, however,  it’s crazy to SEE, on screen, the immediate transition from the departure of the British government to the burgeoning black middle class. The scenes with politicians in the first round of elections are also nice to see. There is alot more that I haven’t seen yet, including gory scenes of the Rwandese genocide in the sixties, which repeated itself over twenty years later, as well as other scenes probably better left unseen. What I strongly suggest is that you check out the links I have shared to get a robust and 3D view of the attitudes that are opposite to each other but also complimentary, filling in the necessary gaps, before you align yourself with any political view. You will be surprised at your own conclusion.

Reasoning rules!

I think Africa Addio is worth looking at because neither the Kenyan nor the British government would show this on television then or today about that period.

I’m not sure if this is the full director’s cut or not, but it is alot more than a useless, divisive five minute clip on youtube.

There’s been a great long discussion about this film and how racist it is or isn’t, and whether or not the grotesque portrayal of africans is or isn’t, but many of these discussions are missing many African voices. There is the discussion/ comments section on imdb, as well as a great big admonishment from Roger Ebert, that is surprisingly peppered with actual supporting facts (win!) as well as some blog posts, here and here that should give you tonnes to think about today and perhaps encourage us to be a part of this discourse that will hopefully effect whatever change needs to take place for better.

For those of you unsurprised and unimpressed by that, take a look at a historical documentary but an actual historian, Basil Davidson, who documents the things many white ‘experts’ on African history from the colonial days, would rather we DID NOT know about our civilisations, a welcome support to the lone ranger, Chiek Anta Diop, who gives a view on African history and anthropology that is rarely heard.

Also on google videos, watch the first episode of ‘Africa’ called ‘Different but Equal’ below.

Happy Belated Africa Day everyone, and Happy Madaraka Day, KENYA! Ninakumiss.

Love,

KP

I posted it because it’s almost a non-event here in Philly. I’ve gone through it so many times! I wrote a poem about one of these encounters during my pre-ipod days early last year, when I could hear the filth coming out of these men’s gobs. Now I carry my ipod and listen to it everywhere I go, and have it set on loud so I don’t have to hear what they’re saying. What’s crazy is that the reason Nuala made this film is that some of these guys turn violent if you ignore them. Now that just scares me because I’m the ignoring type. Thankfully, it has not happened. Yet.

Her interview with Bitch Magazine.

Here’s the poem that I wrote about one of these encounters last year.

.

.

Hot summer’s day

Breezes bring a welcome cold war

to limbs mostly bare

Thank you world for cotton

Inspired by lungs, porous and light

Brisk in my stride

I walk on

.

You

I don’t see

You

And your friends.

I’m just another human

Your just another being

I walk by

.

You stare me up

and down

Judging my hands and legs

Forgetting the weather.

You know naught beyond my immediate past

I know naught of yours.

I walk on

.

You wait for my back

and speak to my rear

Expressing the crude and unnecessary

Your frustration at your imprisoned limbs

in trouser, sock, and leather shoe.

In uniform, in service, in company

You feel safe in your anonimity and shout from a safe distance

‘Why do you have to have all that candy when  I could eat some?’

I walked on.

.

You were just another human

I was just another being

But now you’ve got my attention.

Brown skin.

You disrespect me, you disrespect yourself.

Pity.

.

.

My other poetry can be found here.

KP

And now…

There’s something about Ozwald Boateng. In these precious four minutes, you want to know him and bathe in his awesomeness.

The surgical precision the editor has, is nothing short of WTF. I mean seriously, we don’t have to blink to be taken from Boateng’s current office to Saville Row’s younger days, color and texture shifts and all.

While I’m going on about the editting team, I was pleased and surprised to find out that they almost all worked on Africa United !

We’ve seen documentaries about fashion powerhouses but this is a different beast. It jumps from his success on Saville Row, and goes back to the time before he became the first man of African descent with a studio there; a time when being a minority was literally a matter of life or death. The strong and lively pace of the preview makes me want to see this film so bad. I’m already sold on the narrative, but the cinematography, editting, and the fact that the director Varon Bonicos is someone who’s had a history with Boateng, which explains why the character of the film matches the subject so well.

I’m sooo excited!! Is it obvious?

Let me know what you think, especially if you disagree!

KP

This is a discussion not limited to the Black Community in America, but to peoples that have undergone the forced loss of home, self and the collective consciousness through conquest/colonialism/enslavement or the general ‘my gun is bigger than your wooden club’ one-upsmanship. The discussion about science and faith are pretty relevant since they are based on the world that we live in today.

If any of you, like me have tried to read ‘The Selfish Gene’ or any other of Richard Dawkins’ texts and pounded through their academic weight, you will be pleased to find Mr Dawkins quite personable and fun to listen to. Thanks to Universities like Howard keeping this conversation flowing.

NB: There are few visual aids, so you may freely multitask!

This is a stimulating subject and I will be glad to hear your perspective.

KP

There are a number of films playing this year at the Tribeca Film Festival, from Africa, starting this Thursday!

Grey Matter ( Matiere Grise) by Kivu Ruhozahoza (Rwanda):

A film about a guy making a film about people dealing with what remained long after the Rwandese genocide was over (mostly madness and great loss), and having trouble getting funded unless he switches to a ‘positive, message driven, stereotype’ film. Sounds familiar? This film managed to find a producer in Scarab Films from Australia, and the result is a part of the World Narrative Competition. Congratulations and good luck sir!

An interview with the filmmaker:

Black Butterflies (South Africa/ Denmark):

Madness again, but this time, mostly poetry, desire and politics in 1960s Cape Town. A romantic, South African, female, poet whose father is a parliament censorship minister… The drama!

Directed by Paula van der Oast (a lady) and supported by a fantastic cinematographer that creates open spaces and lots of light in a premise that seems to border on frenetic. I wonder who else could have succeeded in making this film. I must see this one sometime.

Mama Africa (South Africa/ Finland/ Germany) 

Finnish director, Mika Kaurismaki provides the highly anticipated documentary, a tribute to Miriam Makeba, with FIFTY years of rare archival footage, interviews with Mama, husband Stokely Carmicheal, Belafonte and others. There is no trailer though, but I’m sure it’s awesome.

The Bang Bang Club (Canada/ South Africa)

This film I have a few comments about. It’s based on a book by one of the four award winning, South African photographers that captured the post election violence and their own lives, especially their own dealings with being observers [One of them, Kevin Carter, won a pulitzer for a photograph of a buzzard waiting for a child to die. He committed suicide when he recieved the award]. Should I begin with the fact that it’s a Canadian film, or that it’s leads are Ryan Phillipe and Malin Akerman? And that there is no representative african character  to walk us through what it must have been like?

This story is a tightrope. Period. It all hinges on how the material was treated.

Let me know! I don’t have the guts to see it.

So if you are sick of missing out on African films that are beyond awesome, go see one this week at Tribeca,

or Hoodwinked 2.

Hey,

Your call. (The first one rocked!)

KP