Cinema Uganda: The First Edition of Women in Film (Empowering Women Through Film: Voices, Visibility, and Influence) 15-17 August 2023

Cinema Uganda

The First Edition of Women in Film

Empowering Women Through Film:

Voices, Visibility, and Influence

15-17 August 2023

https://cinemaug.com/

Announcement:

When we launched the Women In Film project, we were so keen and intentional about adding value to the craft but also giving women a platform, where they can network, learn and engage with other professionals in the creative sector.

The Three-Day Workshop is an opener to the 6months incubation program that we are to start as Cinema UG for Women in Film.

We have had discussions with all our facilitators, sharing with them the vision and where we want to go with this program.

Click the link to apply today: https://bit.ly/3JTAF7C for any of the following workshops and masterclasses.

1. Film directing masterclass facilitated by directors, Kizito Samuel Saviour and Rehema Nanfuka

2. Acting masterclass facilitated by Nana Kagga

3. Script and screenplay workshop facilitated by scriptwriters and film producers dialo ssekidde and nisha kalema

4. Is acting a business or a sense of passion? Do you have a projectable plan for the business you are IN? facilitated by business coach and expert Dr Noeline Kirabo (PhD)

5. Strategy for your career. How do you strategies for your career? facilitated by Arts Manager and creative director Dorothy Nabunjo

6. How to Ace Auditions and Banding as an Artist/actor facilitated by Sharon Gayita a casting director. 

UNESCO promoting African women in cinema

UNESCO promoting African women in cinema

UNESCO has become increasingly visible in it support and promotion of African women in cinema. In the past decade it has initiated and supported several high profile initiatives.

UNESCO: Women in African History [http://en.unesco.org/womeninafrica/] 

Its website UNESCO: Women in African History | Femmes dans l’histoire d’Afrique presents a wealth of topics on women in Africa. Its objective is to provide an ongoing exchange of information.

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

(CREDIF - UNESCO), 2015

This award was initiated by the CREDIF Centre de Recherches, d'Etudes, de Documentation et d'Information sur la Femme (Centre for the Research, Study, Documentation and Information on Women) and supported by UNESCO (United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture). It aims to reward a woman filmmaker whose film—be it a feature or a long documentary—has been selected in the official competition.

Action! UNESCO supports women and cinema in Africa at FESPACO

https://en.unesco.org/creativity/events/action-unesco-supports-women-cinema-africa-fespaco

UNESCO puts the spotlight on women and policies supporting the film sector in Africa during the 26th edition, 2019.

A high level round table entitled "50 years of FESPACO: 50-50 for women" takes place on 26 February at the Ouagadougou City Hall with the participation of Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, and Madame Sika Kaboré, First Lady of Burkina Faso. The roundtable brings together women filmmakers, film distributors, as well as ministers of culture from West Africa to discuss the challenges women face in accessing funding and training opportunities in the film and broadcasting industries in Africa. It also examines the issue of gender equality in national cultural policies and the representation of women in decision-making positions.

Alimata Salambéré honoured by UNESCO 

https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2019/03/alimata-salambere-honoured-by-unesco.html

Alimata Salambéré honoured by UNESCO, 4 March 2019 for the ensemble of her work in the promotion of culture in Burkina Faso and Africa : "Our role as an elder is to transmit our knowledge to the younger ones. I am very touched by this distinction, I want to thank all the people who supported me, it is because of the support of all of you."

UNESCO seeks African female filmmakers for a residency in Japan

https://en.unesco.org/creativity/activities/nara-residency-young-african-female-filmmakers

UNESCO is offered a 2-week film-making residency from 29 March to 12 April 2020 for 10 young African women filmmakers from selected countries in Africa. The film and artist-in-residence workshop provided the transnational exchange and sharing of artistic experiences between young African and Japanese filmmakers in a productive creative environment. Its objective was to provide artistic guidance and put in place a genuine platform for experimental creation and artistic renewal, and foster collaborations between Africa and Japanese artists, provide international exposure to the work of young women artists, and open new opportunities for artistic creation, production and dissemination.

Women's place in the African cinematographic landscape | La place des femmes dans le paysage cinématographique africain

Conférence-débat, Les cinémas d’Afrique, November 2021 at UNESCO in Paris

With the participation, among others of Naomi Kawase, Fatou Senghor, Nadia El Fani, filmmakers, Nadira Shakur, co-ffounder of Nollywood Week Film Festival, Valma Pfaff, artistic director artistique and organizer of the 43rd edition of Durban International Film Festival , Henda Haoual, professor of cinema, representative of JCC Journées cinématographiques de Carthage…

Conference: Promoting Diversity and Gender Equality in African Cinema

From 24 to 26 November 2021, UNESCO's Africa Group is organizing the second half of Africa Week 2021 in a hybrid format. The week will include an opening ceremony, the launch of a publication on African arts at UNESCO, a virtual exhibition of African cultural elements and literary works.

The film industry can strategically address the issue of gender equality in different ways. For example, films can address how women are represented in front of and behind the camera, and film festivals can proactively promote films directed or produced by women.

UNESCO highlights African cinema at the 75th Cannes Film Festival

UNESCO organized a major round table to promote African cinema at the Cannes Film festival in 2022. The event highlighted the great development potential of the African film industry and UNESCO's initiatives to support it. Moderated by journalist Hortense Assaga, the round table was based on the recent UNESCO report The Film Industry in Africa: Trends, Challenges and Opportunities for Growth, a groundbreaking analysis of data on the film and audiovisual industries in 54 African countries.

African Women in the time of COVID-19 : 10 selected films announced

African Women in the Time of COVID-19 : 10 selected films announced

Ladima Foundation: https://ladima.africa/2020/07/01/african-women-in-the-time-of-covid-19-10-selected-films-announced/

The ten selected films, in alphabetical order, are:

Being: Malak El Araby (Egypt)

Blunder: Fezeka Shandu (South Africa)

Face Mask for Sale: Neha Manoj Shah (Kenya)

I’ll Call You Later: Aurelie Stratton (South Africa)

Loop: Every End Has a Beginning: Faith Ilevbare (Nigeria)

Love, Zawadi: Wambui Gathee (Kenya)

Moyo: Hellen Samina Ochieng (Kenya)

My Sunshine: Chioma Divine Favour Mathias (Nigeria) 

The Tempest: Skinnor Davillah Agello (Kenya)

Worlds Apart: Yehoda Hammond (Ghana)

The Ladima Foundation, in partnership with DW Akademie, announces the ten selected films in the African Women in the Time of Covid-19 Short Film Competition.

These films will PREMIERE via a live stream on July 10th 2020 and then be available for viewing on various platforms from July 11th.

The short film competition invited African women to share their stories about the personal, economic, and social impact of Covid-19 in Africa. The brave and powerful films that were submitted sadly have reflected the extremely difficult circumstances that many African women are facing.  The stories have shown how in too many cases that the pandemic has indeed impacted women harder and in different ways than on their male counterparts.

An overwhelming response saw just under 200 women from 18 African countries sharing their moving and honest stories on a diversity of topics with dominant themes of domestic violence, altered access to opportunities, increased burden of care, although also of resilience and hope.

The ten films will be premiered on the Ladima Foundation Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/LadimaFoundation/ at 15:00 CAT on FRIDAY JULY 10th 2020.

From July 11th films will then also be available to watch and stream on The Ladima Foundation website, www.ladima.africa, MyMoviesAfrica™️, a proudly Kenyan, mobile-first digital cinema platform, offering movies on smart devices, including phones, tablets, laptops and televisions, via the internet.

MyMoviesAfrica™️ can be accessed via https://mymovies.africa/ on the web, and the Android App can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/yy78zadc.

The films will also be broadcast on the True African channel on Premium.Free. True African is a TV channel that embodies being “the contemporary African”. The channel delivers the best series and movies from across the continent. True African introduces rising talent and presents established stars as the channel captures the spirit of Africa today – the prefect channel for these 10 short films, showcasing developing new talent across the continent.

Premium.Free is a free bouquet of channels available across Sub Saharan Africa via satellite in West Africa, East and Southern Africa as well as Francophone Africa. Broadcast schedule and details can be found on http://premiumfree.tv/

FILMMAKER BIO AND SYNOPSIS OF SELECTED FILMS

Being: Malak El Araby (Egypt)

Malak El Araby is a 21 year old film major graduating senior at The American University in Cairo. Malak is passionate about filmmaking and photography, winning third place UIFF in South Korea and working on multiple movies in Egyptian cinema. Malak’s short films are always inspired by women empowerment, portraying their struggles and stories.

Synopsis: The film is about how everyone took everything for granted before the pandemic. How the little things in life is what matters most. How we never realize what we have until it is lost. What we miss and what we should appreciate in life after all of this is over.

Blunder: Fezeka Shandu (South Africa)

Fezeka Shandu is a 26 year old  aspiring filmmaker who grew up in the dusty streets of Umlazi, KZN South Africa. Growing up she always had a love for films and theatre. She has  always wanted  to tell stories in a simple way, but meaningfully and realistically.

Synopsis: Blunder is about a couple who planned to get married before lockdown was introduced, with all the rules and regulations everything has paused, however the girlfriend’s (Naledi) uncles decided to show up for lobola negotiations because they believe that culturally such things can’t be postponed as it will upset the ancestors.

Face Mask for Sale: Neha Manoj Shah (Kenya)

Hellen Samina Ochieng is a 22 year old creative based in Nairobi Kenya and an undergraduate student at the Taita University. She has always had a strong passion for the feminist cause as she has seen first -hand how the inherently patriarchal Kenyan society affects women and young girls.

Synopsis: Moyo tells the story of Achieng, a young single mother working as an underpaid nurse in Mbagathi Hospital, Nairobi. She struggles with the grim financial, mental and physical realities of being a single mother, and the pressures of being a front-line, essential worker in a country crippled by a pandemic. When Achieng is called into the hospital at midnight to attend to a Covid-19 emergency, she must turn to Mike, her abusive ex-boyfriend, to take care of her daughter Waridi.

I’ll Call You Later: Aurelie Stratton (South Africa)

Aurelie Stratton is an actress, writer, director and producer who graduated from WITS Drama School and moved to the United Kingdom shortly after graduation to further her study, career and experiences. After her return, she then co-founded production company, You Kicked My Dog Productions with Emmanuel Castis and they produced the acclaimed Short Film Sides of a Horn which qualified for the 2020 Oscars.

Synopsis:  Jo and Bec are sisters and can only communicate through video calls during lockdown. Jo has not been taking Bec’s calls because she is hiding something. Lockdown has been more dangerous for Jo than Bec realises

Loop: Every End Has a Beginning: Faith Ilevbare (Nigeria)

Faith Ilevbara is a visual artist, using film as her medium of expression, and is passionate about creating films for social justice, especially telling stories of social issues affecting women globally. She wants to use film to start a narrative that will bring about change and conversations surrounding those issues. Born in and raised in Lagos, Nigeria, Faith’s first degree is in a medical related field, but her passion for storytelling couldn’t be held back: she graduated top in her class in Digital Film Production SAE Institute, Cape Town and currently works in Lagos, Nigeria, as a video journalist with the BBC.

Synopsis: Loop is a short film highlighting the negative effect of domestic violence on children exposed to such violence during the lock down.

Love, Zawadi: Wambui Gathee (Kenya)

Wambui Gathee is an emerging Director/ Producer rising steadily in the African film scene. She is a firm believer of artistic visual storytelling and her work voices and represents the true African narrator.

Synopsis: With the lockdown measures being enforced, vulnerable women and young girls are put in a position where the life-threatening outside is safer than their own homes and at times forced to make difficult choices.

Moyo: Hellen Samina Ochieng (Kenya)

Hellen Samina Ochieng is a 22 year old creative based in Nairobi Kenya and an undergraduate student at the Taita University. She has always had a strong passion for the feminist cause as she has seen first -hand how the inherently patriarchal Kenyan society affects women and young girls.

Synopsis: Moyo tells the story of Achieng, a young single mother working as an underpaid nurse in Mbagathi Hospital, Nairobi. She struggles with the grim financial, mental and physical realities of being a single mother, and the pressures of being a front-line, essential worker in a country crippled by a pandemic. When Achieng is called into the hospital at midnight to attend to a Covid-19 emergency, she must turn to Mike, her abusive ex-boyfriend, to take care of her daughter Waridi.

My Sunshine: Chioma Divine Favour Mathias (Nigeria)

Chioma Divine Favour Mathias is a writer, cinematographer/filmmaker, and actor. She is  graduate of statistics and the last of four kids.

Synopsis: This short story is about the struggle of a single mother with a disabled child, trying to fend for herself and her baby at the same time surviving the effect of the pandemic. She did all she can to stay strong and sharp even in the face of tribulations. This story depict the true strength of an African woman.

The Tempest: Skinnor Davillah Agello (Kenya)

Skinnor Davillah Agello is a professional dancer and choreographer and a film maker based in Nairobi Kenya. Born in K’ogello Siaya country an area rich in culture and dance which played a major part in her love for dance and storytelling. She has taken part in numerous dance performances i.e. One Africa Music Fest in Dubai, Dance for Sale in Germany, “I Can Dance” finalist aired on KTN. She was nominated at the Sondeka Awards 2018 in story through dance category. Safaricom Twaweza, Chapa Dimba.

Synopsis: The Tempest is a short film about a dancer Davillah_S expressing how Covid -19 has changed her family and personal life, as well as millions of other lives across the globe. The dance performance is devised to reflect Davillah’s own personal challenges and solutions for coping with the pandemic, while encouraging those who view the piece to stay positive and safe.

Worlds Apart: Yehoda Hammond (Ghana)

Yehoda Adukwei Hammond is a 19 years and third year film directing student at the National Film and Television Institute in Ghana. She is currently interning as a Second Assistant director with Esse Productions. Growing up in Ghana and Accra, she gained a keen interest in social issues occurring in her country, with a soft spot for girl child  education.

Synopsis: Rhema and Erica are Junior high school students whose education has been interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. The differences in their economic situations have directly altered the course of their education and how they cope with the current times.

THE JURY

The ten selected films were chosen by a panel of expert judges including Cornélia Glele, a journalist, blogger and filmmaker from Benin, Lizelle Bisschoff, a researcher and curator of African film, and founder of the Africa in Motion (AiM) Film Festival in Scotland, Nse Ikpe-Etim, a multiple-award winning Nigerian actor with over a decade of active years on stage and screen, Professor Martin Mhando, a Research Fellow with Murdoch University, Western Australia and an award winning filmmaker and experienced festival director, as well as Philippa Ndisi-Herrmann  who makes both short and long films, both fiction and documentary and whose prior work includes a mélange of essayist documentary, photography and poetry, the majority of which she shot, directed, produced, and recorded sound for herself.

Black Camera: African Women, Cinema, and Leadership: Empowerment, Mentorship, and Role-Modeling by Beti Ellerson (Spring 2020)

African Women, Cinema, and Leadership: Empowerment, Mentorship,

and Role-Modeling

Beti Ellerson

Black Camera: An International Film Journal

African Women in Cinema Dossier

Vol. 11, No. 2 (Spring 2020), pp. 222-238

Abstract

Leadership entails listening, sharing, mentoring, and understanding that we may learn from each other through diverse exchanges: intergenerational, intercultural, and inter-regional. These features are incorporated in many of the workshops and forums organized by African women, designed for leadership awareness and development. Moreover, African women film professionals have initiated mechanisms to foster effective leadership in the diverse areas of the profession. These initiatives aim to create an African women's cinema culture that encourages and empowers women film professionals as well as those who seek to work in cinema. Leadership encompasses consensus building, collaboration, being a team player, and being prepared to change one's attitude when confronted with other perspectives. These are foundational strategies that African women employ in their leadership practices. And perhaps above all, it is important to remember that leaders were also at one time students, mentees, apprentices, and assistants. Drawing from general women and leadership discourse, this article examines the leadership strategies of African women of the moving image.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/blackcamera.11.2.11

- When African women in cinema take action, African cinema moves forward
- Strategies of African women, cinema and leadership
- Leadership recognition, support and development
- Visualizing leadership: strong, empowering, and influential women on screen
- Current strategies of mentorship
- Taking care of our leaders: watching over those who watch over us
- What is sisterhood to you?

Also see on the African Women in Cinema Blog: African Women Leading the Way in Cinema: Sharing, Mentoring, Role-Modeling and Working Together

Conférence du Pavillon des Cinémas d'Afrique : Programme Tables Rondes : "Porter haut et fort la voix des femmes dans les cinémas d'Afrique" (Women's voices heard loud and clear in the cinemas of Africa)

Porter haut et fort la voix des femmes dans les cinémas d'Afrique

(Women's voices heard loud and clear in the cinemas of Africa)

The first Zoom e-conference of the Pavillon des Cinémas d'Afrique in a Programme of Roundtables organized by the ACA-Agence Culturelle Africaine, was held on 22 June 2020. Producer, director, actress, film critic, came together to discuss their experiences and concerns in the world of cinema.

The 1 hour 34 minute e-conference moderated by journalist Hortense Assaga, included Marie-Clémence Andriamonta-Paes, director and producer, Mouna Ndiaye, actress and festival organizer, Nadia Rais, animation film director, Naky Sy Savané, actress and festival organizer, Fatou Kiné Séne, journalist and president of the Fédération africaine des critiques de cinéma (African federation film critics), Olga Tiyon, production and communication coordinator, 7 jours pour 7 films. The diverse women represented the myriad roles that African women hold within the world of cinema, often multiple. Appearances from audience participants, such as Stéphanie Dongmo, film and cultural critic, writer and blogger as well as other notable francophone film critics on the African continent and in Europe, is indicative of the span of African cinema criticism. Moreover, introducing the ACA e-conference series with a focus on the experiences and concerns of women highlights the growing importance of women's visibility and presence.

Hortense Assaga, introduced the round table by highlighting the eternal question of gender parity. She posed several questions as a point of departure: Here we have women who work to have their voices heard and be recognized as full-fledged members within the profession of cinema. How does this manifest itself in Africa? On other continents? How do these women manage? What are their strategies? How do they ensure that their work is recognized, that their presence matters? How do they experience these practices of gendering? How do they negotiate the myriad discourses and politics of gender?

The exchange unfolded less as a "roundtable" dialogue where the participants interacted with each other, but rather as a moderated discussion fed by questions from Hortense Assaga to individual women. Hence, the more existential aspect of the introductory questions--especially as it relates to practices of gendering--were less developed. At the same time, an array of important issues relevant to film professionals in general were explored, highlighting what many women have often asserted, that while women have concerns that are gender-specific, others are shared by both African women and men. For instance, some of Marie-Clémence Andriamonta-Paes's responses from Hortense Assaga's questions around gender were framed in the context of Euro-centric dominance of ideas and values. Having always partnered with her husband, who is also a film professional, there are daily struggles in general. In addition, film critic Fatou Kiné Sène cautions against always looking through a gendered lens, which may distort the actual merit of a film: "It is merit and not our status as a woman that allows us to "box" in the same category as men." Similarly, animation filmmaker Nadia Rais notes that while women in animation are rare, there is already the question of being an artist, hence, the art form of animation cinema adds to the complexity of the question. Since there are not many animation film festivals, these films are included in the midst of fiction films, though the genre is very different: "We're part of another group, and sometimes we feel like we don't really exist. So our problem is not the issue of being a woman." 

Nonetheless, the gendered question of women's experiences in cinema was firmly rooted throughout the discussion.

Hortense Assaga asks, "as a filmmaker and producer, how does she position herself in the context of gender?" Marie-Clémence Andriamonta-Paes has developed an attitude of perseverance: "Coming from a society where women forge ahead as a matter of course, looking out for the most vulnerable in society is active work... everyday it is necessary to say that being a filmmaker from the South, that these stories are equally important." Nonetheless, she admits that the environment within cinema "is very patriarchal, very concentrated, that there is a dominance of men in positions of power...And hence, many women in the profession are often in a position to have to manage this status of inequality...It is in this context that more must be done to build awareness that this is not normal, to have to obey and serve."

For Naky Sy Savane, being an actress is also being a feminist activist in the context of cinema as a form of engagement, which Hortense Assaga, interprets as a commitment, a way of being part of the struggle. "As a feminist, we can't let things go on like this because there are generations following us. If I have a choice, I take the scenarios that advance the cause of women." Similarly, for actress/filmmaker Maïmouna N’Diaye, "to make films is to speak up and say out loud what many people think but do not dare say, in particular women, children and vulnerable people. I think it is our duty, in fact, to use this tool as a voice and shake up things, as a means to make things change so that we can move forward together." Hortense Assaga highlighted Maïmouna N’Diaye's role as the only African on the main jury at Cannes in 2019. She responded: "I felt a bit alone, but this loneliness allowed me to think of all my sisters, from all over Africa, and it gave me strength. I said to myself I am representing all of these women. I was proud of it and it gave me the strength to do it."

Fatou Kiné Sène, who was elected president of the Dakar-based African Federation of Cinematographic Critics (FACC) in 2019, notes the importance of the association website africine.org in order to give more visibility to all African films. In Senegal, the Films Femmes Afrique festival highlights the works of African women on the continent. In 2013, FACC created the Women's Cinema Month. Similarly, Naky Sy Savané, who is also founder and organizer of the Ivoirian-based FESTILAG, the International Film Festival of Lakes and Lagoons, highlighted the creation of ACAI, l’Association des Comédiennes Africaines de l’Image (Association of African Actresses of the Image).

Olga Tiyon, production and communication coordinator of "7 jours pour 1 film", emphasized the importance of framing gender broadly in all aspects of the filmmaking process: "As a result, by putting more emphasis on gender, it is easier for these women to enter areas in which they did not have easy access."

Video-recorded and uploaded on YouTube on 23 June 2020 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlHF4wQzeHA), excerpts translated into English from the French-language event by Beti Ellerson.

Links to African Women in Cinema Blog articles:

- Marie-Clémence Andriamonta-Paes

- Stéphanie Dongmo

- Mouna Ndiaye

- Nadia Rais

- Naky Sy Savané

- Fatou Kiné Séne

- Olga Tiyon

Programme Tables Rondes ACA-Agence Culturelle Africaine

Jun. 22 juin 2020, 09:00 – ven. 26 juin 2020, 18:00

https://site.evenium.net/6zhjb722/registration

#PREMIERE_CONFERENCE

#22_Juin : Porter haut et fort la voix des femmes dans les cinémas d'Afrique

11h30 – Heure de Paris

Productrice, réalisatrice, actrice, critique de cinéma… La parole est à ces femmes de l’industrie du cinéma pour faire entendre leur combat.

#Participantes :

- Mouna Ndiaye, actrice et réalisatrice

- Naky Sy Savané, actrice et promotrice de festival

- Fatou Kiné Séne, présidente de la Fédération africaine des critiques de cinéma

- Marie-Clémence Andriamonta-Paes, réalisatrice et productrice

#Modératrice : Hortense Assaga, journaliste

Pour participer à la conférence, inscrivez-vous gratuitement en cliquant sur ce lien :

https://site.evenium.net/6zhjb722/registration

LES AUTRES CONFERENCES

#23_juin : Nouvelles opportunités de financement pour les réalisateurs et producteurs des pays ACP

Avec le soutien du Centre national de l’image animée (CNC)

11H30 - Heure de Paris

Modérateur: Olivier Barlet, critique de cinéma

#24_juin : Face à la crise du cinéma liée à la Covid-19, la réponse des Etats.

11h30 - Heure de Paris

Modératrice : Cathérine Ruelle, spécialiste du cinéma africain

#25_juin : un an du projet SENTOO : quel bilan ?

Modérateur : Faissol Gnonlonfin, producteur

11h30 - Heure de Paris

#26_juin : Echanges avec les fondateurs de LAFAAAC, la plateforme digitale qui forme aux métiers des industries créatives

Avec Olivier Pascal, co-fondateur, directeur général de LAFAAAC

12h - Heure de Paris

Pour plus d’infos : aminata@agenceculturelleafricaine.com

#Agence_Culturelle_Africaine #Festival_de_Cannes

iFilm Conference: The Future of Women in African Cinema 2020

iFilm Conference: The Future of Women in African Cinema 2020

Participants

Stephanie Tum (Cameroon)

Stephanie Tum is an actress, model and a philanthropist.

Ola El Mallah (Egypt)

Ola Elmallah is an Egyptian freelance director of photography and director for feature fiction, documentary and short films.

Meron Dagnew (Ethiopia)

Meron Dagnew is a Social Entrepreneur, Cultural activist and Communications Specialist.

Esi Yamoah (Ghana)

Esi Yamoah is a Ghanaian-American producer, actress and filmmaker. Her short film Yaa (2016), has been screened in film festivals internationally.

Desiree Kahikopo (Namibia)

Desiree Kahikopo, an alumna of the Talents Durban 2018, won best newcomer director of best film script and audience choice award at the Namibian Theatre and Film Awards 2019 for her debut film White Line.

Omoni Oboli (Nigeria)

Omoni Oboli heads the production and movie equipment rental company in Nigeria, Dioni Visions Limited. She is an actress, scriptwriter, producer and director. She studied at the New York Film Academy and has written several screenplays, including The Figurine (2009), Anchor Baby (2010), Fatal Imagination, Being Mrs Elliott, The First Lady and Wives on Strike (2016). In 2018 she starred and directed the comedy film, Moms at War, and in 2019, the film Love is War.

Kantarama Gahigiri (Rwanda)

Kantarama Gahigiri (born December 13) is a Swiss-Rwandan filmmaker. Her filmography includes, Check (2008), Leila (2009), The Elevator (2011),  Me + U (2013), Tapis rouge (2014), Pinot in the Grass (2014), Lost Angel Less (2017), Né Pour Mourir (2017).

Layla Swart (South Africa)

Layla Swart was born in Cape Town, South Africa and studied Film and Media Production at the University of Cape Town, and went on to complete her postgraduate degree in Film Practice and Theory in 2009.

African Women in Cinema Dossier by Beti Ellerson: a regular feature of Black Camera, An International Film Journal

 

African Women in Cinema Dossier by Beti Ellerson:

a regular feature of Black Camera, An International Film Journal 

Reading, Writing, Researching African Women in Cinema—Reflections on Sisters of the Screen-25 years and the African Women in Cinema Doxssier 10 years onward by Beti Ellerson

https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2025/06/black-camera-reading-writing-researching-african-women-in-cinema.html

 

Closeup: The Africas/Diasporas of Women in the Evolution of a TransAfrican Film Practice and Critical Inquiry
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2024/06/closeup-africas-diasporas-of-women-black-camera.html

“I dared to make a film”: A Tribute to the Life and Work of Safi Faye

https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2023/12/safi-faye-i-dared-to-make-a-film-tribute-to-her-life-and-work.html

 

Exploring African Women’s Cinematic Practice as Womanist Work (Spring 2023)

https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2023/03/exploring-african-womens-cinematic-practice-womanist-work.html

La noire de..., La passante and Many Others: Framing Cinematic Representations of Afro-Descendant Women, Identity, and Positionality in France (Fall 2022)

https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2022/08/black-camera-afro-women-france-beti-ellerson.html

African Women Professionals In Cinema: Manifestos, Communiqués, Declarations, Statements, Resolutions by Beti Ellerson (Spring 2021)
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2021/06/black-camera-african-women-manifestos.html

 

Fifty Years of Women's Engagement at FESPACO. IN Part I: Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO): Formation, Evolution, Challenges (Fall 2020)
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2021/05/black-camera-fespaco-fifty-years-of-womens-engagement.html.html

African Women, Cinema, and Leadership: Empowerment, Mentorship, and Role-Modeling (Spring 2020)

https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2020/06/black-camera-african-women-cinema-and.html

African Women on the Film Festival Landscape: Organizing, Showcasing, Promoting, Networking (with Falila Gbadamassi) Fall 2019

https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2020/01/black-camera-african-women-on-film.html

Safi Faye's Mossane: A Song to Women, to Beauty, to Africa (Spring 2019)

https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2019/05/black-camera-safi-fayes-mossane-song-to.html

African Women of the Screen as Cultural Producers: An Overview by Country  (Fall 2018) https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2018/11/black-camera-african-women-of-screen-as.html

On-screen Narratives, Off-screen Lives: African Women Inscribing the Self (Spring 2018) https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2018/05/black-camera-on-screen-narratives-off.html

Traveling Gazes: Glocal Imaginaries in the Transcontinental, Transnational, Exilic, Migration, and Diasporic Cinematic Experiences of African Women (Spring 2017) https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2017/05/black-camera-spring-2017-beti-ellerson.html

African Women and the Documentary: Storytelling, Visualizing History, from the Personal to the Political (Fall, 2016) https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2016/10/african-women-and-documentary.html

Teaching African Women in Cinema, Part Two (Spring 2016) https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2016/06/teaching-african-women-in-cinema-part.html

Teaching African Women in Cinema, Part One (Fall 2015) https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2016/02/teaching-african-women-in-cinema-part.html

Regards au féminin - CANAL+ AFRIQUE : Le film africain a travers l'oeil de ses femmes

Regards au féminin - CANAL+ AFRIQUE

Le film africain a travers l'oeil de ses femmes 

Regards au féminin - CANAL+ AFRIQUE

https://www.canalplus-afrique.com/regards-au-feminin

N'EST PLUS DISPONIBLE

L’œil porté sur l’écran d’un poste de télévision n’a pas forcément la même appréciation que le regard qui capte l’essentiel du sujet filmé.

Aussi, un même sujet donné à filmer à plusieurs sensibilités occasionne toujours plusieurs regards différents sur le matériau traité.

REGARDS AU FÉMININ encourage et soutient la puissance du film, documentaire comme fictionnel. Dans cette nouvelle saison, notre caméra aura la chance de témoigner de la vie professionnelle et privée de quinze femmes d’Afrique subsaharienne et du Maghreb. Nous allons ainsi migrer entre le Burkina Faso, la République Démocratique du Congo, le Mali, le Cameroun, la Tunisie, le Gabon et la Guinée Bissau.

Car en Afrique, le cinéma n’est plus réservé aux hommes. Les femmes émergent de plus en plus, occupant tous les métiers du domaine, apportant ainsi une balance nécessaire et salvatrice. Le réalisateur Issaka Compaoré est parti à la rencontre de femmes de l’image et du son au service du développement en Afrique.

De cette aventure sont nés plusieurs courts métrages d’une vingtaine de minutes qui seront diffusés sur CANAL+ .

REGARDS AU FÉMININ encourage et soutient la puissance du film, documentaire comme fictionnel. Dans cette nouvelle saison, notre caméra aura la chance de témoigner de la vie professionnelle et privée de quinze femmes d’Afrique subsaharienne et du Maghreb. Nous allons ainsi migrer entre le Burkina Faso, la République Démocratique du Congo, le Mali, le Cameroun, la Tunisie, le Gabon et la Guinée Bissau.

Car en Afrique, le cinéma n’est plus réservé aux hommes. Les femmes émergent de plus en plus, occupant tous les métiers du domaine, apportant ainsi une balance nécessaire et salvatrice. Le réalisateur Issaka Compaoré est parti à la rencontre de femmes de l’image et du son au service du développement en Afrique. De cette aventure sont nés plusieurs courts métrages d’une vingtaine de minutes qui seront diffusés sur CANAL+ .

Apolline TRAORÉ Réalisatrice – Burkina Faso

Apolline Traoré est née à Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) en 1976. Durant son enfance, elle a voyagé à travers le monde avec son père qui travaillait pour les Nations Unis. A 17 ans, elle s'inscrit à Emerson College à Boston (USA), et décroche sa Licence en Art Média en 1998. De 1998 à 2001, elle travaille à Los Angeles dans des petits films indépendants. Elle décide alors de rentrer au pays pour faire des films sur son continent, l'Afrique.

Filmographie sélective : MOI ZAPHIRA – SOUS LA CLARTÉ DE LA LUNE – KOUNANDI PARCE QU’ELLE EST NAINE – LE TESTAMENT

Aminata DIALLO-GLEZ Réalisatrice – Burkina Faso

Née en 1972 à Dori (Burkina Faso) Aminata Diallo-Glez est de nationalité franco-burkinabé. C'est au théâtre qu'elle fait ses armes de comédienne. Au cinéma, elle joue dans PUK NINI de Fanta Regina Nacro, et dans LE PARDON d'Antoine Yougbaré. Mais c'est à la télévision qu'elle devient célèbre, avec le sitcom A NOUS LA VIE ! réalisé par Dani Kouyaté et surtout KADI JOLIE que réalise Idrissa Ouedraogo. Soucieuse de se donner les moyens de ses ambitions, elle co-crée en 99 la société de production Jovial' Productions dont elle est la directrice et qui coproduit KADI JOLIE.

Filmographie sélective : L’ANNIVERSAIRE – SUPER FLIC – FEMMES EN PEINE – KADI JOLIE

Claude HAFFNER

Réalisatrice – République Démocratique du Congo

Après des Etudes d'Histoire et un Diplôme Universitaire de Cinéma et d'Audiovisuel à l'Université de Strasbourg (1994-1999), Claude Haffner effectue une Maîtrise de Cinéma à la Sorbonne (2000- 2001).

En même temps que son apprentissage théorique du cinéma, elle apprend le métier de scripte en travaillant sur de nombreux courts métrages. Elle souhaite ainsi observer et maîtriser les techniques de réalisation de films. Elle parfait ses connaissances audiovisuelles au poste d'assistante de production à CANAL+. Elle quitte par la suite l'entreprise pour travailler auprès de son "mentor" Agnès Varda sur le montage du film LES GLANEURS ET LA GLANEUSE.

Filmographie sélective : KO BONGISA MUTU – REMUE-MENAGE DANS LE TERTIAIRE – LA PAROLE EST UNE FENETRE – LA CANNE MUSICALE – DEFILE CELIANTHE – D'UNE FLEUR DOUBLE ET DE QUATRE MILLE AUTRES

Isabelle BONI-CLAVERIE Réalisatrice – Côte d’Ivoire

Isabelle Boni-Claverie est scénariste (diplômée de La Fémis) et réalisatrice. En tant que scénariste, elle collabore à l'écriture de séries télévisées populaires comme PLUS BELLE LA VIE (France 3) et SECONDE CHANCE (TF1). Elle a également travaillé avec des réalisateurs tels que : Haroun Mahamat Saleh, Jean-Marie Téno ou Idrissou Mora Kpai. Elle a réalisé deux courts métrages primés au niveau international. Auteure d’un roman dès l’âge de 17 ans ("La Grande Dévoreuse"), Isabelle Boni-Claverie a ensuite choisi d'écrire dans la presse.

Filmographie sélective : LE GÉNIE D'ABOU – LA COIFFEUSE DE LA RUE PETION – L'IMAGE, LE VENT ET GARY COOPER – POUR LA NUIT

Osvalde LEWAT Réalisatrice et photographe – Cameroun

Osvalde Lewat est une réalisatrice originaire du Cameroun plusieurs fois primée à travers le monde pour son travail. Son premier documentaire LE CALUMET DE L'ESPOIR a été tourné au Canada avec des amérindiens qui se battent pour changer les préjugés de la société américaine sur leur communauté. Osvalde Lewat est diplômée de Sciences Po Paris et de l'école de journalisme de Yaoundé. Elle a également suivi des formations à l'Institut National du Son de Montréal et à La Fémis.

Filmographie sélective : LAND RUSH – SDEROT, SECONDE CLASSE – UNE AFFAIRE DE NÈGRES – LES DISPARUS DE DOUALA – UN AMOUR PENDANT LA GUERRE – AU-DELÀ DE LA PEINE

Nadia EL-FANI Réalisatrice – Tunisie

Née en 1960 à Paris (France), Nadia El Fani commence dans le cinéma en tant qu'assistante à la réalisation. D'origine tunisienne, elle côtoie des réalisateurs européens tels que Roman Polanski, Alexandre Arcady, ou encore Romain Goupil. En tant que réalisatrice, c'est néanmoins dans les court- métrages et les films institutionnels que Nadia El Fani semble s'épanouir. En 2011, Nadia El Fani s'attaque à un sujet épineux, celui de la l'activisme laïque en Tunisie, dans son nouveau long-métrage, Laïcité Inch'a Allah, peu avant et peu après la chute de Ben Ali.

Filmographie sélective : OULED LENINE – UNISSEZ-VOUS, IL N'EST JAMAIS TROP TARD – BEDWIN HACKER – TANT QU'IL Y AURA DE LA PELLOCHE – TANITEZ MOI – FIFTY-FIFTY, MON AMOUR – POUR LE PLAISIR

Nadine O. BOUCHER

Réalisatrice, productrice et chef Maquilleuse – Gabon

Nadine O. Boucher a été maquilleuse sur plusieurs longs métrages prestigieux dont LE MARSUPILAMI (Alain Chabat), LE COLLIER DU MAKOBO (Henri-Joseph Koumba), UN HOMME QUI CRIE (Mahamat Saleh Haroun), DEMAIN DÈS L'AUBE (Denis Dercourt), RAMATA (Léandre-Alain Baker) ou encore L'ABSENCE (Mama Keita). Elle a écrit, réalisé et produit plusieurs courts métrages, documentaires et fictions dont DIALEMI (2013), primé Poulain d'or de Yennenga au Fespaco 2013 et Meilleur Court Métrage au Festival International du Film PanAfricain de Cannes - FIFP 2013.

Filmographie sélective : DIALEMI (ELLE S'AMUSE) – LE COLLIER DU MAKOKO – IL EST UNE FOIS... NANETH – MAADY KAAN – SONGE AU RÊVE

Pascale OBOLO Réalisatrice – Cameroun

Née le 7 janvier 1967 à Yaoundé, Pascale Obolo est originaire du Cameroun et vit à Paris. Elle travaille sur de nombreux vidéo-clips de musiques du monde pour Virgin France (Music). En 1998, elle réalise son premier film documentaire, XULUV BËT THE CREATOR. Parallèlement, elle découvre Trinidad, cette île qui lui rappelle l'Afrique, à travers son carnaval. Attirée par l'héritage culturel et historique de l'île, elle s'y rend à de nombreuses reprises et c'est lors de son dernier voyage en août 2002 qu'un vieux pêcheur lui donne l'envie de conter, à la manière d'un griot, l'histoire de ces vieux calypsoniens.

Filmographie sélective :CALYPSO @ DIRTY JIM’S – ROOTS DE GUYANE – LA RUE PLUTÔT QU’UN TAUDIS – 3 CANAL – MUNGAL – LES NUBIENNES – XULY BËT LE CREATEUR

Maïmouna Hélène DIARRA Comédienne – Mali

Maïmouna Hélène Diarra est comédienne de formation : après son Diplôme d'Etudes Fondamentales (DEF), elle entre à l'INA (Institut National des Arts, section art dramatique) dont elle sort diplômée.

Active au cinéma et au théâtre (elle passe dix ans au Koteba, le théâtre national du Mali), elle demande une mutation en 1991 pour la radio où, assistante de presse et de réalisation à l'ORTM (Office de Radio Télévision Malienne), elle lit les avis et communiqués en bamanan et en français. Elle y traite de l'environnement à la télévision. Elle a joué dans plusieurs films, parmi lesquels on compte des œuvres de Cheick Omar Sissoko, Salif Traoré et Saouleymane Cissé.

Filmographie sélective :FARO REINE DES EAUX - BAMAKO - GUIMBA UN TYRAN UNE EPOQUE – MOOLAADE – KABALA - GENESSE (LA) – TAAFE FANGA POUVOIR DE PAGNE - MACADAM TRIBU – FINZAN – FINYE (LE VENT)

Babetida SADJO Comédienne – Guinée-Bissau

Babetida Sadjo est né le 19 septembre 1983, à Bafata en Guinée Bissau. Elle est l'aînée d'une famille de cinq enfants. Mais, farouche gardienne de sa vie privée, elle ne distille aucune information sur son enfance, si ce ne sont des bribes. Tout au plus devine-t-on une petite fille timide qui, le soir venu, aimait chanter et danser avec ses amies. Bebetida va connaitre l’exil en septembre 1983 à Hanoï. Elle y fourbit ses première armes pour le théâtre en jouant sa première pièce intitulée "La soupe aux olives". Quelques années plus tard, elle rejoint la Belgique où elle intègre le conservatoire de Bruxelles. Très douée, Babetida va rapidement rejoindre la cour des grands. Aujourd’hui, elle est la comédienne noire de référence en Belgique, aussi bien au théâtre qu'au cinéma.

Filmographie sélective : WAST AND LAND – OMBLINE – NEUF MOIS FERME

Beti Ellerson: ‘African Women in Cinema’ - Women’s Film Activism, an interview by Marian Evans

Photo: Christophe Poulenc

Beti Ellerson: ‘African Women in Cinema’ - Women’s Film Activism, an interview by Marian Evans on Wellywoodwoman

Marian Evans:

Beti Ellerson established the Centre for the Study and Research of African Women in Cinema | Centre pour l’étude et la recherche des femmes africaines dans le cinéma in 2008. It is a virtual, dynamic and in-depth archive of information on the research, study and documentation of African women in cinema. Beti’s African Women in Cinema, in French and English, is a database with a lively blog, details about women filmmakers, video interviews, essays and reviews and various associated social media accounts. In today’s intense dialogue about inclusion in filmmaking it’s a vital resource and I want to celebrate Beti and her work.

Follow link to read the interview on http://wellywoodwoman.blogspot.com/2016/05/beti-ellerson-african-women-in-cinema.html :