Mati Diop: Dahomey - The Golden Bear for Best Film - Berlinale 2024

« En tant que Franco-Sénégalaise, cinéaste afro-descendante, j’ai choisi d’être de ceux qui refusent d’oublier, qui refusent l’amnésie comme méthode »

 “As a Franco-Senegalese, afro-descendant cineaste, I chose to be among those who refuse to forget, who refuse amnesia as a method”

Dahomey

Berlinale 2024 Golden Bear for Best Film

directed by Mati Diop and produced by Eve Robin, Judith Lou Lévy, and Mati Diop

Berlinale 2024 Golden Bear for Best Film (awarded to the film’s producers)

2024 - Documentary - France/Senegal/Benin

Description 

Novembre 2021, vingt-six trésors royaux du Dahomey s’apprêtent à quitter Paris pour être rapatriés vers leur terre d’origine, devenue le Bénin. Avec plusieurs milliers d’autres, ces œuvres furent pillées lors de l’invasion des troupes coloniales françaises en 1892. Mais comment vivre le retour de ces ancêtres dans un pays qui a dû se construire et composer avec leur absence ? Tandis que l’âme des œuvres se libère, le débat fait rage parmi les étudiants de l’université d’Abomey Calavi.

November 2021, twenty-six royal treasures of Dahomey prepare to leave Paris to be returned to their land of origin, Benin. In 1892, with several thousands of others, these oeuvres were pillaged during the invasion by French colonial troops. How then will the return of these ancestors, to a country which has had to reconstruct and rebuild itself since their absence, be received? While the soul of these oeuvres frees itself, the issue is hotly debated among the students at the University of Abomey Calavi.

À voir aussi | Also see : The Berlinale Live 2024: Press Conference "Dahomey" - English & Français Mati Diop Jacqueline Nsiah, Berlinale member Habib Ahandessi, protagonist Gildas Adannou, protagonist Joséa Guedje, protagonist

 

À lire aussi:

La France a restitué 26 œuvres à la République du Bénin en 2021 : pourquoi ces pièces en particulier ?

https://www.quaibranly.fr/fr/missions-et-fonctionnement/eclairages-sur-les-demandes-de-restitution-du-patrimoine-africain

Also Read:

France will return 26 works to the Republic of Benin: why these particular pieces and what will happen to them?

https://www.quaibranly.fr/en/missions-and-operations/insights-into-the-restitutions-of-african-heritage-conserved-at-the-museum-1

Kaouther Ben Hania, laureate of the best documentary film at the 2024 César for Les Filles d'Olfa | Four Daughters

Kaouther Ben Hania,

laureate of the best documentary film at the 2024 César

for Les Filles d'Olfa | Four Daughters

"Les films changent notre rapport au monde" : Kaouther Ben Hania, lauréate du César 2024 du meilleur film documentaire pour Les Filles d'Olfa

"Films change our relationship with the world", Kaouther Ben Hania, laureate of the best documentary film at the 2024 César for Les Filles d'Olfa | Four Daughters.

Kaouther Ben Hania laureate, prix Alice Guy 2024 - Les Filles d'Olfa

"Je vous remercie Alice Guy, pour avoir brisé les barrières, défié les normes de votre époque et pour avoir démontré que le talent transcende les genres. Votre héritage devrait nous inciter toutes à œuvrer pour un avenir où l’égalité et la diversité règnent en maître sur nos écrans et dans nos cœurs.”

"I thank you, Alice Guy, for breaking barriers, defying the norms of your epoch and for having shown that talent transcends genders | genres. Your legacy should motivate us all to strive toward a future where equality and diversity reign supreme on our screens and in our hearts". 

In memory of Safi Faye, 22 November 1943 - 22 February 2023, already a year has passed | À la memoire de Safi Faye, 22 novembre - 22 février 2023, un an déjà

In memory of Safi Faye, 22 November 1943 - 22 February 2023, already a year has passed

À la memoire de Safi Faye, 22 novembre 1943 - 22 février 2023, un an déjà

Images: Beti Ellerson

Safi Faye has been regularly featured on the African Women in Cinema Blog since its inception 15 years ago. In addition to the recent in depth tribute to her life and work, articles include translated interviews, discussions of her film work, events that give homage to her and her work.

30 December 2023

“I dared to make a film”: A Tribute to the Life and Work of Safi Faye by Beti Ellerson - Black Camera: An International Film Journal 15.1 (Fall 2023) - African Women in Cinema Dossier

08 September 2023

Safi Faye à l’affiche - Safi Faye in the Spotlight - 45è édition - Le Festival des 3 Continents - Nantes et en Loire-Atlantique 2023

16 June 2023

Focus Safi Faye & Khady Sylla - Gëstu Naataal i Jigeen - Festival Africain de film | recherche féministes | African Feminist Film Festival - 16-18 06 2023 - Gorée, Senegal

04 May 2023

Safi Faye Memorial Talk - 'Women of African Cinema’ - Film at Lincoln Center - May 6 2023

12 April 2023

"I Dared To Make A Film": A Tribute To The Life And Work Of Safi Faye - Indiana University Cinema

26 March 2023

Tributes to - Hommages à Safi Faye (1943 - 2023)

23 March 2023

HOMMAGE À SAFI FAYE, cinéaste pionnière sénégalaise - Festival International de Films de Femmes and Inathèque - 27 mars 2023

20 March 2023

FOCUS: Thérèse Sita Bella, Safi Faye et l'évolution de la pratique cinématographique des femmes africaines | the evolution of African women’s cinematic practice - 20 - 24 / 3 / 2023 - Belgique | Belgium

01 March 2023

Remembering Safi Faye (1943-2023)

24 February 2023

Safi Faye : La Grande Référence - 1943-2023 - A Tribute, "I dared to make a film!"

14 January 2023

Safi Faye: Man sa yay | I, your mother - Berlinale Forum Special Fiktionsbescheinigung 2023

01 September 2022

Safi Faye's La Passante 50 years on: "I dared to make a film"

06 March 2022

Films Femmes Afrique Festival 2022: Tribute to Safi Faye: A "Peasant Letter" still relevant today | Hommage à Safi Faye : Une «Lettre paysanne» encore actuelle by/de Mame Woury Thioubou.

12 August 2021

Safi Faye's Mossane at 25

23 March 2021

Luxor African Film Festival 2021 Celebrates 10 years of Imagination - Memories of Safi Faye (2016) and Dora Bouchoucha (2019)

27 May 2019

Black Camera: Safi Faye's Mossane: A Song to Women, to Beauty, to Africa by Beti Ellerson (Spring 2019)

21 May 2018

Safi Faye : Selbe, one among many | Selbe et tant d'autres – restored/restauré en/in Wolof – African Film Festival New York 2018

17 May 2018

Safi Faye : “Fad,jal” (Cannes Classics 2018)

24 December 2017

Safi Faye to young filmmakers: “Dare! You are free to do whatever you want” by Mame Woury Thioubou. Le quotidien.sn

25 November 2015

Prix Safi Faye pour la meilleure réalisatrice - Safi Faye Award for the best woman filmmaker - JCC - Journées Cinématographiques de Carthage

26 May 2010

Safi Faye: Role Model | La Grande Référence (32nd Festival International de Films de Femmes 2010) - La Leçon de Cinéma de Safi Faye

 

"Dear Chisomo" A Stop-Motion Animation from Zimbabwe and Malawi. Produced by Matamba Film Labs for Women in collaboration with Dorovee Makerspace

"Dear Chisomo"

A Stop-Motion Animation from Zimbabwe and Malawi

Produced by Matamba Film Labs for Women in collaboration with Dorovee Makerspace

Beautiful storytelling, a beautiful story!

Description

"Dear Chisomo" is a stop-motion animation story about how a young girl's life is shattered post losing her mother in Cyclone Freddy. She finds healing when she comes across a family treasure that was preserved. This film is handmade from found objects and materials, and represents a family from Southern Africa. Produced by Matamba Film Labs for Women in collaboration with Dorovee Makerspace. With Support from the Hivos Room Project.

June Givanni receiving the BAFTA Lifetime Achievement Award

June Givanni receiving the BAFTA Lifetime Achievement Award

Bravo, congratulations June !

June Givanni, programmer, curator and festival organizer, has been at the forefront of foundational projects in the promotion of Black British screen culture, and the cinemas of Africa and the Diaspora, which includes her legacy project, the June Givanni Pan African Cinema Archive. She received the BAFTA Film Award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema in 2024.

June Givanni upon receiving the award:

“I’m truly humbled and blessed being one of the few women of colour to receive this prestigious award. As the curator, the founding of the June Givanni Pan-African Cinema Archive signified a poignant culmination of a long journey and a nod to the many brilliant, yet often unsung curators around the world who championed our diasporic stories. Of course, we could not do what we do without the great visionary work that filmmakers gift to us. For treasured filmmaking pioneers and early supporters of the archive, who I'm deeply honoured to call friends and colleagues.”

Safy Amadou at the helm of the Africa Film Fest Australia

Safy Amadou at the helm of the Africa Film Fest Australia

Africa Film Fest Australia is curatorial African festival showcasing international and local contemporary films from Africa and the diaspora. A project of Arts & Cultural Exchange, supported by Riverside Theatres, Screen NSW and City of Parramatta

Safia Amadou works as a Screen Cultures Program Associate at ACE (Arts and Cultural Exchange) an art organisation in Western Sydney that supports creatives and communities from culturally & linguistically diverse backgroundsSafy Amadou at the helm of the Africa Film Fest Australia.

In addition to her role at ACE, Safia is the co-director and co-producer of the pioneering female Afro Australienne production company Afro Sistahs. Through this position, Safia endeavours to amplify Australia's underrepresented African voices and narratives.

Originating from Niger, West Africa, Safia's professional journey commenced in Senegal where she worked with the Children Museum ImagiNation Afrika and co-curated her first interactive exhibition ‘In The Footsteps of ICT Girl (Information and Communication Technologies), in Collaboration with the British Council in Dakar,  which won the Senegal Country Award for Excellence in Educational Entrepreneurship from the British NGO Teach A Man To Fish.

Transitioning to Côte d'Ivoire, Safia furthered her career at Galerie Cecile Fakhoury, a renowned contemporary art gallery in West Africa that promotes African contemporary art . Here, she continued her passion for curating, and showcasing emerging and established African artists to audiences across the continent and beyond.

Serving as the co-festival director of the inaugural Africa Film Fest Australia has strengthened Safia's dedication to reconnecting with African traditions through visual arts and storytelling. Through this role, she advocates for the visibility and recognition of emerging and established African artists by providing visibility to their contemporary creative spirit locally in Australia, Africa and on a global scale.

Source: Africa Film Fest Australia Facebook Page

World Radio Day. Ousmane Sembene's "Moolaade": the radio as a symbol of women's empowerment

Ousmane Sembene's "Moolaade": the radio as a symbol of women's empowerment

Radio is an important player and an essential part of maintenance and transition to peace. It is part of its agenda-setting function and provision of essential services to bring forward issues of concern, feature matters that deem attention from authorities and citizens, and give them salience.

UNESCO - World Radio Day

Modernity undermines patriarchy and films especially set in the village highlight this vulnerability, as often these features of modernity are foreign, western elements. The village is the signifier of the culture’s language, it is a metaphor, a symbol.

Exploring this concept in the context of the film Moolaade, Ousmane Sembene incorporates, the radio, which is an important means of communication for the village women and a source of knowledge about local as well as global issues. 

As the village patriarchy burns the radio in order to destroy the women's growing empowerment, as a symbol of opposition to female excision, the women throw their knives into the burning pile. 

Meryam Joobeur : Mé el Aïn | Là d’où l’on vient | Who do I belong to - Berlinale 2024

Meryam Joobeur

 Mé el Aïn | Là d’où l’on vient | Who do I belong to

Berlinale 2024

Fiction - Tunisia / France / Canada - 2024 - 117’

Synopsis

Aïcha, une mère tunisienne douée de rêves prophétiques, vit dans une ferme rurale avec son mari Brahim et ses trois fils. La vie d’Aïcha et Brahim est complètement bouleversée après le départ de leurs fils aînés, Mehdi et Amine, à l’étreinte violente de la guerre. Ayant vécu leur vie uniquement pour leurs enfants, Aïcha et Brahim se retrouvent sans fondement et tentent de donner un sens à une nouvelle réalité douloureuse.

***

Aïcha, a Tunisian mother, lives on a rural farm with her husband Brahim and their three sons. Their life is shattered by the departure of their two eldest sons, Mehdi and Amine who leave for war. Having lived their life solely for their children, Aïcha and Brahim find themselves no longer with a foundation and attempt to give a sense to this new painful reality.

Bio

Meryam Joobeur est une réalisatrice tunisienne et américaine installée à Montréal; elle est diplômée de la Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema.

***

Meryam Joobeur, a Tunisian-American filmmaker based in Montreal, completed her studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. 

Berlinale: https://www.berlinale.de/en/2024/programme/202410310.html