CinemAfrica Sweden 2014 | 19 – 23 March

578610_10152388521522580_1213759471_n

19th – 23rd March 2014

CinemAfrica arranges the largest African film festival in Sweden. The festival is a unique opportunity for children, youth and adults to watch and discuss films from emerging African film industries. They show feature films, documentaries, short films and animations made by filmmakers of African descent and works to highlight the Africans own pictures and stories.

Kenyan artists/filmmakers Wangechi Mutu and Jim Chuchu both have work that is screening. Mutu’s first animated film The End of eating Everything will be screening and Chuchu’s work is also screening as part of the African Metropolis project which I previously featured here.

African metropolis

cinemafrica 2014

There are also talks and special Q&A sessions throughout the festival. What part does contemporary art from Africa play across the global art world? Three artists who all use visual art as one of their mediums will be hosting a discussion, international Kenyan artist Wangechi Mutu, producer/researcher/presenter Zina Saro-Wiwa and innovative filmmaker Frances Bodomo. In collaboration with the Museum of Modern Art in Stockholm. This event is free.

10007410_10152388033252580_620685689_n

Stuart Hall was one of the greatest and most influential thinkers, and has been a constant presence in the global public debate for over 50 years, a pioneer in everything from the British New Left to feminist cultural analysis and postcolonial studies. In this sensitive told documentary director John Akomfrah creates a beatiful portrait of Stuart Hall from archive images and audio fragments, and creates an equal political and personal dialogue about memory, identity and our age’s dramatic history.

cinemafrica 2014

The history of black women in the American civil rights movement in the 60’s – and 70’s in a large-scale and ambitious documentary, a celebration of generations and a lesson to today’s feminists from the young, Nigeria-born filmmaker Nevline Nnaji. With a mixture of fresh interviews and archival material, we follow the emergence of a strong, international solidarity, black feminism, which is forced to fight against both sexist structures in the civil rights movement and racist structures in the women’s movement.

cinemafrica2014

Some would argue that no area within the film world has changed so fast and so spectacularly in recent years as the African music videos, today a giant industry that established links with many of the most exciting and experimental willing new filmmakers. Along with a panel of directors who all have been involved in various ways in the music video world, examples will be shown and there will be discussions about the production, aesthetics, the music industry and how today directors are approaching the history and future.  Teddy Goitom from Stocktown where music videos are prominently featured, will be on the panel.

Also screening are various films I have featured here including Afronauts  and Boneshaker by Frances Bodomo,

The Robots of Brixton and Jonah by Kibwe Tavares,

Continue reading

9·88 Films | Ultra-Short Filmmaking Challenge

9.88

Deadline: 9 April.

Influenced by the energy and intensity of the 100m sprint (a global event that captivates audiences in under 10 seconds.), 9·88 Films invites filmmakers of all levels of experience in Scotland, the UK, and across the Commonwealth to create films up to 10 seconds long, on any subject and using any form of moving image, and submit it online.

Three award winners, and a student winner, will be selected by an industry jury, to win great prizes and have their films showcased in Glasgow and beyond during the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Here are guidelines for submission of entries:

  • Entries must be no longer than 10 seconds.
  • All genres and forms of moving image are welcome.
  • Due to the online nature of 9.88 Films, the challenge is only open to entrants aged 18 and over.
  • Entries are invited from people living or born in a Commonwealth country.
  • Entry should be suitable for audiences of all ages.
  • Do not include a title card or credits. All shortlisted films will have a branded title and credits added at the start, based on your entry information.

Prizes include a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera (a Super 16 digital film camera), DaVinci Resolve (an advanced colour grading software), GoPro Hero3+ cameras and Adobe Premiere Elements 12.0 (easy-to-use video editing software). For more details about the prizes go here.

All prize winners will be awarded pre-feature screenings in cinemas including Glasgow Film Theatre, Filmhouse, and Dundee Contemporary Arts, with support from Cinema Arts Network. They’ll also receive a 12 month Shooting People membership. Every film that makes the shortlist will be part of a series of screenings in the UK and further afield, including:

  • The opportunity to be showcased in Channel 4’s short form strand The Shooting Gallery*.
  • Festival 2014 screenings (a games time celebration as part of the official cultural programme for Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games)
  • Glasgow Merchant City Festival 2014
  • Exposure to an international audience through the British Council

* subject to editorial approval and clearance.

For tips and tricks to help you get started, watch 9.88 Films’ video hints. Such as this one:

Continue reading

Vote for ‘Yellow Fever’ ! | Afrinolly Short Film Competition

yellow fever

Yellow Fever, by Kenyan artist and filmmaker Ng’endo Mukii has been shortlisted for the Afrinolly short film competition! Yellow Fever won the Silver Hugo for Best Animated Short at the Chicago International Film Festival, Best Short at the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards, Best Student Film at the Underexposed Film Festival YC, and a Special Mention at the Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen.

afrinollycomp

This is the first time it is available to watch online in full for free, ALL 7 minutes of rotoscoping, hand-drawn animation, pixilation and dancing! The film stands the chance to win, $5000 (3rd place) $10,000 (2nd place) and $25,000 (1st place).
Voting ends on Sunday 19th of January.

All you need to do is:
-click here
-Log in using your google+ or Facebook ID (the more the merrier!)
-Yellow Fever is in the Documentary category and you can vote there.

This is the first time Yellow Fever is available to watch online in full for free, ALL 7 minutes of rotoscoping, hand-drawn animation, pixilation, dancing, sweat and blood!!
Continue reading

Africa Movie Academy Award Winner Set to Make North American Debut

 kwakuananse_postcard.2
Portrait of Akosua by Mantse Aryeequaye

Portrait of Akosua by Mantse Aryeequaye

The Huffington Post recently named Akosua Adoma Owusu “Most Promising Filmmaker” at the Ann Arbor Film Festival, and one of the “Top 30 Black Contemporary Artists Under 40”. Her semi-autobiographical film, Kwaku Ananse has been winning awards of its own on the international stage this year. Now, both film and filmmaker are headed to the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), where Kwaku Ananse will make its North American debut.
Kwaku Ananse is one of a handful of shorts being featured in the program titled ‘To Repel Ghosts: Urban Tales from the African Continent’, which showcases remarkably uncanny and fiercely contemporary African stories.

Award-Winning ‘Kwaku Ananse’ To Premiere in Ghana

movie poster final945531_10100937565942146_1842907016_n
 

Kwaku Ananse’ has been making rounds on the international film scene and now the creative retelling of a fable about a part man part spider is finally making its way home to premiere in Ghana.

On Thursday, 4th July 2013, at 8pm, join AMAA award-winning film director, Akosua Adoma Owusu of Obibini Pictures, at one of Accra’s most notable venues, Alliance Française, for the screening of ‘Kwaku Ananse’.  Attendees of the premiere will have an opportunity to meet and greet the stars of the film, Koo Nimo and Grace Omaboe.  Guests will also enjoy an evening filled with Anansesem (spider tales) featuring a live music concert by the living legend Koo Nimo, Kyekyeku, and This House Is Not For Sale.

In her latest film, Kwaku Ananse, starring legendary Palm wine musician Koo Nimo, pioneering actress Grace Omaboe, and singer Jojo Abot; Owusu tells a unique and deeply personal story weaving it with a semi-autobiographical thread while preserving Ghanaian mythology.  ‘Kwaku Ananse’ was Ghana’s sole winning film at the 2013 Africa Movie Academy Awards where it was awarded the prize for Best Short Film.  In addition, to earning recognition at prestigious institutions around the world including Berlinale Film Festival, Cannes Short Film Corner, and most recently at the French Film Academy’s Golden Nights Panorama program for the World’s Best Short Films of the year.

 

KWAKU ANANSE Gets Nomination at 2013 African Movie Academy Awards

kwakuananse_postcard.2

Akosua Adoma Owusu, Ghanaian director and writer of the acclaimed short film Kwaku Ananse (which Ciné Kenya featured here), is thrilled to have her first narrative short nominated by the Africa Movie Academy Awards. “At its inception, I struggled to find a Ghanaian audience that would value our traditional story in contemporary cinema,” says Owusu, “it’s truly humbling Kwaku Ananse received the AMAA nomination. “

Kwaku Ananse was commissioned by Focus Features, as part of their prestigious Africa First Award Program, and supported by the Sarah Jacobson Grant, Art Matters grant, and a well-received IndieGogo Campaign.  The short film is a re-telling of the classic West African fable with a semi-autobiographical twist, featuring her uncle, Ghana’s legendary palm wine musician, Koo Nimo as Kwaku Ananse. Owusu received this award after gaining international attention with her short films, Drexciya and Me Broni Ba, as well as from her work within the art world at the famed Studio Museum in Harlem. Me Broni Ba, specifically, screened at over 80 international film festivals and was later acquired for distribution by The Cinema Guild.

Owusu_by_Yaanom2

Photo credit: Yaanom Multimedia

Combined with the unique co-production efforts of acclaimed Mexican producer, Julio Chavezmontes (Sundance New Frontier “Halley”) and Lisa Cortes (Executive Producer for Academy Award Winning “Precious”), Kwaku Ananse premiered in competition at the prestigious Berlinale Film Festival, as part of the Golden Bear competition, and was met with rave reviews.   Says the Guardian Nigeria,

“If Nollywood was absent at the Berlinale, Ghana was not. Akosua Adoma Owusu gave Ghana something to cheer about at the Berlinale.”

View trailer:

Between travelling internationally to screen her acclaimed works, and hustling to acquire the funding needed to propel everything forward, Owusu is working hard to both further her own dreams and inspire other African filmmakers that they, too, can do the same. Recently awarded the Most Promising Filmmaker prize at Ann Arbor Film Festival and named in the Huffington Post of “Top 30 Black Contemporary Artists Under 40”, she’s certainly paving the way to do both and is thrilled that Kwaku Ananse, is preserving a piece of Ghanaian mythology and is being so well-received by international audiences.

Contact: Sumie Garcia

Email: kwakuanansefilm@gmail.com

Photo credit: Yaanom Multimedia

Kwaku Ananse: Film Breathes Life Into Old West African Fable

tumblr_mgp92r08wG1qg0xfyo1_1280kwaku ananse.2jpg

Kwaku Ananse, 2013
25 mins
Nominated for Golden Bear, Berlinale Shorts

Ghana I Love You did an excellent feature on Ghanaian-American Akosua Adoma Owusu‘s short film “Kwaku Ananse”. Owusu wrote and directed the film which will make it’s World Premiere on February 12th at the 63rd Berlinale Film Festival.

The film is a creative retelling of a West African fable about wisdom which draws upon the rich mythology of Ghana. Owusu puts her unique stamp on the story by weaving semi-autobiographical elements with the tale of Kwaku Ananse, a trickster in West African stories who appears as both spider and man making the story deeply personal.

Continue reading