Amina Barakat speaks with Azza El Hosseiny at the Khouribga Film Festival in Morocco (Africine)

Amina Barakat speaks with Azza El Hosseiny
at the Khouribga Film Festival in Morocco
(Africine)

Published 29/10/2023. Translation from French by Beti Ellerson. A collaboration with Africine.org and the African Women in Cinema Blog. Image africine: Azza El Hosseiny at the Khouribga Film Festival.

Africiné - La parole aux Égyptiennes invitées à Khouribga : Azza El Hosseiny. http://africine.org/entretien/la-parole-aux-egyptiennes-invitees-a-khouribga-azza-el-hosseiny/15847

They are delighted to be invited to the African cinema festival which took place in Khouribga, from May 6 to 13, 2023. The event was created in 1977 by the dean of Moroccan critics, the late Nour Eddine Sail (inspired by the late Tunisian Tahar Chériaa, founder of the Carthage Festival, Tunis in 1966). The Moroccan festival is held annually.

Far from being a tourist region, Khouribga is known for the production of phosphate. While its focus on African cinemas enlivens the city and ridding it of phosphate dust. The city has become an unmissable annual gathering and a meeting place for African cinema professionals par excellence. 

On this occasion, a meeting with two women in cinema took place in this context: Azza El Hosseiny and Marwa Al Cherkawi, two Egyptian artists invited to take part in this 23rd edition.

To find out more about women as cinema professionals, Africiné magazine connected with Azza El Hosseiny.

Azza El Hosseiny, Egyptian actress and filmmaker, is the director of the Luxor African Cinema Festival (LAFF), in Egypt (organized since 2012 by the Independent Shabab Foundation - ISF). Azza participated in the colloquium entitled “Cinema: memory and perspective”. These works have the slogan “Our cinema must speak to its time…Our cinema must resist time.”

Participation in the Khouribga 2023 colloquium

Safeguarding cinematographic memory

AE-H: We must think seriously about the importance of finding a way to safeguard cinematographic memory. Due to the lack of a film library specific to African cinema, foreign, European and American institutions take on the responsibility to do so.

Unfortunately, we are not the ones engaged in the the archival of our films. So we must create an African film library of our own, in order to archive our artistic heritage, including, fiction films and documentaries. This must be done in cooperation with the African Union [based in Addis Ababa] as the institution responsible for safeguarding African identity with all its components, which includes cinema.

We must work on digitizing the archives. It is also important to restore the most important films in our cinematic history in order to give new generations the opportunity to see them, because it is through films that we can know so much about our past, our customs, our culture—even the old streets and places of habitation.

The women and cinema

AE-H: Well, I prefer not to talk in terms of gender or sexism in cinema. This is a job that women do as any other kind of work; of course it has its own specificities. I cite the example of Egypt where women have been integrated within this environment for a very long time, as actresses then as directors, until they became filmmakers in their own right. They are present in all areas related to the production of a film work. The number of women who have chosen to go behind the camera is definitely increasing, despite the constraints that can impede their work.

By mastering these tools they become professionals in the field. Hence, by choosing this profession she is the one who must assume responsibility for her choice.

Women’s place in an environment which for a long time has been male-dominated

AE-H: I confirm this thesis, because women have demonstrated that they are capable of ensuring and taking responsibility for their choices and they have met the challenge of being a women and a filmmaker. 

Amina Barakat speaks with Marwa El Sharkawy at the Khouribga Film Festival in Morocco (Africine)

Amina Barakat speaks with Marwa El Sharkawy

at the Khouribga Film Festival in Morocco

(Africine)

Published 29/10/2023. Translation from French by Beti Ellerson. A collaboration with Africine.org and the African Women in Cinema Blog.

Image africine: Marwa El Sharkawy receives the Paulin Vieyra Award with Arjouma Soma.

http://africine.org/entretien/la-parole-aux-egyptiennes-invitees-a-khouribga-marwa-el-sharkawy/15846

They are delighted to be invited to the African cinema festival which took place in Khouribga, from May 6 to 13, 2023. The event was created in 1977 by the dean of Moroccan critics, the late Nour Eddine Sail (inspired by the late Tunisian Tahar Chériaa, founder of the Carthage Festival, Tunis in 1966). The Moroccan festival is held annually.

Far from being a tourist region, Khouribga is known for the production of phosphate. While its focus on African cinemas enlivens the city and ridding it of phosphate dust. The city has become an not-to-miss annual gathering and a meeting place for African cinema professionals par excellence. 

On the occasion of this annual event, a meeting with two women in cinema took place, Azza El Hosseiny and Marwa Al Cherkawi, two Egyptian artists invited to take part in this 23rd edition.

To find out more about women as cinema professionals, Africiné magazine connected with Marwa El Sharkawy.

Marwa El Sharkawy, director, screenwriter, cinematographer and producer, among the women invited to the Khouribga festival, with her short film entitled Azizati Ward | Dear Ward. She won the African Critics Paulin Vieyra Award at this 23rd edition which marks the 46th anniversary of the Khouribga festival. Her filmography includes: Le pays de l'or (“The Land of Gold”, 4 mins, 2017), Rêves oubliés (“Forgotten Dreams”, a documentary which deals with kidney failure disease) among others.

Marwa El Sharkawy has also worked as assistant director. In 2012 she directed a documentary on the town of Damietta in the Nile Delta, awarded at the Ras Albir festival in Egypt, for best editing; Une femme à la fenêtre (“A woman at the window,” awarded for best documentary film at the 2019 edition of the Youssef Chahine Festival. Marwa has a clear preference for documentary cinema. She enjoys direct on-the-ground work and above all meeting people of different nationalities. The women's issues are also a priority for her.

Present at the awards ceremony of the 23rd edition of the African cinema festival, I took advantage of the opportunity to do a quick interview. Delighted and excited that her short film Azizati Ward won an award, she answered my questions.

Amina Barakat: What does this recognition mean to you in this distinguished festival where the competition was very tight?

ME-S: I am definitely happy to participate, and even more, to be among these beautiful people and great professionals of the 7th art. Receiving an award is a motivation that encourages me to do better and continue my research in order to improve my work and succeed in my projects which I care very much about.

AB: Have you been able to find your place in this rather male-dominated environment?

ME-S: I think so, the proof is that my works have won awards every time. So I confirm that the woman has certainly been able to carve out a prestigious place for herself alongside her male colleagues. She also demonstrated that she is capable of assuming the choice of putting herself behind the camera and overcoming the problems and challenges of being a woman and a director.

AB: As a filmmaker, do you think that professionals (women) have been able to overcome the obstacles that impede the making of a film?

ME-S: Without a doubt! In fact, it is particularly evident among the women who choose this profession, to have their say by talking about matters considered taboo, while everyone else is ashamed to talk about it or to expose it. The film Azizati Ward is an example. In the film I deal with the problem of genital circumcision among young girls and the harmful consequences physically and psychologically. Moreover, it is a mutilation condemned by human rights organizations and women's associations which fight against this practice.

All women filmmakers are striving to find solutions to many of these problems using cinema as a tool. We are currently witnessing a female presence in all Arab countries, even in Saudi Arabia. I find it impressive!

AB: Do you believe that a women’s cinema exists?

ME-S: Yes, because women are closer and more credible when dealing with a subject that concerns her situation. And usually,  she has direct knowledge of this area. She is generally sensitive to all matters relative to women.

AB: What are the most difficult problems in this profession?

ME-S: I’ll cite the freedom of expression in the treatment of issues that are considered as a red line not to be crossed, whether political or religious. But with time this is starting to diminish, giving voice to the women who desire to express themselves on these subjects. This is a step forward! 

Mamedjarra Diop-Mar: The Making of an African Dream

Mamedjarra Diop-Mar
The Making of an African Dream 

Senegal - 2023 - 27min

Description

The 10th anniversary of the Sunu Thiossane Youth Development Organization shows the journey that has been a kaleidoscope of steps towards a mission that focuses on educating African youth for greater, global impact.

This documentary focuses on the journey of growth, cultural awareness and bridging the gap between Africans and the Diaspora. From settling in Senegal to running a summer camp, to setting up a year-round youth program specifically aimed at providing quality education to our young people and our community.

The Making of an African Dream premiered at the Musee Des Civilisation Noires in Dakar in May 2023 and received the Judges Award for Best Foreign Documentary at the Gary International Black Film Festival in October; it is on the lineup at the International Images Film Festival for Women 2023.

Senegalese-American MameDjarra Diop-Mar is cofounder of Sunu Thiossane. Visit Mamedjarra Diop-Mar's Youtube Channel @ https://www.youtube.com/@mamedjarradiop8768/featured

Remembering Thérèse Sita-Bella : Tam-Tam à Paris - Il y a 60 ans | Sixty years ago

Thérèse Sita-Bella

Tam-Tam à Paris, il y a 60 ans | Sixty years ago

Journalist André Pouya remembers his interview in 1989

Journaliste André Pouya se souvient de son interview in 1989

 

“Sita Bella, have you thought about writing a book?”, journalist André Pouya asks Thérèse Sita-Bella. She responds: “I continue to write at the present. I have some ideas, and it is never too late to write about them. If I do publish them, the purpose will be to inform and teach.  Remember that I am also a filmmaker. I have many scripts that are lying idle that I would love to bring to fruition. I plan to retire soon and filmmakers are ageless. This will be my way to leave a message…”

 

Journalist André Pouya remembers vividly his interview with Thérèse Sita-Bella at Fespaco in 1989. In homage to her and in recognition of the release of her film 60 years ago in 1963, journalist André Pouya recounts to Beti Ellerson his memories of this pioneer who left us in 2006. 

Young Burkinabe having just completed his doctorate entitled “Die Deutsche Welle : la Voix de l'Allemagne et ses auditeurs francophones d'Afrique (The Deutsche Welle: the voice of Germany and its listeners from francophone Africa)", he was eager to get the reflections of Thérèse Sita Bella on the role of journalism in Cameroon. During her time in the French capital among her media assignments she was correspondent for Deutsche Welle.

In the introduction to the 1989 interview, he outlines her journey: "Thèrése Sita Bella participated in the creation of La vie africaine, the first African journal in France, where she worked until 1964-1965. Afterwards, she spent six months at UNESCO [based in Paris] and also participated in the creation of many radio programs destined for listeners in Africa, including the African Service of the BBC in French, and Radio-Cologne, Germany. She was also correspondent for Voice of America, as well as the Radio Television Luxembourg, then the ORTF (Office de Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française), the French Radio. She returned to Cameroon in 1967, where she immediately began working at the Ministry of Information. Today she is chief deputy at the Department of Documentation." 

 

***

 

« Sita Bella, l'idée vous est-elle venue d'écrire un livre par exemple? » le journalist André Pouya demande à Thérèse Sita-Bella. Elle répond: « Pour le moment, je suis employée aux écritures. Les journalistes sont employés aux écritures. J'ai quelques idées. Il n'est jamais trop tard pour bien faire. Si j'écris un jour, ce sera dans un but didactique. Je suis en train d'écrire sur l’information et relations humaines. Je mets ce genre de choses en chantier. N'oubliez pas que je suis cinéaste. J'ai beaucoup de scénario qui chôment et que j'aimerais bien réaliser. Je vais prendre ma retraite d'ici quelque temps et les cinéastes n'ont pas d'âge. Ce sera ma manière de laisser un message... » 

 

Le journaliste André Pouya se souvient très bien de son entretien avec Thérèse Sita-Bella au Fespaco en 1989. En hommage à celle-ci et la sortie de son film Tam-Tam à Paris il y a 60 ans en 1963, il raconte à Beti Ellerson ses souvenirs de cette pionnière qui nous a quitté en 2006.

 

Jeune burkinabè venant de terminer son doctorat intitulé « Die Deutsche Welle : la Voix de l'Allemagne et ses auditeurs francophones d'Afrique », il avait hâte de connaître les pensées de Thérèse Sita Bella sur le rôle du journalisme au Cameroun. En effet, durant sa période parisienne, parmi ses nombreuses responsabilités dans les médias, elle était correspondante de Deutsche Welle.

 

Dans l’introduction de l'entretien de 1989, il esquisse son parcours: « Elle a participé à la création du premier journal africain en France qui avait pour titre La Vie Africaine, où elle a travaillé jusqu'en 1964-1965. Ensuite elle a été six mois à l'UNESCO et a également participé à la création de beaucoup d'émissions radiophoniques à destination de l'Afrique et notamment au service africain de la B.B.C., en français et de radio-Cologne, en R.F.A. Elle a été également correspondante de la Voix de l'Amérique, sans compter la Radio Télévision Luxembourg puis de l'O.R.T.F. Elle est rentrée au Cameroun, en 1967, aussitôt engagée au Ministère de l'Information. Aujourd'hui elle est chef de service adjoint de la Documentation. » 

 

En Français ci-après

 

My testimony

I met Thérèse Sita-Bella at the 11th Pan-African Film Festival in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The major cultural event was held from February 25 to March 04, 1989. Among the festival-goers, the young journalist that I was, noticed an elegant lady, dressed all in white, wearing a hat. To my "bonjour, Madame!" she replied, with a smile, "bonjour, young man!". This reaction encouraged me to introduce myself, FESPACO badge in evidence. Five months earlier, I had returned from my studies to work for Sidwaya, a daily newspaper dedicated to informing and mobilizing the people. This word, in the Mooré language, one of the most widely spoken in the former Upper Volta, literally means "Truth has come". President Thomas Sankara and his comrades created it in 1984, in the spirit of the Great Revolution of October. Lenin, Stalin and their companions had founded the newspaper Pravda, or Truth, in Russian, on April 22, 1912. Reassured by her kindness and spontaneity, I took the conversation further. I congratulated her, gallantly, on her outfit, insisting on the quality of the hat. "You love Old French elegance", she teased, watching my reaction. Unmasked, so to speak, I confessed. We talked about dancing, too. I pointed out that her outfit was suitable for waltzing... I asked her for an interview. She agreed. We met the next day under a thatched-roof bungalow in a hotel popular with festival-goers. As elegant as ever, she willingly lent herself to my questions. She insisted on her three initial vocations, pilot, journalist and filmmaker. Thérèse’s to-do-list brimmed with projects: writing—in order to pass on the knowledge, she had accumulated, and film scripts.

 

I was saddened to learn of her death on February 27, 2006. She died destitute and alone, according to Cameroonian media. Those who admire and think back fondly of her go to pay their respects at her grave, at the Catholic cemetery in the Cameroonian capital, Yaoundé.

 

Mon témoignage

J’ai rencontré Thérèse Sita-Bella lors de la 11è édition du Festival panafricain de cinéma de Ouagadougou, au Burkina Faso. La grande manifestation culturelle se tenait du 25 février au 04 mars 1989. Parmi les festivaliers, le jeune journaliste que j’étais avait remarqué une dame élégante, vêtue tout en blanc, en chapeau. À mon « bonjour, Madame ! » elle avait répondu, avec le sourire, « bonjour, jeune homme ! ». Cette réaction m’avait encouragé à me présenter, badge FESPACO en évidence. Rentré des études, cinq mois plus tôt, j’officiais au quotidien d’information et de mobilisation du peuple, Sidwaya. Ce mot, en langue mooré, l’une des plus parlées dans l’ancienne Haute-Volta, signifie, littéralement, « La Vérité est venue ». Le président Thomas Sankara et ses camarades l’avaient créé, en 1984, dans l’esprit de la Grande Révolution d’octobre 1913. Lénine, Staline et leurs compagnons avaient institué le journal La Pravda, La Vérité, en russe, le 22 avril 1912. Rassuré par cette gentillesse et cette spontanéité, je poussai loin la conversation. Je la félicitai, galamment, pour sa tenue, insistai sur la qualité du chapeau. « Tu aimes l’élégance Vieille France », me taquina-t-elle, en surveillant ma réaction. Démasqué, pour ainsi dire, j’avouai. Nous parlâmes de danse, également. Je lui indiqué que sa tenue était adaptée à la valse… Je lui sollicitai une interview. Elle accepta. Rendez-vous, le lendemain, sous une paillote, dans un hôtel prisé par les festivaliers. Toujours aussi élégante, elle se prêta, de bonne grâce, à mes questions. Elle a insisté sur ses trois vocations de départ, pilote, journaliste et cinéaste. Thérèse grouillait de projets : écriture, afin de transmettre les connaissances qu’elle avait accumulées, et scenarii de films.

Avec tristesse, j’ai appris sa mort, le 27 février 2006. Elle est morte dans le dénuement et la solitude, selon les media camerounais. Les personnes qui l’admirent et qui l’affectionnent pourront toujours se recueillir sur sa tombe, au cimetière catholique de Yaoundé, la capitale du Cameroun.

 

 

 

l'Institut des Afriques - Rencontre conviviale | Convivial encounters (Afriques en vision) - Les représentations des luttes dans les cinémas africains | Representations of struggle in African cinemas - 2 December 2023

l'Institut des Afriques
Rencontre conviviale | Convivial encounters (Afriques en vision)
Les représentations des luttes dans les cinémas africains | Representations of struggle in African cinemas
2 December 2023
Cinéma UTOPIA Bordeaux

https://institutdesafriques.org/agenda/table-ronde-luttes-afriques-en-vision/

Representing struggle in African cinemas is a process that involves a combination of several paradigms: political, social, economic, historical and memorial. This fight to define Africas began at the eve of decolonizations with the revolutions of independence. From the sixties, African filmmakers reclaimed their history, their stories and their imaginaires. During this same movement, filmmakers, like Ousmane Sembène, mobilized their cinema to represent the endogenous struggles of African societies after independence. After the euphoria of independence and the denunciations of post-independent African political systems, African filmmakers of today have chosen to work outside of this dichotomy between past and present in the face of growing struggles that affect the entire world (such as global warming, gender equality, ultra-liberalism, etc.). Today's African filmmakers invite us to observe these struggles through a triptych and complex reading which consists of revisiting History in order to understand current events and to project oneself into the future.

Représenter les luttes dans les cinémas africains est un processus qui suppose un alliage de plusieurs paradigmes : politiques, sociaux, économiques, historiques et mémoriels. Cette lutte pour dire les Afriques a commencé la veille des décolonisations avec les révolutions des indépendances. Dès les années soixante, les cinéastes africain·e·s reprenaient possession de leur histoire, récits et imaginaires. Dans ce même mouvement, d’autres cinéastes, comme Ousmane Sembène, mobilisaient leur cinéma pour représenter les luttes endogènes aux sociétés africaines après les indépendances. Après les euphories des indépendances, des dénonciations des systèmes politiques africains post-indépendants, les cinéastes africain·e·s de nos jours ont choisi de sortir de cette dichotomie entre hier- aujourd’hui face à des luttes grandissantes qui touchent le monde entier (comme le réchauffement climatique, l’égalité du genre, l’ultra-libéralisme..). C’est à travers une lecture triptyque et complexe qui consiste à revisiter l’Histoire pour comprendre l’actualité et se projeter dans l’avenir que les cinéastes africain·e·s d’aujourd’hui nous invitent à observer les luttes.

Invité·e·s de la Rencontre | Participants of the Encounter

Annouchka de Andrade, présidente de "Les Amis de Sarah Maldoror"

Gabrielle Chomentowski, chargée de recherche au CNRS

Katy Léna Ndiaye, réalisatrice de "Une histoire du franc CFA"

Thierno Souleymane Diallo, réalisateur de "Au cimetière de la pellicule"

Thierno Dia, critique et historien des cinémas africains

Alessandro Jedlowski, anthropologue des médias

 

AFRICA CINEMA SUMMIT (Ghana) November 2023

AFRICA CINEMA SUMMIT

GHANA

14-16 November 2023

https://africacinemasummit.com/

Welcome message from Juliet Y. A. Asante

CEO, The National Film Authority, Ghana:

From the 14 of November, 2023, the Africa cinema summit will bring together players in the space to discuss the opportunities latent in the region. This is a bold step to throw a much needed spotlight on the opportunities for cinema growth and the role that all players have to play. This is part of a cinema agenda strategy by the National film Authority of Ghana to work to impact the space with a pan-African approach.

The Africa Cinema Summit (ACS) is a three - day summit that brings stakeholders from the cinema industry value chain across the world to Africa.

The summit is unique as it is the first of its class to be held in Africa and it focuses on the peculiarities in the African cinema space as well as the challenges and the numerous opportunities the industry offers.

This is a result oriented summit, skewed towards creating a compelling and conducive avenue for participants to network, foster partnerships, generate leads and possibly close deals during the event and thereafter.

African Women Behind The Camera: African Diaspora International Film Festival - ADIFF NYC 2023

African Women Behind The Camera

African Diaspora International Film Festival
ADIFF NYC 2023

African Women Behind The Camera
Screenings of Otiti and Big Little Women
with Panel discussion and Reception

Tuesday, November 28, 2023 6:00 PM EST
at Teachers College, Columbia University

https://adiddnyc.eventive.org/schedule/651f0bd3999fa1006606c609