The Guardian‘s Africa Network has collected a list of eight African movies to look forward to this year. From Nigeria they list Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun which was directed by Biyi Bandele, author of Burma Boy, and will star Thandie Newton and Chiwetel Ejiofor.

South Africa’s Khalo Matabane, whose work is featured in Positions: Contemporary South African Artists, has made a documentary titled A Letter to Mandela, which “explores ideas of freedom, forgiveness and reconciliation in conversations with thinkers from across the world”. The documentary features an interview with Nobel Prize-winning author Wole Soyinka, whose most recent work, Of Africa, takes a broad look at the history and identity of the African continent.

We have selected eight films from five African countries to look out for in 2013 – the year of the 23rd edition of FESPACO – the bi-annual pan-African film and television festival of Ouagadougou.

Burn it up Djassa by Lonesome Solo (Cote d’Ivoire)

Labelled “a film by the people for the people”, Burn it up Djassa is about a young street hustler in Abidjan looking for a break. After shooting his first feature, Lonesome Solo escaped the war torn Cote d’Ivoire and has not been seen since.

Find out more over at The Guardian