Africana Reading Room

328 Main Library
Monday to Friday, 8:30 to 5:00
(217) 244-1903

AFRICA-RELATED FILMS, VIDEOS, AND DVDS AT UIUC

ACQUIRED DECEMBER 2003-DECEMBER 2007

Afro@digital
San Francisco, CA, 53 minutes
California Newsreel, 2003
VIDREC 303.4833 Af85, DVD 303.4833 Af85c

Looks at the information technology revolution which has become a daily reality in many African countries where the Internet, mobile telephones and digital video cameras are being used with extraordinary creativity. Visits a marabout who explains he no longer replies by letter to questions but uses his mobile phone and email to transmit his advice. Another illustration of the digital revolution in Africa is the rise of internet cafes and cyber teahouses. In some towns in Senegal and the Congo, increasing numbers are connecting to internet using a laptop computer with a mobile phone.  (In English and French with English subtitles)

Aimé Césaire: Poet and Statesman
New York, NY, 42 minutes
Cinema Guild, 2002
DVD 848.91409 Ai57

Césaire speaks about his love for the French Caribbean landscape, his student days in Paris, the connection between his inner journey and the process of writing, his fight against the ravages of slavery and French policies in the colonies. The video also includes interviews with the Martinican artists who speak of Césaire’s influence on their work, Victor Anicet and Luc Marlin, and ends with a two minute reading by Césaire. (In English and French with French voiceover)

Aime Cesaire: Une Voix Pour L’histoire = A Voice for History
San Francisco, CA, 160 Minutes (3 Videotapes)
California Newsreel, 1994
VIDREC 845 C335DP173

Part 1. The vigilant island = L’ile veilleuse.
Césaire shows us his pays natale - its volcano, beaches and colonial towns - a tropical crossroad where Europe, Africa and America meet. From this cultural core, Césaire, his wife Suzanne and philosopher René Menil founded the seminal literary review Tropiques in 1939, which influenced Caribbean intellectuals like Wifredo Lam, René Depestre and Frantz Fanon. After WWII, Césaire served as mayor of Fort-de-France and Martinique's representative to the French National Assembly. He discusses the difficulty of balancing the life of a poet with that of a practical politician for over 50 years. (In French with English subtitles)

Part 2. Where the edges of conquest meet = Au rendez-vous de la conquète.
Set in Paris in the 1930s where Césaire, Leopold Senghor (first president of Senegal) and the French Guyanese poet Léon Damas developed the concept of negritude, a worldwide revindication of African values. John Henrik Clarke and Howard Dodson of the Schomburg Center discuss the profound impact of Black American culture - jazz, the Harlem Renaissance and authors like Langston Hughes, Richard Wright and Claude McKay - on this primarily Francophone movement. (In French with English subtitles)

Part 3. The strength to face tomorrow = La force de regarder demain.
Césaire responds to the disappointments of the postcolonial world. His plays, La tragedie du roi Christophe (about the Haitian revolution) and Une saison au Congo (about Patrice Lumumba), were among the first to warn of the dangers of neocolonialism. French anthropologist Edgar Morin, biographer Roger Toumson, Brazilian author Jorge Amado, Antillean novelist Maryse Condé and American writer Maya Angelou testify to Césaire's central role as a "founding ancestor" for the current flowering of African diaspora literature.
(In French with English subtitles)

Alan Paton: a profile
(Alternate title, Alan Paton’s beloved country)
Princeton, N.J., 52 minutes
Films for the Humanities and Sciences, 2004
DVD 809 AI118

Alan Paton, author of Cry, the Beloved Country, discusses the influences which inspired him to write the novel. He uses passages from this and other works to trace his path from apartheid supporter to anti-apartheid activist.

All About Darfur
San Francisco, CA, 82 minutes
California Newsreel, 2005
DVD 962.7 AI511

Up until now the perilous situation in Sudan has been seen only from outside the country. All About Darfur offers an opportunity to hear it explained by eloquent, diverse, even contradictory voices from within Sudan. The director talks to ordinary Sudanese in outdoor tea shops, markets, refugee camps and living rooms about how deeply rooted prejudices could suddenly burst into a wild fire of ethnic violence. (In Arabic and English with English subtitles)

Arlit, deuxième Paris = Arlit, the second Paris
San Francisco, CA, 78 minutes
California Newsreel, 2005
DVD 966.605 Ar52

A case study in migration and environmental racism set in a uranium mining town in the Sahara desert of Niger. Here European corporations extracted nuclear power and profits, leaving behind illness due to radiation, contamination and unemployment. Arlit flourished during the oil crunch of the early 70s when its uranium mines employed 25,000 workers from around the world in high paying jobs. It has now become a ghost town, a place of transit. (In French, Bariba, Hausa and Tamashek with English subtitles)

Arquitecto e a Cidade Velha = the Architect and the Old Village
Watertown, MA, 70 minutes
Documentary Educational Resources, 2003
DVD 363.69 Ar252

Álvaro Siza Vieira, a famous visionary Portuguese architect, is called to coordinate the rehabilitation of the monuments and architectural heritage of Cidade Velha (Old Village) in Santiago, one of the African islands of Cape Verde. This project creates great expectations among the local population, who see it as a way of improving their quality of life. The film explores the relationship and the conflict between these two worlds, two cultures, with different ideas of what modernity and progress mean. (Portuguese audio track with English subtitles)

La Bataille d’Alger = The Battle of Algiers
Irvington, NY, 125 minutes (3 DVDS)
Criterion Collection, 2004
SPECIAL EDITION
DVD 791.4372 B321c

Focuses on the harrowing events of 1957, a key year in Algeria’s struggle for independence from France. Recreates the tumultuous Algerian uprising against the occupying French in the 1950s. As violence escalates on both sides, the French torture prisoners for information and the Algerians resort to terrorism in their quest for independence. Children shoot soldiers at point-blank range, women plant bombs in cafés. The French win the battle, but ultimately lose the war as the Algerian people demonstrate that they will no longer be suppressed. (French and Arabic dialogue, English subtitles)

Disc 1: New high-definition transfer of the film. Includes: Return to Algiers (1992, 55 min.), theatrical and re-release trailers, and a poster gallery.

Disc 2: Includes the making of The Battle of Algiers, a 37-minute documentary called The Dictatorship of Truth, and directors commentary on The Battle of Algiers.

Disc 3: Includes the documentary The Battle of Algiers and History, États d'armes a 30-minute excerpt from L'ennemi intime, and How to Win the Battle, but Lose the War of Ideas, a conversation.

Belonging
San Francisco, CA, 52 minutes
California Newsreel, 2004
DVD 968.066 R229

Born in exile as the daughter of policical emigres, Khethiwe Ngcobo and her family returned to their longed-for homeland of South Africa in 1994. Now ten years later, Khethiwe, a hip young, black woman with a British accent finds herself struggling to find her place in the new South Africa. Hoping to reconcile the warring strands of her identity, Khethiwe seeks healing by embracing Zulu traditions. At the same time, her sister refuses to participate in any ceremonies which she sees as meangless rituals. Khethiwe is not alone in her journey to find belonging. The country is also in the process of finding itself. This is a personal and honest look at one person's quest for identity. (In English and Zulu with English subtitles.)

Ben Barka: The Moroccan Equation
New York, NY, 84 minutes
First Run/Icarus Films, 2002
VIDREC 964.05 B43

Ben Barka was the founder of the Moroccan left who went on to be one of the leaders of his country’s struggle for independence. After his death, the "Ben Barka Affair" became the center of attention, while Mehdi Ben Barka was forgotten. The film combines first-hand testimony with archival records in order to trace the extraordinary development of this "Medina" child with a passion for mathematics and politics, and one of the leaders of the 1960s Third-World Movement. (Narration in English; commentary in French and Arabic with English subtitles)

Black and White in Color
Chicago, IL, 92 minutes
Home Vision Entertainment, 2003
DVD 791.4372 B5614h

An irrepressible and timely satire on racism, colonialism, and war. Set in the Ivory Coast during the First World War, a group of French colonials learn that their country is at war with Germany. Spurred on by a capricious moment of patriotism, the Frenchmen decide to attack their German neighbors who reside in a colony up the river. (French, German and English dialogue, English subtitles)

Black Gold
San Francisco, CA, 78 minutes
California Newsreel, 2006
DVD 338.17373 B561

After oil, coffee is the most actively traded commodity in the world with $80 billion in retail sales.  But for every $3 cup of coffee a coffee farmer receives only 3 cents.  Most of the money goes to the middlemen, especially the four giant conglomerates which control the coffee market.  Tracing the path of the coffee consumed each day to the farmers who produce the beans, Black Gold asks us to ‘wake up and smell the coffee’, to face the unjust conditions under which our favorite drink is produced and to decide what we can do about it.

Body and Soul
South Burlington, VT, 50 minutes
California Newsreel, 2001
VIDREC 362.1969792 B632

In South Africa millions of people are in desperate situations because of HIV and AIDS. This film looks at the attitudes of the three main religions (Christianity, Islam and African traditionalist) in South Africa through interviews with people who must interpret and practice religion in terms of the country’s realities. (In English, Sotho, and Tswana with English subtitles)

Bongloland
Minneapolis, MN, 105 minutes
Kibira Films International, 2003
DVD 791.43651 B641

Juma, an illegal African immigrant in Minnesota, confronts the realities of life in America, with a low-paying job, problems with his girlfriend, an over-extended credit card. He must decide whether to continue struggling in America or to return home.  (In English and Swahili with English subtitles)

Bonnet rouge, où vas tu?: Red Hat, Where Are You Going?
New York, NY, 47 minutes
First Run/Icarus Films, 2000
VIDREC 966.2505 R245

An analysis of the socio-political position of traditional chiefs in Burkina Faso, Red Hat, Where are you going? examines the role of Mossi chiefs in the West African nation. Using interviews with chiefs and their critics, and archival footage, the film looks at how the chiefs have navigated political change, and at how they interact with both the government and people today.  (In English or French with English subtitles)

Borom sarret = The wagoner
United States, 80 minutes
New Yorker Video, 2005
NOTE: ON SAME DVD AS LA NOIRE DE… = BLACK GIRL
DVD 791.4372 N693

This Sembène film tells the story of a cart-taxi driver who goes to the city to make a living, but out of sympathy with other poverty-stricken people, works for free and goes hungry himself. (In Wolof and French with English subtitles.)

The Boys of Baraka
New York, NY, 84 minutes
ThinkFilm, 2006
DVD 305.38896073 B712

Follows a group of 12-year-old boys from the most violent ghettos of Baltimore to the Baraka School, an experimental boarding school in rural Kenya, where children live by strict guidelines, yet are given the freedom to grow. 

Bye Bye Africa
San Francisco, CA, 86 minutes
California Newsreel, 1999
VIDREC 791.43096743 B991

In this reflexive docu-drama about the difficulties of making films in Africa, an exiled film director returns to Chad after the death of his mother. There he discovers, as a result of wars, that motion picture theaters have been abandoned in favor of makeshift video theaters often in private homes. Haroun visits a producer who suggests that he make a film using a video camera and concludes that the important thing is to continue to produce films no matter what the circumstances. (In French and Arabic with English subtitles)

Celebrating the Prophet in the Remembrance of God: Sufi Dhikr in Egypt
Urbana, IL, 39 minutes
UIUC Office of International Programas, 1997
VIDREC 782.292 C3302

Study of an Islamic mystical exercise that has evolved into a major communal ritual with important spiritual, social and psychological functions. Sufi dhikr, the chanting of the names of God, is a regular activity in the lives of many Muslims, particularly those who live in urban areas and villages that are home to the shrine-tombs of important saints. In Egypt, communal dhikr is performed to the accompaniment of music and song, and the film explains the interaction of music with excerpts from performances by several Sufi singers. It also examines the influence of social setting on dhikr, and such issues as the participation of women and children and the function of dhikr as entertainment.

Cinderella of the Cape Flats
San Francisco, CA, 58 minutes
California Newsreel, 2004
DVD 968.066 R229

Every day the working class colored women in the garment industry of the windswept flats around Cape Town toil anonymously to make clothes so that other women will look beautiful. Inevitably they cannot afford these garments themselves. But for one day a year they come out in all their glory at the Annual Spring Queen Pagent. The pagent is created by the workers and their trade union to bring their families together for an evening of solidarity and fun. After working for weeks on glamourous costumes, who will be queen for a day? Set against the preparation of the 2003 pagent, this film explores the lives of working women and celebrates them as creators of beauty. Although the end of apartheid has not taken away the drudgery of repetitive factory labor, this pageant shows working class women inventing their own lively folk culture.(In English and Afrikaans with English subtitles.)

Congo: White King, Red Rubber, Black Death
Chicago, IL 90 minutes
Facets Video, 2006
DVD 967.5102 C7602

Describes how King Leopold II of Belgium turned Congo into his private colony between 1885-1908. Under his control, Congo became a labor camp of shocking brutality. People were starved and tortured in the name of harvesting rubber. (In English and French/Flemish with English subtitles)

The Cotton Wars
Princeton, NJ, 53 minutes
Films for the Humanities & Sciences, 200?
DVD 331.763351 C829

This program examines the lopsided nature of the global cotton industry-- in which U.S. and European producers enjoy massive government support while independent African farmers struggle to remain competitive. Going deep inside the agricultural, bureaucratic, and diplomatic networks that control the cotton trade on both sides of the Atlantic, the program also looks at the growing influence of Chinese producers-- another factor working against Africa.

Le Damier papa national oye! = The Draughtsmen Clash
New York, NY, 40 minutes
ArtMattan Productions, 1996
VIDEC 791.43617 D184

A wicked political satire about African dictators, this film tells the story of the president of a fictitious African nation who engages in a game of checkers with his political opponents. When he looses the game, the fate of the winners is not exactly unexpected in this hilarious send-up of living under tyranny. (In French with English subtitles)

Dances of the Nyakyusa & the Nkonde. Vol. 2
Nishi-Ikebukuro, Japan
Centre for Human Migration and Acculturation Studies, Rikkyo University, 2006
DVD 793.3196 D195

Presents video footage of dances performed by the Nyakyusa of Tanzania and the Nkonde of Malawi and filmed in 1995-1996. Includes the dances igoma, ngili, fipale, ipenenga, and sanba.

Diaspora Conversations: From Goree to Dogon
New York, NY, 47 minutes
Third World Newsreel, 2000
VIDREC 305.896 D543

Actor Danny Glover and director Manthia Diawara travel through West Africa from Goree to Dogon, creating conversations that link different sides and accounts of the African diaspora.

Divine Carcasse
San Francisco, CA, 60 minutes
California Newsreel, 1998
VIDREC 791.436561 D642

Divine Carcasse is an unusual hybrid, a half fictional, half ethnographic film. It is a study in cultural contrast, between a desacralized, materialistic European view of reality and an animist, pre-industrial African one. Belgian director Dominique Loreau has described her film as an encounter with another culture, another way of relating to the world, objects and death, one that challenges our own relationships to the world. (In French, Fon and Yoruba with English subtitles)

Duara: Sound the drum
Glenwood Springs, CO, 52 minutes
MFDI, 2002
DVD 791.436552 D85

Two young adults, who are in love, face the consequences of opening their intimate circle.  This film addresses issues of health, sexuality, HIV-AIDS, education, and young people in Africa.  Sound the Drum, a documentary, chronicles the coming together of two different cultures to produce an important film. (In Kiswahili with English subtitles)

Extra Bitter: the legacy of the Chocolate Islands
New York, NY, 52 minutes
Filmakers Library, 2000
DVD 306.362 Ex87

Filmed on the two formerly Portuguese colonies, Sao Tomé and Principe (also known as the "Chocolate Islands") and in Portugal, archival film and interviews with historians, writers and the inhabitants create a portrait of a little-known country and its history. (Portions spoken in Portuguese with English voiceovers)

Frontières = Borders
Paris, France, 102 minutes
Vertigo Productions, 2002
VIDREC 791.43653 F928

Seven Africans, one woman and six men, decide to enter Europe clandestinely to start a new life. Together, they face dangers and obstacles, but as they get closer to Tangiers, the last stop before they reach Spain and liberty, their inter-group solidarity starts to fall apart. (French with English subtitles)

Future Remembrance: Photography and Image Arts in Ghana
Watertown, MA, 55 minutes
Documentary Educational Resources, 2005
DVD 070.49 F989

Documentary about the role of photography, photographers and the art of image making in Ghana. Meet the photographers, sculptors and painters who tell us in their own words about the economic, social, cultural, aesthetic, and spiritual motivations of their work.

Gacaca
Brooklyn, NY, 55 minutes
First Run/Icarus Film, 2002
VIDREC 967.57104 G115

In 1994, decades of politically motivated ethnic scapegoating culminated in a wholesale slaughter of the Rwanda’s Tutsi minority, along with many Hutu moderates. Today, Rwanda is rebuilding, but its most difficult task is addressing the emotional trauma and fostering reconciliation between the Hutu and Tutsi. This film follows the first steps in one of the world’s boldest experiments in reconciliation: the Gacaca Tribunals. These are a form of citizen-based justice based on ancient traditions of judgement, aimed at unifying this scarred nation. (In English, Tutsi, and Hutu, with English subtitles)

O heroi = The hero
San Francisco, CA, 97 minutes
California Newreel, 2005
DVD 791.436552 H431

Luanda, capital of Angola, is a huge city trying to cope with and overcome the profound legacy of a civil war that lasted for nearly 30 years. Vitório has just been discharged after almost 20 years of fighting in the war. During his last military assignment he stepped on a land mine and lost a leg. After recuperating, he finds himself alone, unemployed and homeless. He, along with the people that he encounters, attempt to build new lives at the same time as their country reconstructs in the postwar era. (In Portuguese with English subtitles)

Hot Wax
San Francisco, CA, 49 minutes
California Newsreel, 2004
DVD 968.066 R229

Ivy is a vivacious black woman who managed to run her own beauty salon surreptitiously during the darkest days of apartheid. She lives in Alexandra, a restless and impoverished township, while her white, mostly elderly, clients live in the tree-lined suburbs of Johannesburg. In her salon she is part beautician, long-time friend, lay counselor, and honest commentator to her customers. While she masks her clients' imperfections, she also peels away layers of difference separating the races. It can be easily pointed out that Ivy essentially is granted the intimacy of a domestic servant, while her whilte clients maintain their economic privileges and know little about Ivy's private world. But since apartheid's end, Ivy owns her own shop and now meets her clients on an equal footing. (In English and Zulu with English subtitles)

In Rwanda We Say—The Family That Does Not Speak Dies
Brooklyn, NY, 54 minutes
First Run/Icarus Films, 2004
VIDREC 967.57 1043 In11, DVD 304.663 In11

Two years [after the Gacaca tribunals] ... close to 16,000 of these [genocide] suspects, still untried, are released across the country. Having confessed to their crimes and having served the maximum sentence the Gacaca tribunals would eventually impose, perpetrators of appalling crimes are sent home to plow fields and fetch water alongside the people they victimized. It focuses on the release of one suspect, tracking the effect of his return on a tiny hillside hamlet. While the government’s message of a "united Rwandan family" permeates the language of the community, the imposed co-existence brings forth varying emotions, from numb acceptance to repressed rage. Violence seems to lurk just below the surface. (In English, Tutsi and Hutu, with English subtitles)

Kounandi
San Francisco, CA, 50 minutes
California Newsreel, 2004
DVD 791.436543 K84902

An adult fairy tale about love, friendship and sacrifice. Also addresses social conflict and prejudices. (In Jula with English subtitles)

Kuxa kanema: la Naissance de Cinema=Kuxa kanema: the Birth of Cinema
Brooklyn, NY, 52 minutes
First Run/Icarus Films, 2003
VIDREC 967.9051 K969

Discusses the history of Mozambique’s National Institute of Cinema’s weekly newsreel entitled Kuxa kanema. Shows the relationship between the films and President Samora Machel and FRELIMO (Mozambique Liberation Front). The original filmmakers discuss their work as a testimonial to the country, its struggles and wars.  (In Portuguese with English subtitles) 

Lagos/Koolhaas
Brooklyn, NY, 55 minutes
First Run/Icarus Film, 2003
VIDREC 966.9 L 13702, DVD 966.9 L 13702f

A film that follows Rem Koolhaas during his research in Lagos over a period of two years as he wanders through the city, talking with people and recognizing the problems of urban life.

Liberia: an uncivil war
New York, NY, 103 minutes
Gabriel Films, 2005
DVD 966.62 L61502

In Liberia, the summer of 2003 was pure insanity: two armies are in the final battle of a decade-long civil war, holding the capital under siege while thousands die from mortar shells launched from afar. As the soldiers, mostly teenagers, fight a bloody urban battle, the nation prays that American forces show up to put an end to the violence. Liberia, a country founded by freed American slaves, has a long intertwined history with America. While the rebel army, the LURD, attempts to overthrow the Liberian government, President Charles Taylor and his army maintain a strong grip on the city.

Living Memory
Brooklyn, NY, 53 minutes
First Run/Icarus Film, 2003
VIDREC 966.23 L761, DVD 966.23 L761f

A documentary about Mali's ancient culture and the place of that culture in the modern country. The six sections are ritual arts, culture on display, style, architecture, contemporary artists and music. (Narration in English; dialogue in French and other languages with English subtitles)

Maangamizi: The Ancient One
Encino, CA, 112 minutes
Gris-Gris Films, 2000
DVD 202.13 M111

Summoned to the majestic heights of Kilimanjaro, two women, one American, one African, are led by an ancient and mysterious ancestor on a primal journey of spiritual awakening. (In English with Swahili scenes; English subtitles for Swahili.)

Madame Brouette
Westmount, QC, 104 minutes
Christal Films, 2004
DVD 791.43655 M261

Madame Brouette is a proud and independent mother who has aspirations to rise out of poverty by opening a cafe, until her boyfriend is found murdered and she is the only suspect. (French with optional English and Spanish subtitles)

Mahaleo
San Francisco, CA, 102 minutes
California Newsreel, 2004
DVD 780.96 M277

Celebrates the intimate relationships of the Malagasy septet Mahaleo as the group prepares for its 30th anniversary concert in 2002. The seven members of the group have become professional musicians. Mahaleo contains eighteen of the group’s most famous hits: songs about migration from the countryside to the capital of Antananarivo, nostalgia when working overseas, men who leave their wives and children, love ballads, and a soldier’s guilty conscience. All of their songs call for solidarity among ordinary Malagasy. (French and Malagasy with English subtitles)

Le Malentendu Colonial
San Francisco, CA, 73 minutes
California Newsreel, 2004
DVD 960.3 M293

The filmmaker looks at European colonialism in Africa through the lens of Christian evangelism as the model for the relationship between Africa and western countries today. The history of German missionaries in Namibia in the 19th and 20th centuries is discussed by African and German historians and theologians, revealing how colonialism destroyed African beliefs and social systems and replaced them with European ones. (In French, German, and English, with English subtitles)

Mandekalou
France, 48 minutes
Syllart Productions
DVD 780.89 M312

With its impassioned, declamatory singing and complex, interweaving instrumental patterns, the music of the Mande jeliou, the Mande griots, is both Africa’s greatest claim to a significant classical tradition and the inspiration for some of the most vital popular music of the last half century. (English or French language tracks; English and French dialogue with subtitles in English and French)

Moolaadé
New York, NY, 124 minutes
New Yorker Films, 2004
VIDREC 392.14 M7782, DVD 392. 14 M7782w

To escape the ritual of "purification" organized every seven years, four young girls flee their village and find protection with Collé, but their flight sends the local population into turmoil. (In French and Jula with English subtitles)

Nabantwa' Bam
San Francisco, CA, 41 minutes
California Newsreel 2004
DVD 968.066 R229

This film is a fascinating case study of the emergence of social classes even within the same black South African family. Two brothers live with their successful and ambitious mother, a market researcher, in a comfortable, middle class Soweto home. The older brother Nhlanhla has suffered a head injury which may or may not have made him unemployable. In any case he had no time in the tumultuous decade preceding the end of apartheid to receive an education which would let him take advantage of the opportunities offered by the new South Africa. Street-wise instead, he spends his time in his own words, "mostly taking care of the dog." His younger brother, Miles, is a "born free," the first black student at his all white school and now a programmer with a promising career at Microsoft. Though fond of his brother, his life is in complete contrast to Nhlanhla's. Miles has very directed goals and clear deadlines for himself; his strong motivation shows what a difference it makes to know that there is no ceiling on one's ambitions. the two brothers reveal two distinct futures for South Africa which may well come into conflict. (In English and Zulu with English subtitles)

Nadine Gordimer
Vancouver, BC, 50 minutes
Villon Films, 1999
VIDREC 808.89896 N125

A documentary about the South African writer Nadine Gordimer. Ms. Gordimer speaks about her life and work, and about her country.

Night Stop
South Burlington, VT, 50 minutes
California Newsreel, 2001
VIDREC362.1969792 N563

This documentary tells of the lives of eight prostitutes living in northern Mozambique. They reveal their individual stories of pregnancy, the search for a husband, unrequited love, violence and resignation. While the women are aware of the dangers of HIV and AIDS, they continue to have unprotected sex. Also illustrates the world of the truck drivers as they talk among themselves. (In English, Ndebele, Shona, Nhungwe, and Portuguese with English subtitles)

Nirgendwo in Afrika = Nowhere in Africa
Culver City, CA, 142 minutes
Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment, 2003
DVD 791.43653 N629

Critically acclaimed, this is the award winning true tale of a Jewish family who flee the Nazi regime in 1938 and learn to cope with their new life, and each other, on a remote farm in Kenya. (In German and Swahili and English with English subtitles.)

La noire de …= Black girl
United States, 80 minutes
New Yorker Video, 2005
NOTE: ON SAME DVD AS BOROM SARRET = THE WAGONER
DVD 791.4372 N693

In this Sembène film, a Senegalese maid goes to the Riviera with her employers and gains a new perspective on what it means to be African outside of Africa. A story of exile and despair. (In French with English subtitles.)

On Tiptoe: the Music of Ladysmith Black Mambazo
San Francisco, CA, 56 minutes
California Newsreel, 2000
VIDREC 781.62963986

(Note: Title on label is On Tip Toe: Gentle Steps to Freedom)

The film recounts how a music affirming its deeply traditional roots has been passed down and popularized under the most hostile circumstances.

A Panther in Africa
New York, NY, 71 minutes
Filmakers Library, 2004
DVD 322.420973 P195

Documentary on Pete O’Neal, a Black Panther who fled from the United States in 1969 after he was arrested for transporting a gun across state lines. O’Neal talks about his life in exile in Tanzania and how has adapted his ideals to his adopted country, and reflects on his revolutionary past.

Patience and Pinkie: Mother to Child
San Francisco, CA, 44 minutes
California Newsreel, 2001
VIDREC 362.1969792 P2737

Follows the lives of two pregnant and HIV-positive women fortunate enough to be on a drug trial at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto. The film charts the lives of Kholiwe (Patience) and Ntombekaya (Pinkie), who have made friends at the clinic’s support group for HIV-positive mothers as they approach the delivery of their babies. It is about their expectations, hopes, and inevitable fears concerning not only the health of their babies, but the trauma around the disclosure of their status to their families and partners as well. It is also about the commitment of the people at the HIV perinatal clinic. (In English, Xhosa, and Zulu with English subtitles)

The Price of Aid
Brooklyn, NY, 55 minutes
First Run/Icarus Films, 2004
DVD 363.883 P931

This video discusses U.S. donations of food for famine relief in foreign countries, through a case-study in Zamibia, and the complex relationships between international aid, international media, American business and politics, and the impact on local agriculture, public health and international trade relations.

Prime Time South Africa
San Francisco , CA, 110 minutes
California Newsreel, 1997   
VIDREC 791.453 P93502

Dramas, comedies, game shows and commercials were chosen to demonstrate the variety of ways South African media is now portraying its new, post-apartheid society. Includes episodes from 5 series. Soul City deals with AIDS in a clinic in a South African township. Local Voter is a game show presenting voter education. The Rhythm and Rights series explores political issues from women’s rights to unemployment through a fictional community radio station. Generations is a primetime drama set in a Black-owned advertising agency, while Going Up is a situation comedy set in a multiracial law firm. (In English and other South African languages with subtitles in English)

Le Prix du Pardon: Ndeysaan = The Price of Forgiveness
South Burlington, VT, 91 minutes
California Newsreel, 2001
VIDREC 791.436521 P939

In a mythical pre-colonial fishing village on the south coast of Senegal, a strange ocean mist hangs over the waters for weeks and the local fishermen fear to go out to sea. One son of a wise elder decides to take his boat onto the waters and returns when the mist lifts with a full catch. He has become a hero, and has won the heart of the prettiest girl in the village, but has also won the envy of his best friend, who also covets the girl. (In Wolof with English subtitles; credits in French)

Quand Les Etoiles Rencontrent La Mer = When the Stars Meet the Sea
San Francisco, CA, 77 minutes
California Newsreel, 1996
VIDREC 791.43615 Q257

A boy born during a lunar eclipse survives abandonment and inherits magical powers. (French and Malagasy dialogue with English subtitles)

Real Stories from a Free South Africa
San Francisco, CA, 5 videodiscs
California Newsreel, 2004
DVD 968.066 R229
(Note- Five DVDs: Hot Wax, Cinderella of the Cape Flats, Belonging, Umgidi, Nabantwa Bam’)

Five films showing how the ten years of freedom from apartheid in South Africa have affected the lives of ordinary South Africans since the election of Nelson Mandela in May, 1994. (See individual entries for more information.)

A Red Ribbon Around My House
South Burlington, VT, 28 minutes
California Newreel, 2001
VIDREC 362.1969792 R245

A mother and daughter are in crisis because of their different responses to AIDS. The mother, Pinky, is flamboyant and open about the fact that she is HIV-positive. The daughter, Ntombi, battles to be just like everyone else. Her mother’s refusal to be passive in the face of AIDS sets them both apart. (In English, Afrikaans, Sotho, and Zulu with English subtitles)

The Return of Sara Bartman
Brooklyn, NY, 52 minutes
First Run/Icarus Films, 2003
VIDREC 930.1 R316, DVD 930.1R316f

Chronicles the return of the remains of Sara Baartman, an African woman who had been exhibited as a freak in early nineteenth-century Europe. (In English and French with English subtitles)

Science Wages War on Hunger: Modifying Africa through Biotechnology
New York, NY, 46 minutes
Cinema Guild, 2005
DVD 660.6 Sci271

Documentary on the use of biotechnology to boost food production in Africa. Features interviews with African, European and American scientists who argue for and against the use of biotechnology.

Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire
San Francisco, CA, 91 minutes
California Newsreel, 2005
DVD 967.57104 Sh151

Lt. General Roméo Dallaire was the commander of the UN peacekeeping troops in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide which claimed 800,000 lives. This film follows Dallaire back to Rwanda ten years after the massacre in order for him to come to terms with the atrocities he witnessed there. Dallaire describes his experiences while in Rwanda and how they have since affected him.

Si-Gueriki: la reine-mère
San Francisco, CA, 63 minutes
California Newsreel, 2003
VIDREC 966.83 Si1

A tribute to the filmmaker's late father, a member of a royal family in northern Benin. But in the course of his investigations, the director discovers the lives of his mother and sisters, which had previously been invisible to him, and he decides to make a film about them instead. Si-Gueriki examines partriarchy and the role of women in a polygamous society. (In Bariba and French with English subtitles)

Le Silence de la Foret
San Francisco, CA, 93 minutes
California Newsreel, 2003
VIDREC 791.43651 Si33

This first feature film from the Central African Republic tells a story of Gonaba, a 30-year-old, who returns to his country on completion of his studies in France. Disillusioned with the post-colonial elite who now rule the country, Gonaba dreams of improving the education and living standards of his people, where in the words of a cynical boatman, "In this country we have manioc for breakfast, manioc for lunch, manioc for dinner, and a new set of ministers every month.” (In Sango, Diaka and French with English subtitles)

Sisters In Law
New York, NY, 104 minutes
Women Make Movies, 2005
DVD 342.0878 Si846

A documentary record of a courtroom in Kumba, Cameroon, where a female prosecutor and judge work to put an end to their community’s tacit acceptance of child abuse, wife beating and rape. (In English and pidgin English, with English subtitles)

Sisters of the Screen: African Women in the Cinema
New York, NY, 73 minutes
Women Make Movies, 2002
VIDREC 791.4082096 Si84, DVD 791.4082096 Si84w

Interviews of thirty-five women filmmakers from Africa and the African diaspora, interspersed with clips from their films. (In English, French with English subtitles)

Spirits of the Rocks
Princeton, NJ, 79 minutes
Films for the Humanities & Sciences, 2004
DVD 305.896 Sp485

A documentary examining the rituals, customs and rock paintings of the San people in Namibia. (Narration in English, with San dialogue and English subtitles)

State of Denial
San Francisco, CA, 83 minutes
California Newsreel, 2003
VIDREC 614.599392 St291, DVD 614.599392 St291c

South Africa is the country with the highest number of HIV positive people in the world. By the year 2000, an estimated 4.2 million people were infected with HIV; if present trends continue by 2010, 7 million will have died of the disease. State of Denial puts a human face on the millions affected by introducing us to six South Africans involved with the AIDS epidemic. It shows how they must fight not only the disease but the greed of the drug cartels and the neglect and inactivity of their own government in order to get treatment.

Talk Mogadishu: Media under Fire
Oley, PA, 50 minutes
Bullfrog Films, 2003
DVD 384.54 T144

Documents the operation of the independent, non-partisan radio and television station, HornAfrik, in the Somali capitol of Mogadishu.

The Tree of Our Forefathers
Oley, PA, 53 minutes
Bullfrog Films, 2004
VIDREC 362.8709679 T714

Film follows a refugee family who has spent 10 years living in a refugee camp in Malawi as they make the return journey to their homeland in the Tete Province of Mozambique where they at last can pay proper respects to their dead under the village tree. (English voiceovers)

Tusamehe
Minneapolis, MN, 108 minutes
Kibira Films International, 2006
DVD 791.436543 T87

A story of a successful African immigrant named Bilantanya and his near-perfect marriage to his "African queen" Salome slowly morphs into an eye-opening illustration of the harsh realities of living with AIDS when Bilantanya unknowingly infects his wife (and perhaps their unborn child) with the HIV virus. (In Swahili and English with English subtitles)

Twelve Disciples of Nelson Mandela
San Francisco CA, 73 minutes
California Newsreel, 2005
DVD 323.168092 T917

Confronted with the death of his stepfather, director Thomas Allen Harris embarks on a journey to understand the man who raised him, Pule Benjamin Leinaeng ("Lee") - an ANC foot-soldier who sacrificed his life for the freedom of his country. As part of the first wave of South African freedom fighters, Lee and his comrades left their homeland in 1960 to broadcast to the world the brutality of apartheid and to raise support for the African National Congress and its leaders, Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo. This film is an intimate tale about an African-American family, the anti-apartheid movement and the quest for reconciliation between a father and son.

Umgidi
San Francisco, CA, 74 minutes,
California Newsreel, 2004
DVD 968.066 R229

When Sipho, who spent five years in Robben Island Prison, gets a call from his father to help convince his reluctant younger brother to get circumcised, he procrastinates. Then he gets an anguished letter from this brother Vuyo, informing him that he finally discovered he was adopted at birth. Vuyo is in crisis and is convinced that Sipho knows the truth about his biological parents. Sipho returns to Cape Town to help his brother. Sipho was covertly circumcised in the Robben Island prison but failed to perform the full ceremony so he decides to do so now. Meanwhile Vuyo announces that he is gay which throws the family into convulsions. On the eve of Sipho's circumcision ceremony Vuyo attempts suicide. This "acting out" effectively deflects attention from Sipho's ceremony. The film explores a family and a country trying to embrace both modernity and tradition. While Sipho struggles to help his brother accept his roots, his brother desperately wants to escape them. This extraordinary documentary is made even more complex by the fact that it is filmed by Sipho's wife who happens to be a white woman, both an outsider and an insider in this tight-knit family drama. (In English and Xhosa with English subtitles.)

Viva Laldjére = Viva Algeria
New York, NY, 113 minutes
Film Movement, 2004
DVD 791.43653 V836

Three women: a mother, her daughter, and a prostitute have been living in a hotel in the center of town amid creeping fundamentalism. Goucem, the daughter, has chosen a modern, emancipated life, spending steamy weekends in nightclubs. Fifi, her faithful friend, prostitutes herself under the thumb of a local protector. Papicha, the mother, eats pizzas in front of the television, torn between fear and nostalgia. (French dialogue with English subtitles.)

Wa’n wina=Sincerely Yours
South Burlington, VT, 52 minutes
California Newreel, 2001
VIDREC 362.1969792 W181

Filmmaker Dumisani Phakathi returns to his old neighborhood in Phiri, Soweto and engages with friends to discuss relationships, sex, love, and AIDS. They talk intimately about the realities of the street and choices they have been forced to make. Reveals the gaps between everyday life and the AIDS campaigns that often talk past the very people they are supposed to address. (In Zulu and Sotho with English subtitles)

White City, Black Lives
Brooklyn, NY 57 minutes
First Run/Icarus Films, 1997
DVD 968.0627 W582

Five residents of White City, a neighborhood in Soweto, South Africa, are given small cameras in which to tell the story of their lives providing a view of black urban life in South Africa. (In undetermined language with English subtitles)

Witches in Exile
San Francisco, CA, 79 minutes
California Newsreel, 2005
DVD 133.4309 W77102

Introduces us to four women who have taken refuge in the Kukuo witches’ camp and who represent a cross section of the ’witch’ population of Northern Ghana today. It leads us on a step by step journey on how a woman becomes stigmatized as a ’witch.’ (In Dagboni and English with English subtitles)

Yesterday
New York, NY, 95 minutes
Home Box Office, 2006
DVD 791.43651 Y48

After falling ill, Yesterday learns that she is HIV positive.  With her husband in denial and a young daughter to tend to, Yesterday’s one goal is to live long enough to see her child go to school.  Set against the awesome, harsh landscapes of South Africa. (In Zulu with English or French subtitles)