The African Women in Cinema Blog commemorates United Nations World AIDS Day

As highlighted in past commemoration posts, African women in cinema often use the visual media as a tool for awareness building as it relates to matters that touch their societies and burning issues that effect Africa.

In this regard the initiative Scenarios from Africa had as objective to give young people a unique occasion to learn more about HIV/AIDS. The 2011 edition demonstrated the extent that African girls and young adults seized this opportunity to tell these stories. Among the 25 frontrunners 17 were girls/young women--the youngest 12 years old. Furthermore, among the awardees of the three grand prizes two were young women.

Burkinabé Fanta Nacro has played an important role in the above initiative, as prominent African cineastes adapted films using these scenarios: A Call to Action, A Love Story, A Ring on Her Finger, The Champion, Iron Will, Peace of Mind, Never Alone, The Reasons for a Smile, Tiger Tigress. Also from the Series, Cameroonian Kidi Bebey’s Looking for a Brave Man explored relationships in the age of AIDS. A young woman seeking a serious relationship demands that her partner act responsibly which entails taking the AIDS test.

Fanta Nacro’s filmography also includes the 1998 short film, Le Truc de Konate (Konate's Thing). The comedy employed as a means of consciousness-raising proved very popular with the Burkinabé public, intermingling an established distrust of new concepts and old-fashioned masculine virility and honour with female consciousness.

With a more solemn tone, Tsitsi Dangarembga of Zimbabwe relays the tragic costs of AIDS in Everyone's Child, directed in 1995. The film focuses on the devastating consequences for the children who are left to fend for themselves after the AIDS-related death of parents. On a joyful note, in Zambian Musola Kaseketi's film Suwi, the young Bupe finds a happy home, while Tanzanian Beatrix Mugishagwe’s Tumaini tells a story of hope.

Kenyan Wajuhi Kamau, of the Film Production Department of the Educational Media Service of the Minister of Education, emphasises the effectiveness of video as a means of educating people about a range of issues, from AIDS to family planning. Using both the documentary and drama presentations, the objective of the agency is to allow people to see themselves reflected in the images. "When you see yourself, you see your situation, then it is easy to remember and change attitudes and behaviour." Zimbabwean Prudence Uriri has also focused on issues related to AIDS and health in general. The Unesco-commissioned Madizela and Samora (2003), and Life (2002) produced by Rooftop Promotions, are two AIDS-focused films directed by Uriri. She sees her role as a filmmaker to open a dialogue regarding the problems that people face, and in so doing they may be better informed.

Commemorating the International Day of Peace: The Night of Truth by Fanta Nacro

On the occasion of the International Day of Peace, 21 September, we highlight the film, The Night of Truth (2005) by Fanta Nacro to reflect on peace, "both within and among all nations and peoples", the message that the United Nations wanted to convey by declaring this Day.

Text and Image Source: BFI

The Night of Truth (La Nuit de la Vérité), the audacious feature debut of the award-winning Burkinab female director Fanta Rgina Nacro. Set in an unnamed African country, after ten years of bloody war, The Night of Truth dramatises the process of truth and reconciliation, echoing the recent histories of South Africa, Sierra Leone and Rwanda, and highlights not only the female perspective but also the subtleties and complexities of learning to live together again in trust and respect.

Genocide, raw and recent, is not far from the minds of the Nayak and Bonandé peoples who have been locked in a decade of bloody ethnic conflict. Now, the President (commander of the Nayak national army) and Colonel Theo (controller of the rebel Bonand army) are determined to end the conflict. A celebration is arranged, but cynicism remains on both sides and - as the evening wears on - tension mounts. Not only have drums been banned from the musical entertainment, because, in the past, they were used as a call to arms, but many of the women, notably the president's wife Edna, cannot simply forgive and forget. The evening comes to a climax when the village jester Tomota, a Nayak-hater, indignantly decides to beat the drums during the festivities. The sound becomes a trigger that releases the feelings of distrust and fear that have been suppressed by both sides.

The Night of Truth was conceived in memory of Fanta Nacro's uncle, accused of inciting a coup, and who was murdered in a horrifically brutal way. Compelling performances from a cast of mainly non-professional actors lend an eerie authenticity to film (all of the men are played by members of the Burkina army). The professional actress Naky Sy Savané is particularly outstanding in her role as Edna, who is grief-stricken over her son's death and harbours a bitter lust for revenge. Her brooding performance conjures an atmosphere of sinister foreboding, demonstrating the extent to which official peace deals are undermined by the lasting psychological wounds inflicted by war.

Fanta Nacro was the first woman from Burkina Faso to direct a fiction film (the short Un Certain matin) and The Night of Truth, which has won awards at film festivals around the world, is a stunning example of the rise of African women filmmakers, bringing a new voice and perspective to African cinema.

Commémoration de la journée internationale de la paix : La nuit de la vérité de Fanta Nacro

À l'occasion de la journée internationale de la paix, 21 septembre, nous mettons en exergue le film, La nuit de la vérité (2005) de Fanta Nacro pour réfléchir à la paix "tant au sein des nations et des peuples qu'entre ceux-ci", le message que l'Organisation des Nations Unies voulait faire passer en consacrant cette Journée.

Texte et Image: Africultures

Un pays imaginaire d'Afrique noire. Après dix ans d'une guerre ethnique sanglante, un traité de paix vient d'être signé entre les Nayaks, ethnie du Président, et les Bonandés, opposants rebelles regroupés autour du Colonel Théo.

Ce dernier s'apprête à organiser chez lui une fête de la réconciliation à laquelle assisteront le président et son épouse. L'épouse du président n'oublie pas que son fils aîné a été massacré par les rebelles. Au fil de la nuit, les blessures se rouvrent et les conflits renaissent dans l'ombre. Tout semble se jouer sur le fil du rasoir. La tension monte peu à peu et la réconciliation semble vouée à l' échec. Pourtant, dans un moment de confusion extrême, certains protagonistes réussissent à arrêter l'engrenage de la haine, laissant espérer à tous une paix durable.

Quelque part en Afrique. Après dix ans d'une guerre civile sanglante, les Nayaks, ethnie du Président, et les Bonandés, rebelles rassemblés autour du Colonel Théo, sont sur le point de célébrer les accords de paix en organisant une fête de la réconciliation.

Mais le souvenir encore vivace des atrocités commises de part et d'autre assombrit peu à peu les festivités.

Fanta Régina Nacro laisse de côté l'humour de ses premiers courts-métrages pour témoigner sans détours de la violence de la guerre tout en défendant avec force l'idée d'une possible réconciliation entre les peuples.

"Comment oublier le Rwanda, le Soudan, le Congo… je voudrais faire de ce film une action contre l'atrocité, les conflits ethniques, la cruauté et la haine de l'homme".

Fanta Régina Nacro

Note d'intention

"Les bourreaux aiment la nuit, les assassins ont peur du jour".

Zehor Zerari, poète algérien

La nuit de la vérité est un film écrit à la mémoire d'un homme.

Accusé d'avoir fomenté un coup d'état, il fut d'abord torturé et emprisonné.

Une nuit, des hommes préparèrent un barbecue, l'attachèrent et le firent cuire à petit feu jusqu'au matin. À sept heures du matin, il mourait atrocement.

Cet homme était mon oncle.

Il y eût aussi ce vendredi noir où des musulmans de mon quartier, à Ouagadougou, s'entretuèrent à coups de couteaux et de machettes parce qu'ils ne s'entendaient pas sur le choix du nouvel imam. Des sages ont pu calmer les esprits et éviter une guerre civile.

Enfin, comment oublier la Yougoslavie, le Rwanda, le Burundi, le Soudan, le Zaïre, le Congo … mais aussi tant d'autres pays du monde confrontés à des guerres civiles ? Sur le thème des rivalités ethniques, nous avons voulu écrire un drame "shakespearien".

La violence et la cruauté n'y sont pas exposées avec complaisance, mais intégrées à une progression dramatique.

Fanta Nacro: Florence Barrigha, le temps d'une rencontre (The Nana Benz of West Africa)

The Nana Benz of West Africa - Fanta Nacro’s Florence Barrigha, le temps d’une rencontre 

Fanta Nacro’s Florence Barrigha, le temps d’une rencontre (1999), is among three documentaries in the series "Reflets-Sud" presented by Wendy Bashi, that focus on West Africa printed fabric.

Synopsis of film translated from French by Beti Ellerson. The film is subtitled and spoken in French.

Florence Barrigha, Le temps d'une rencontre. At the time of independence in West Africa, several women had a taste for business. They had their fabric printed in the West and then sold it in Togo. These women called themselves NANA BENZ. Nana Benz, because they could afford to buy a Mercedes-Benz. In a word, the phrase Nana Benz symbolizes the freedom, pride, achievement and courage of women. This film highlights the story of one of the last seven Nana Benz of Togo: Florence Barrigha. She has a fascinating story, her experiences are very unique and original because for the first time, a woman became a Nana Benz not by inheritance, but by ingenuity and subtlety. In less than four years, she was able to penetrate the extremely closed world of the Nana Benz. She chose to work in a profession that today is undergoing a major crisis. Florence is one of the women who because of certain events, had to reinvent her life and the conditions to continue forward without giving up.