The African Women in Cinema Blog celebrates
World Environment Day
The environment has long been a theme that African women in cinema have addressed in their work. Below is a selection of films promoting care for the environment and the inhabitants who depend on a safe and healthy world.
In Safi Faye's Kaddu Beykat (1975) the story unfolds through the backdrop of an ongoing drought in the village, causing economic upheaval as groundnuts are its sole crop. The recurring theme of drought drives the story in Fad'jal (1979), again underscoring the difficulty of cultivating the land. Similarly, in Mossane (1996) the drought continues to impose hardships on the village, and in hopes of rain, an elaborate ceremony is held calling on the ancestors to bring rain.
Kenyan Wanuri Kahiu was inspired by the late Nobel Prize laureate and compatriot Wangari Maathai, whose Greenbelt Movement challenged Africans to replenish the earth by planting trees, combatting deforestation and soil erosion. In her film Pumzi (2009) Aysha's last gesture was to plant a tree, sacrificing her own life for the continuation of the earth. Wanuri Kahiu has this to say about the importance of nurturing the environment: “My metaphor about Pumzi is life and sacrifice and that we ourselves have to mother mother nature. That we have to make sacrifices in order to live in this world. And that we have to know that our own behaviour will affect generations to come.” Wanuri Kahiu TEDx Forum On Afrofuturism In Popular Culture.
Marcher sur l'eau by Aissa Maiga filmed in northern Niger between 2018 and 2020, focuses on the village of Tatiste, a victim of global warming. In its fight for access to water, it is building a drilling hole. Every day, fourteen-year-old Houlaye as well as the other girls, of the village, walks kilometers to draw water, which is essential to the life of the village. In so doing they, they are prevented focusing on their studies. The absence of water drives the adults to leave their families every year in search of the necessary resources to survive. However, this region draws from an aquifer lake of several thousand square kilometers. Under the impetus of the inhabitants and through the action of the NGO Amman Imman, drilling would bring the requisite water to the center of the village, while offering a better life to all.
Silas by Hawa Essuman (Kenya) features Liberian activist, Silas Siakor, a tireless crusader, fighting to crush corruption and environmental destruction in the country he loves. Through the focus on one country, Silas is a global tale that warns of the power of politics and celebrates the power of individuals to fight back. One man's battle gains momentum and emboldens communities to raise their fists and smartphones, seize control of their lands and protect their environment. It is a new generation of resistance.
Anger in the Wind | La Colère dans le vent (2016) by Amina Weira (Niger). In Amina Weira’s hometown Arlit, in the north of Niger, the company Areva has operated uranium mines since 1976. Swept away by heavy sand winds, today, much of this area is contaminated. Radioactivity cannot be seen and the population is not aware of the risks that it engenders. This mining operation has completely disorganised the life of the population. A part of the year violent sand winds envelop the city entirely, during which dust winds spread radioactive substances and everyone looks for shelter.
Julie Djikey: Performance "Ozonisation.” In the performance art work, "Ozonisation" (2013), Julie Djikey, as part of the Kisalu Nkia Mbote collective, performs in the streets of Kinshasa. The theme of the piece is in protest against pollution, global warming and the use of cosmetic products. She transforms her body into a “human car”, applying a mixture of engine oil and ashes from burnt tires, and a bra made from oil filter cans. This performance protests against the deterioration of the ozone layer due to the greenhouse gas emissions, the main chemo-physical element responsible for the overheating of the blue planet, which should always be green, without air pollution, and free of ultraviolet (UV) radiation.
Nadine Otsobogo, is the founding director of the Festival du Film de Masuku - Nature et environnement - Film Festival of Masuku - Nature and Environment in Gabon, an international festival, which, through the moving image, examines the place of humans in their environment in a global manner: biodiversity, environmental issues and urbanism. The festival welcomes all genres and formats, from all cinematic forms, but devotes an important place to African cinemas. In addition, Nadine Otsobogo’s film Tout est lié - It’s all connected is about raising awareness among young audiences of the complexity of our terrestrial ecosystem and to inspire action by encouraging inventiveness and collaboration.
