AFRICAN WOMEN IN CINEMA BLOG: February 2017

The purpose of the African Women in Cinema Blog is to provide a space to discuss diverse topics relating to African women in cinema--filmmakers, actors, producers, and all film professionals. The blog is a public forum of the Centre for the Study and Research of African Women in Cinema.

Le Blog sur les femmes africaines dans le cinéma est un espace pour l'échange d'informations concernant les réalisatrices, comédiennes, productrices, critiques et toutes professionnelles dans ce domaine. Ceci sert de forum public du Centre pour l'étude et la recherche des femmes africaines dans le cinémas.

28 February 2017

Luxor African Film Festival 2017: Children of the Mountain | “Les enfants de la montagne” by/de Priscilla Anany (Ghana)

Luxor African Film Festival 2017:

Children of the Mountain

by/de Priscilla Anany (Ghana)

Women at the 6th Edition |

Les femmes à la 6e édition

FEATURE FICTION | LONG METRAGE

Synopsis: Children of the Mountain “Les enfants de la montagne” (2016)

[English]

Children of the Mountain is a story about a woman who gives birth to a deformed and sickly child. Because she’s criticised and blamed for her child’s conditions, she becomes determined to do everything in her power to find a cure of him. When all fails and she becomes hopeless, she is pushed to getting rid of her child.

[Français]
Children of the Mountain (Les enfants de la montagne) raconte l'histoire d’une femme qui donne naissance à un enfant déformé et malade. Elle est critiquée et blâmée pour les conditions de son enfant, donc, elle est déterminée à faire tout son possible pour trouver une cure pour le soigner. Quand tous les autres recours ont échoué et qu'elle se trouve sans espoir, elle est poussée à la pointe de se débarrasser de son enfant.

Luxor African Film Festival 2017: Zin’naariya ! | The Wedding Ring | L’Alliance d’or by/de Rahmatou Keïta (Niger)

Luxor African Film Festival 2017

Zin’naariya ! | The Wedding Ring | L’Alliance d’or by/de Rahmatou Keïta (Niger)

Women at the 6th Edition |

Les femmes à la 6e édition

FEATURE FICTION | LONG METRAGE

Synopsis:

[English]

The Wedding Ring – (Source: IFFR)

The Wedding Ring (screen shot)

Tiyaa, a beautiful young woman from an aristocratic family, returns after a study in Paris to her place of birth, the Sultanate of Zinder in Niger. Her girlfriends and aunts soon notice that a shadow of sorrow hangs over her. She had to leave her lover behind in Paris and she is at a loose end back home. During a consultation with a zimma, a wise old man, she is advised to wait for the new moon to perform a love ritual.

Until that time, she roams the community having conversations with women of all ages, who offer her an insight into their love life and sensuality, taboos and culturally-defined codes, with a dash of mysticism.

[Français]

L’Alliance d’or (Source: Africultures)

Tiyaa est récemment de retour chez elle, dans le Sultanat de Zinder, après avoir fini ses études. La jeune femme essaie de surmonter le souvenir d’une histoire d’amour douloureuse. La promesse mystique d’un prince charmant souffle vers sa direction.

Frontières, by/d'Apolline Traoré : “Four women tackling African integration” | Quatre femmes à l'assaut de l'intégration africaine by/par Sid-Lamine Salouka

Frontières, d'Apolline Traoré : “Four women tackling African integration” | Quatre femmes à l'assaut de l'intégration africaine

Africine : published/publié 27-02-2017: by/par Sid-Lamine Salouka. Translation from French by Beti Ellerson.

[English] Français ci-après

The opening film of the 25th edition of the Pan African Festival of Cinema and Television in Ouagadougou (Fespaco) is a road movie by Apolline Traoré where, as usual, the Burkinabè filmmaker focuses on the empowerment of African woman. As the road movie is a cinematic genre that puts the voyage at the heart of its adventures, by its title ("Frontiers") Apolline Traoré's third feature is framed from the start as a fantastical journey of the problematic passage from one country to another. Indeed, the thread of the film is the trip from Dakar to Lagos by Hadjara (Amélie Mbaye), a Senegalese voyager who travels to buy goods for the women's association of which she is a member. In her crossing of West Africa, she meets and befriends three other women. The first is Emma (Naky Sy Savane), an Ivorian merchant who has been wayfaring on the roads for fifteen years without knowing why. In addition, there is Micha (Unwana Udobang), a Nigerian living in Burkina Faso who returns to her country to attend her sister's wedding, and eventually to reconcile with her family. Finally there is Sali (Adizétou Sidi), a young student of Bobo-Dioulasso who carries out a task for her fiancé in the capital of Nigeria. More than friendship, it is their similar quest that brings the heroines together: to free themselves from the authority of men and to assert themselves as people in their own right. If the purpose of this film is indeed African integration, especially within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), it is the slice of life of a week on the road of the quartet that is supposed to keep the viewer in suspense. During their expedition, it is the excesses of the phallocratic powers in their raw versions, that each of the women is confronted, more so than the administrative and sovereign ideologies of the countries. These States, and the absurd laws on which they seem to be based, are only pretexts in the hands of corrupt policemen and customs officers. They are mainly men, for the women civil servants are exemplary, such as a police officer who stops a thief and a jewellery trafficker. Moreover, racketeering and sexual abuse are commonplace among men of power.

But this seems to be the common lot of the woman: the husband of Hadjara beats her daily, while the fiancé (manipulator) of Sali does not hesitate to involve her in drug trafficking without her being aware of it. However, the discovery of this trafficking on the border between Benin and Nigeria creates an even closer bond between the four women, who mount their attack against the rogue authority in official uniform, giving the film a certain suspense. Gender issues are a constant feature in Apolline Traoré's films. In her last feature ("Moi, Zaphira"), a young widow lives in a village called Lagassa. The word, which means "Vaurien" in Dioula, but is pronounced "Lakassa", carries the meaning "lay down and die". In this village, the men, who refuse to cultivate a fertile land, rely on foreign aid for their survival. Zaphira, who dreams of a better destiny for her daughter, disguises herself as a man, and is employed as a miner on a nearby gold mining site. In "Frontières", the destinies of courageous mothers are also celebrated; even if some of their methods are dubious. For example, in order to obtain a pass, Hadjara shamelessly seduces a Senegalese customs postmaster at the beginning of the film. But later, she puts herself at the head of a commando that saves Sali from being raped. If the second action is commendable, the first sounds like the behaviour of a slut...

This is one of the difficulties of the film, which tries to reconcile the political ambition of the co-producer, ECOWAS, and the personal cause of the filmmaker. Placed between these two desires, the scenario of Apolline Traoré remains weak in its construction. The four portraits of women appear as many layers that overlap though without any real depth. And the characters, far from having texture, appear like incomplete sketches. The actresses’ performance, which fails to restore the truth of the characters, reinforces this perception. This, even if the casting and the mise en scène have improved considerably compared to "Moi, Zaphira". Another proof of the wide discrepancy in the work is the need to justify the message by a speech in voiceover that literally kills the film. Clearly, Apolline Traoré's passage to the road movie, even if full of well-meaning intentions, reveals above all, the choice of a framework a bit too large.

[Français]

Le film d'ouverture de la 25ème édition du Festival panafricain du cinéma et de la télévision de Ouagadougou (Fespaco), est un road movie d'Apolline Traoré où, comme à son habitude, la réalisatrice burkinabèe se penche sur l'émancipation de la femme africaine.

Le road movie est un genre cinématographique qui met le voyage au cœur de ses péripéties. Par son titre ("Frontières") le troisième long métrage d'Apolline Traoré se pose d'emblée comme un parcours rocambolesque au cours duquel le passage d'un pays à un autre pose problème. En effet, le fil conducteur du film est le voyage que la Sénégalaise Hadjara (Amélie Mbaye) effectue de Dakar à Lagos ; elle doit y acquérir des marchandises pour de l'association féminine dans laquelle elle milite. Dans sa traversée de l'Afrique occidentale, elle rencontre trois autres femmes avec qui elle se liera d'amitié. Tout d'abord, il y a Emma (Naky Sy Savané), une commerçante ivoirienne qui traficote sur les routes depuis quinze ans sans plus savoir pourquoi. Outre Micha (Unwana Udobang), une Nigériane installée au Burkina qui rentre au pays pour assister au mariage de sa sœur et, éventuellement, pour se réconcilier avec les siens. Il y a enfin Sali (Adizétou Sidi), une jeune étudiante de Bobo-Dioulasso chargée par son fiancé de porter une commission dans la capitale du Nigéria.

Plus que l'amitié, une même quête réunit les héroïnes : s'affranchir de la tutelle des hommes et s'affirmer en tant que personnes à part entière. Lire l'article complet sur Africine.

27 February 2017

Call for participation: Chouftouhonna, Tunis International Feminist Art Festival 2017 - Arabic - English - Français - Español - Português

Call for participation

Chouftouhonna, Tunis International Feminist Art Festival 2017

CHOUFTOUHONNA

Tunis International Feminist Art Festival 3rd edition

Le festival international d’Art Féministe de Tunis

El Festival Internacional de Arte Feminista de Túnez

O Festival Internacional de Arte Feminista em Tunis

Call for participation | Appel à participation |

Llamada a la participación | Chamada de Participação

(Arabic | English | Français | Español | Português)

http://chouf-minorities.org/chouftouhonna-3-appel-a-participation-call-for-participation/

ENGLISH:

We are pleased to announce the launch of the Open call for application for the third edition of CHOUFTOUHONNA, Tunis International Feminist Art Festival, which will be held on 07-08-09-10 September 2017.

Women and identifying as women artists and creators of all disciplines from all over the world are invited to submit their applications by 30 March 2017.

The success of the two previous editions confirmed the idea that an artistic space, exclusively dedicated to women is needed, not only in Tunisia but throughout the world.

In fact, the 75 participations in the first edition and the 130 in the second edition reveal a growing solidarity and interest around this project, and provide us the needed energy to carry on this very unique experience.

CHOUFTOUHONNA believes in an intersectional feminism and wants to be inclusive.

Thereby, the festival defends an art that emphasizes women’s visions and rights, but most of all has the ambition to give a space of expression to women, in their diversity.

Here is an overview of the second edition of CHOUFTOUHONNA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pt-sr5RGBpQ

Individuals or groups may apply according to the following categories:

Fine arts:

This category includes painting, sculpture, ceramics,

Engravings.