African Diasporas. Nancy Mac Granaky-Quaye: Homeshoppers’ Paradise - Afrika Film Festival de Cologne 2023

Nancy Mac Granaky-Quaye

Homeshoppers’ Paradise

Afrika Film Festival de Cologne

11.2.  19h30 / Film Forum Museum Ludwig

Germany - 2022 - Fiction - 89 min

https://www.afrikafilmfestivalkoeln.de/

Synopsis
Lisa, a rebellious Black punk, lives with her gang in a construction trailer on an occupied lot. The friends are united in the fight against the bourgeoisie, capitalism – and the power of the state. When Lisa learns of the impending eviction of the site, she must take the initiative to guard a long-kept secret. Behind the others’ backs, she accepts a job offer at the epicenter of capitalist consumer society: as a presenter alongside her hated father on the home shopping network HSP.

Bio
Nancy Mac Granaky-Quaye is a director, author and vision mixer for cinema/TV/online. She has shot multiple short films, a mid-length documentary film, advertisements for cinema, and magazine reports, and has worked as programme planner for the Afrika Film Festival Köln (AFFK) for two years. Her personal highlights as a vision mixer include working on the MTV Unplugged concert by Sportfreunde Stiller. Her graduation film at Cologne’s International Film School, Beento (2007), ran for six months in movie theaters (as part of the compilation Am Ende Kommt die Wende) and was shown at the Max Ophüls Festival in Saarbrücken and at the AFFK. It received the Best Student Film Award at the Short Cuts Cologne festival, where her short film Gehenlassen also won the Audience Award. Her documentary I Have a Dream about the Black Lives Matter protests in Cologne was among those featured on the Black History Month 2021 programme. Nancy’s debut feature Homeshoppers’ Paradise (SWR, ARTE) was recently completed and will be shown in 2023 on ARTE and by ARD. 

African Diasporas. Brenda Akele Jorde: The Homes We Carry - Black History Month Köln 2023

Brenda Akele Jorde

The Homes We Carry

Black History Month Köln 2023

Documentary - Germany - 2022 - 89 Minute

Description

The Homes We Carry portraits a family torn apart by the turmoil of world history between Germany, Mozambique and South Africa. At the center is Sarah, a young Afro-German mother. She wants her daughter to have the relationships she herself lacked as a child. Therefore, she travels with her to Africa, where her own father and the child's father are waiting for them. But meeting Luana's father, who suddenly has to grow up when Sarah shows up at the door with his daughter, presents both of them with great challenges. Meanwhile, Sarah's father Eulidio recalls the almost forgotten and unjust history of the Mozambican contract workers in the former GDR. In his nostalgic daydreams, he returns to the origins of his European family and their sudden separation - a fate he shares with many other German-Mozambican families. (Text source: YouTube)

Excerpted from the article by Jürgen Bürgin: avisualzine.com

https://avisualzine.com/2022/10/13/the-homes-we-carry-beim-dok-leipzig/

“During the research for the film, I met many broken and traumatized Afro-German family members who were affected by the end of the GDR. Like many others, Sarah also understands at some point that being Afro-German is not a contradiction, not wrong and unwanted, but an enrichment and a wonderful gift. Showing the story of Sarah’s family means making Afro-German identity visible and emotionally comprehensible across generations.”

With this important film, Brenda Akele Jorde succeeds in a wonderful way in pointing out an almost forgotten chapter of German-African history – and this with a personal, emotional and touching story. "As the daughter of an Afro-German couple, I’m interested in the stories and origins of other Afro-German families," says the director. “These are largely unknown or invisible in Germany. As a result, we are seen less as part of German society and are less able to feel part of it.” 

Brenda Akele Jorde, born in Hamburg, studied at the University of Potsdam in Media Studies and then at the Film University at Babelsberg where she completed her final project, the feature documentary, The Homes We Carry. She had this to say about her film: “As an Afro-German director, I want to tell stories about Afro-German families, so that we can see ourselves as a part of German society. Showing the story of Sarah's family means making Afro-German identity visible and emotionally tangible across generations. Like many others, Sarah eventually understands that being Afro-German is not a contradiction, not wrong and unwanted, but an enrichment and a wonderful gift. 20,000 Mozambicans worked hard in East Germany and were cheated out of their money. This history is unjustly not part of the German cultural memory. When Sarah, the daughter of the Mozambican contract worker, recounts her experiences as a black child in East Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall, she speaks for many Afro-German children who felt very uncomfortable in their skin and struggled with their Blackness for a long time. Like many others, Sarah eventually understands that her identity is not a contradiction, but an enrichment. Telling Sarah's story means making Afro-German identity and family visible and emotionally tangible.” (Source DEFA Film Library)

Germany as a site for Afro-women’s cinematic journeying

Germany as a site for Afro-women’s cinematic journeying

Notes continuing...updated November 2023
by Beti Ellerson

Germany, with its rich cinema culture and history, has been fertile ground for African women with an interest in the moving image, many journeying to the country as professionals and students since the 1970s.

An eclectic group of German-based women are taking advantage of this rich audiovisual environment as accomplished creatives looking to enhance their skill sets or novitiates in search of tools to express their identity: some are mixed-race of German and African or African-American parentage, first-generation German-born or raised of African parents, or student immigrants who have settled in Germany or after their studies, have returned to their countries of origin. Hence within this cinematic landscape a current generation of Afro-German women are using the camera and the screen to tell their stories, explore their identities, and to problematize their social location. 

Senegalese filmmaker/anthropologist Safi Faye spent the academic years of 1979-1981 at the faculty of the Freie Universität in Berlin as a guest professor. Taking advantage of her séjour in the city she enrolled in video production courses in Berlin, directing 3 ans 5 mois (3 Years 5 Months) which was filmed in 1979 and edited in 1983. The 30-minute documentary, produced by the German cultural association, Deutsche Akademische Austansch Dienst, related the experiences of her own daughter as a young child, effortlessly adapting to the newfound culture.* Also while in Germany, with an eye on the experiences of expatriate residents, in 1980 she made Man Sa Yay (I, Your Mother), co-produced with ZDF. The film relates the experiences of a Senegalese student in Berlin during an exchange of letters with his mother at home, revealing his cultural isolation. Safi Faye would continue her ties with Germany with the co-production of Mossane, released in 1996, with Jürgen Jürges as the director of photography.  Later in the 1980s, trailblazer, Flora M'mbugu-Schelling, having already left her mark in Tanzania, ventured to the country to hone her audiovisual interest, which included a German television internship.**

In an environment teeming with cultural and intellectual discourse around identity, representation and visibility, in the mid-1980s, a group of Afro-German women emerged--inspired by Afro-Caribbean-American poet and activist Audre Lorde, forging the Afro-German Women's movement, ADEFRA--Afrodeutsche Frauen. The first wave of women of African descent studying cinema in Germany found roots in the momentum of this period. A cohort of African women with an interest in the moving image as a means of expression, journeyed to Berlin in the late 1980s-1990s to study film; which included Kenyan Wanjiru Kinyanjui who arrived in 1987, Zimbabwean Tsitsi Dangarembga in 1989, having recently attained international recognition as a writer; Auma Obama also from Kenya, in 1990 and Branwen Okpako from Nigeria, in 1992. Branwen Okpako had this to say during her filmmaker-in-residence talk about this early period as a student and colleague: “We were all keen to think about the portrayal of the African continent in film. And particularly African women in film and how we could contribute to the complexity of that image and how we could put stories out there that reflected our experience. That was a conversation that started in the early 90s.” Wanjiru Kinyanjui’s student film Blacks in the Western World (1992) as well as A Lover and Killer of Colour (1988) were seminal works on the subject, referring to Wanjiru's first film, Branwen Okpako notes: “it was one of the first films to talk about the postcolonial, diasporic African experience from a woman’s perspective.” Wanjiru Kinyanjui describes her work:

In Germany, I had also written and directed two short dramas, thirty minutes each, for ZDF German Television. These were stories for a multi-cultural project which were made by a multi-cultural team about Berlin's mixture of "tribes": Turks, Germans, Africans, South-Americans, Poles, Czechs, and whoever else was a professional in the fields of writing and directing.  Well, mine were dramas around African-German connections.  One is witty, but the other one concerns a neo-nazi attack on an African man who has an eight-year-old daughter by his German wife. The little girl, through whose eyes we see, is suddenly thrown into an identity crisis: Am I not German? Where do I really belong?***

Wanjiru Kinyanjui and Tsitsi Dangarembga returned to their respective countries and are making important contributions to the cinema cultures there. Both are founders of African women film festivals and are forging links with collaborative outreach efforts between Kenya and Zimbabwe. Branwen Okpako who is now based in the United States, settled in Germany after completing her film studies and the majority of her films have focused on Afro-German experiences; while her 2011 film The Education of Auma Obama traces the experiences of her fellow classmate and the elder sister of U.S. President Barack Obama. Coming to Berlin after reunification, witnessing a city under reconstruction, in transformation, she was struck by the idea that culture is dynamic, that there is continuous movement. She was most inspired about the discourse around identity in Germany among the Afro-German women, how they were constructing a culture, inventing themselves, which motivated her interest in wanting to make a contribution to Afro-German cultural production. In 2021, Branwen Okpako was a featured guest in the virtual film festival Black Lives in Germany: Resilience – Art – Hope, curated by Kevina King and organized by the DEFA Film Library at UMass Amherst (USA). Similarly, in 2022, The German Studies Association Conference included the panel series, The Visible Voice: The Films of Branwen Okpako (sponsored by the DEFA Film Library and the Black German Heritage and Research Association).

A decade later, Nigerian Ebele Okoye relocated to Germany to study animation in Duesseldorf and Cologne. As a German-based animation maker she shares her knowledge with her compatriots in Nigeria with the creation of an animated film studio that she set up with her brother. “I am bringing Nigerian stories to Germany in the form of cartoons. The knowledge that I have acquired through studying animated films I am bringing to Nigeria.” Iman Kamel of Egypt began her studies in visual art at the Academy of Arts in Berlin but found her creative passion at the Berlin Film Academy. Like many African women who live and work between cultures, she has a sensitivity towards in-between stories, where the protagonists negotiate within liminal spaces. Rwandan-born Amelia Umuhire who came to Germany as a child directs the popular webseries “Polyglot” (2015) which is a reflection of her own experiences as a young Berliner navigating between multiple languages: German, English, French and Kinyarwanda. Namibian Naomi Beukes-Meyer (“The Centre”, 2014), who has lived in Berlin for some twenty-five years, felt that there was a lack of representation regarding African lesbian experiences and wanted to explore it in her work. Psychologist, intellectual, and multimedia artist Grada Kilomba, whose ancestral homelands are both Sao Tome and Angola, was born in Portugal and is based in Germany. As many transnational cultural producers, she situates her work within the global African diaspora. In addition to her short films and video installations, she employs the moving image to perform her ideas and discourse on the myriad issues of race, knowledge, power, and postcoloniality.

U.S. based Nigerian filmmaker and cultural activist Omah Diegu directed the film The Snake in My Bed (1994), produced and released in Germany under the title Die Schlange in meinem Bett, which focuses on her personal experiences with Germany. She had this to say in an interview with me about the case around the story in the film and its aftermath: "There were aspects of my odyssey in Germany that had I included them in my script, my film might never have been produced there. These were not complimentary maneuverings by some higher authorities of the German government. Their actions were mitigated, at some time though, by an elected German politician of a minority liberal party, and at another by the Nigerian Embassy in Bonn. All these intrigues and counteractions were going on outside of the judicial system that was still trying to sort out the German officials’ mess-up with my son’s birth certificate and legal status. Then there was the German activist organization - of which my diligent attorney Marion Tamura Ikeda was a member - that publicized my son’s dilemma in a German newspaper. This had precipitated expert legal opinion being advanced, pro bono by a concerned German citizen, to the relevant court. So in spite of not blatantly telling all in the film (and probably all the better so), I could still make my case to an empathetic German audience; especially those within the lawmakers, bureaucrats and interracial community. My film aired a couple of times on German television and theater. It is of great consolation to think that my story played a part in the enactment of a law in Germany - soon after the debut of my film there. This law recognized the German citizenship of an interracial child born to an unwed German man, as an earlier one had done for the child born of an unwed German woman. This meant equal right of German citizenship to every child born of a German parent! For even though I married his German father in Nigeria, some German bureaucrats, hell bent on throwing my biracial baby to the dogs, were able to feign ignorance of the legality of my marriage. This way, they could camouflage their racism under the umbrella of the absence of a specific law protecting the biracial “illegitimate” child of a German man…On another level, the drive to make The Snake in My Bed at that very time in space was the chance to preemptively tell my son the story of his birth and ancestry in the event of my precipitous demise. That would help him never to let anyone else define him. As his Griot, my son is my primary target audience hence I addressed him directly. I could not have asked for any one more appreciative."****

Photographer-filmmaker Philippa Ndisi-Herrmann, who was born in Germany and raised in Kenya, where she currently lives, has this to say in an interview with me about the multiple identities and complexity of experiences that inform and influence her work: "Being half white and half black, being half African, and half European, and having the perspectives of a German father and a Kenyan mother means that I see two sides to everything – I can put myself in the shoes of two polar perspectives which is advantageous to my filmmaking, especially the films I want to make… This juxtaposition, this contrast was once a battle within me. However now it means that in my work I am drawn to writing stories about people that are misunderstood in their communities. I am also drawn to writing stories whose objectivity comes from their subjectivity of each character." ****

Similarly, pioneer animation filmmaker Cilia Sawadogo of German and Burkinabè parents, employs her art as a bridge between cultures. Born in East Germany she spent half of her childhood in Burkina Faso and migrated to Canada to study and has lived in there ever since. She had this to say in a 1997 interview with me: "The fact is that I come from not only different cultures but also two races—I am half-white and half-black—I truly experience this in every sense of the term.  When I was in Germany, I was told "You are black," but when I was in Africa I was told "You are white," I was put in the category "white" and viewed as such.  When I arrived in Canada, I was again told "You are black."  Thus, I lived in all my environments within a context of never being entirely part of a particular race.  What was good for me in this experience was that I acquired a tolerance and a sense of a universality of many things.  I also learned the acceptance of difference and the diversity of cultures. Personally, I can say that I am a person who is multi-cultural in every sense of the word.  Which means that I feel very European sometimes, often very African, and very Quebecois…"Poly-cultural," yes.  I think it brings something particularly interesting. I think it reflects the way that I make films. My films are never about a specific culture. They are films that always touch on a universal theme. I consider myself a citizen of the earth before anything else.  I am an Earthwoman."***

German-born Mo Asumang (The Aryans, 2014) and Nancy Mac Granaky-Quayes (Beento, 2007 and Kniffel, 2013) of mixed-race parentage, follow the footsteps of the first generation of Afro-German women writers, who through their writing and research forged a Afro-German Studies movement. Hence, they are using their cameras to cultivate a nAfro-German screen culture in order to visualize their stories, explore their identities and to problematize their social location. Moreover, associations such as the Black Filmmakers in Germany (SFD) presented a film series by Afro-German and black filmmakers living in Germany at the Berlinale under the title Neue Bilder. The 2023 Berlinale featured several German-produced films in the 1980s by African women dealing with issues of immigration and identity. The Berlinale Forum Special Fiktionsbescheinigung 2023 featured Man sa yay (I, your mother, 1980) by Safi Faye and Wanjiru Kinyanjuri's A Lover and Killer of Colour, released in 1988. In 2021, Wanjiru Kinyanjuri's seminal film Black in the Western World, was also featured in the Special Fiktionsbescheinigung.

Ghanaian-German Jacqueline Nsiah, of Ghanaian parentage is a polyglot transnational researcher and cultural media maker--whose Ghanaian-ness and polyglot transnationalism is as much a part of who she is as her German-born heritage. She had this to say in an interview with me about the Afro-German movement and her identity as a Ghanaian-German: "The Afro-German movement is poignant and very active indeed but I must say that I never felt part of that movement; I couldn't relate to the movement, I understand it but it's not my story. Although I was born and raised in Germany and lived there until my 21st year, I always felt Ghanaian as well as German. I never felt like I didn't have an identity or didn't know where to place it. My parents play a big role in this; both my parents are from Ghana and I was raised speaking Twi and eating Ghanaian food. Also, my parents tried to take us to Ghana as many times as possible. Though I never felt 100% Ghanaian, I always felt very connected."**** She joined the Berlinale Selection Committee in 2023.

Winta Yohannes, born in Eritrea and raised in Germany, is a transnational visual artist of photography and filmmaking. She graduated from London Film School and after creative journeys in New York, London and Paris, she return to Germany and is based in Berlin. Her work along with Branwen Okpako was presented in a film series by Afro-German and black filmmakers living in Germany under the title Neue Bilder, at the Berlinale in 2007 organized by the Black Filmmakers in Germany (SFD) association. In September 2022, an entire panel was devoted to a discussion of the films of Branwen Okpako (sponsored by the DEFA Film Library and the Black German Heritage and Research Association). On of the panelist, Karina Griffith, is preparing her dissertation research on Black German Cinema.

Brenda Akele Jorde, born in Hamburg, studied at the University of Potsdam in Media Studies and then at the Film University at Babelsberg where she completed her final project, the feature documentary, The Homes We Carry. She had this to say about her film: “As an Afro-German director, I want to tell stories about Afro-German families, so that we can see ourselves as a part of German society. Showing the story of Sarah's family means making Afro-German identity visible and emotionally tangible across generations. Like many others, Sarah eventually understands that being Afro-German is not a contradiction, not wrong and unwanted, but an enrichment and a wonderful gift…” (Source DEFA Film Library)

Perhaps Ebele Okoye sums up the complexity of identities of many of the above women. In an interview on German television, to the question “where is your Heimat, your homeland?” she responds “I have two homes, I come from Nigeria and I moved to Germany, and at the moment, Germany is where my heart is, because I have my husband who is my first family here…I cannot say where my Heimat is, it is very difficult, but at this moment, in some areas I feel very connected to Germany and in some areas I feel very connected to Nigeria. That is why I feel that both are my homeland. I feel quite at home in Germany."

Report by Beti Ellerson

*Drawn from Françoise Pfaff. Safi Faye in Twenty-Five Black African Filmmakers.

**Amina Magazine, May 1991.

***Beti Ellerson. Sisters of the Screen, Women of Africa on Film, Video and Television, 2000.

****African Women in Cinema Blog.

Following is a selection of articles focusing on African women and Germany published on the African Women in Cinema Blog:

Brenda Akele Jorde: The Homes We Carry. Black History Month Köln 2023 https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2023/01/brenda-akele-jorde-homes-we-carry.html 

Wanjiru Kinyanjui: A Lover and Killer of Colour - Berlinale https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2023/01/wanjiru-kinyanjui-lover-killer-of.html

Wanjiru Kinyanjui: Black in the Western World - Berlinale https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2021/08/wanjiru-kinyanjui-black-in-western-world.html

Ines Johnson Spain: Becoming Black
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2020/12/ines-johnson-spain-becoming-black.html

Grada Kilomba Talk at 2019 Verbier Art Summit
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2019/04/grada-kilomba-talk-at-2019-verbier-art.html

Report on Fokus: Sisters in African Cinema at the Afrika Film Festival Cologne
http://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.fr/2016/09/report-on-fokus-sisters-in-african.html

Iman Kamel Talks about her Beloved Home Egypt
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2016/02/iman-kamel-talks-about-her-beloved-home.html

Ghanaian-German Jacqueline Nsiah's Sankofa
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2015/10/ghanaian-german-jacqueline-nsiahs.html

Amelia Umuhire: Polyglot Webseries
http://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.fr/2015/07/amelia-umuhire-polyglot-webseries.html

Mo Asumang: Die arier aryans
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2014/06/mo-asumang-die-arier-aryans-face-to.html

Naomi Beukes-Meyers: Germany Namibia
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2014/09/naomi-beukes-meyer-germany-namibia.html

The Legacy of Rubies, an animation film by Ebele Okoye
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-legacy-of-rubies-animation-film-by.html

Omah Diegu: artist, and filmmaker of the iconic L.A. Rebellion film movement
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2014/07/omah-diegu-artist-and-filmmaker-of.html

A conversation with Philippa Ndisi-Herrmann
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2011/11/a-conversation-with-philippa-ndisi.html

Conversation with Branwen Okpako
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2010/08/conversation-with-branwen-okpako.html

Afrika Film Festival Köln - 13. -23 September 2018 - Deutsch | English | Français

AFRIKA FILM FESTIVAL KÖLN

13. -23 September 2018

Deutsch | English | Français

PROGRAMMHEFT | BOOKLET | BROCHURE :

http://www.filme-aus-afrika.de/DE/in-koeln/afrika-film-festival-koeln/2018/

Women at the | Frauem beim | Les Femmes au :
Afrika Film Festival Köln

Deutsch

Fokus: Innerafrikanische Migration

Das 16. Afrika Film Festival Köln präsentiert 75 neue Filme aus Afrika – mit einem breiten Fokus auf innerafrikanische Migration

Zu Beginn einige Zahlen: 68 Millionen Menschen sind weltweit auf der Flucht, die meisten von ihnen in ihren eigenen Nachbarländern. Die Gründe sind so bekannt wie vielfältig: Krieg, Demokratiedefizite und wirtschaftliche Not. Dabei gelangt nur ein kleiner Teil der globalen Flüchtlinge (um die 17 Prozent) in das vergleichsweise reiche Europa, 30 Prozent aller Flüchtlinge leben in den afrikanischen Ländern südlich der Sahara. Wird der Maghreb hinzugezählt, beherbergt Afrika sogar etwa die Hälfte der Flüchtlinge weltweit.

Die innerafrikanische Migration ist ein zentraler Fokus beim diesjährigen Afrika Film Festival Köln, mit 25 Titeln; doch auch die Filme des Rahmenprogramms durchzieht das Thema häufig auf direkte oder indirekte Weise.

English

Theme: Migrations in Africa

The 16th Afrika Film Festival Köln will present 75 new films from Africa – with a wider focus on migration within Africa.

Some numbers: there are currently 68 mil- lion displaced people worldwide, most of whom now reside in countries bordering their homelands. The wide range of reasons for their displacement is well known: war, demo- cratic deficits and economic deprivation. Only a small per- centage of the world’s refugees (around 17 percent) make it to the comparatively rich Europe, while 30 percent of all refugees live in sub-Saharan African countries. If we include the Maghreb, the percentage of the world’s refugees accom- modated in Africa swells to around 50.

Migration within Africa is one of the key focal points of this year’s Afrika Film Festival Köln, with 25 films in the main programme and many others in the supporting events that directly or indirectly address the issue.

Français

Thème : Migrations en Afrique

Le 16ème Festival du Film africain de Cologne présente 75 nouveaux films d’Afrique – avec un large éventail sur la migration intra-africaine

Quelques chiffres pour commencer : 68 millions de per- sonnes sont déplacées à travers le monde, la plupart d’entre elles dans leurs pays voisins. Les raisons sont aussi connues que multiples : guerre, déficit démocratique et détresse éco- nomique. Dans ce contexte, seule une poignée des réfugiés mondiaux (environ 17 pourcent) atteignent l’Europe, plus riche, et 30 pourcent des réfugiés vivent dans des pays afri- cains au sud du Sahara. Si on compte le Maghreb, l’Afrique abrite même la moitié de tous les réfugiés du monde.

La migration intra-africaine est au cœur de la présente édi- tion du Festival du Film africain de Cologne, avec 25 titres ; mais la plupart des films du programme abordent aussi cette thématique de manière directe ou indirecte.

TRAILER : Afrika Film Festival Köln 2016 - Fokus: Sisters in African Cinema

TRAILER

Sisters in African Cinema

FilmInitiativ Köln e.V.

Afrika Film Festival 2016

Sisters in African Cinema : FilmInitiativ Köln e.V. – Afrika Film Festival 2016 - Deutsch | English | Français : https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2016/07/sisters-in-african-cinema-filminitiativ.html

Sisters in African Cinema : FilmInitiativ Köln e.V. – Afrika Film Festival 2016 - Deutsch | English | Français

Sisters in African Cinema :

FilmInitiativ Köln e.V. – Afrika Film Festival 2016

Deutsch | English | Français

PRESS RELEASE | INFO DE PRESSE | PRESSE-INFO

[ENGLISH]

14th Cologne African Film Festival (15-25 September 2016)

83 films from 25 African countries and 30 international guests

Theme: Sisters in African Cinema

Under the patronage of: Mallence & Patrice Bart-Williams

Award-winning feature films, documentaries and short films from Africa’s major film festivals (Ouagadougou, Tunis, Durban, Zanzibar…), new releases from the global African diaspora, a thematic focus on Sisters in African Cinema with current films made by directors of African origin and a podium discussion, plus three live music acts, an exhibition, a reading and screenings for schools and children – that’s what the programme for the 14th African film festival held by FilmInitiativ Köln e.V. from 15 to 25 September 2016 has to offer this year.

There are previews all over Cologne for several months before the festival to get you in the mood:

* a South African children’s film (ZAMBEZIA) at the African summer festival at the Northside youth centre in Chorweiler (4.6.)

* Feature films from North Africa (STARVE YOUR DOG) and the African diaspora (MAY ALLAH BLESS FRANCE) at the Filmhauskino and Odeon cinemas as part of the “Kölner Kino Nächte” festival (8.7. and 9.7.)

* A cinematic look at the subject of development policy at the AKWAABA Africa dayat the Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum (27.8.)

* Short films made by black German filmmakers as part of the “Art&Amen” cultural event at St Michael’s church on Brüsseler Platz (9.9.)

* An animated feature film from the Ivory Coast (AYA OF YOP CITY) at the monthly cinema day at Institut Français (14.9.)

Filmmakers from Ethiopia, Cameroon, Kenya, South Africa, Sudan and Tunisia have been invited to join us for the opening of the festival (15.9., Filmforum in Museum Ludwig). Mallence Bart-Williams and her brother, the Cologne-born, internationally recognised musician Patrice, have taken on patronage duties for the festival. To kick off the festival, they will show a short film that they shot in Sierra Leone. The Afro-American writer and filmmaker Beti Ellerson, who writes a blog on the role of women in African cinema, will introduce this year’s theme of Sisters in African Cinema, and the band SISTERS (Onejiru, Nicole Hadfield, Mamadee Wappler & Meli Wharton) will provide the accompanying soundtrack with a live performance.

The opening film A PEINE J’OUVRE LES YEUX has already won dozens of prizes at international festivals and it will get its start in German cinemas at the screening here in Cologne, with Tunisian director Leyla Bouzid in attendance. We have another cinema preview in store with the feature film HEDI (18.9.), for which Tunisian actor Madj Mastoura won the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the Berlinale 2016.

Other highlights of the eleven-day programme include feature films from Egypt, Algeria, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Mauritius, Morocco and South Africa, documentaries about Islamic militants in Somalia, the use of music to heal war trauma in Sudan, the African cinema pioneer Ousmane Sembène from Senegal and Nollywood cinema in Nigeria, as well as short films from Libya, cinematic discoveries from all corners of Africa and the presentation of “visual art” from Africa.

FilmInitiativ consulted directors from five countries when compiling its film programme for the Sisters in African Cinema theme. From the long list of suggestions, we finally selected 33 feature films, documentaries and short films that will give you an insight into the current filmmaking exploits of women in 13 African countries and from the African diaspora. The selected films stand as examples of the huge diversity in terms of content, cinematic styles and genres. At a podium discussion, directors from Tunisia, Cameroon, Kenya and South Africa will debate the current standing of women in the African filmmaking world (18.9.).

Guests are also invited to the screening of the documentary FEMINISM INSH’ALLAH to discuss the history and current status of the women’s movement in North Africa with Tunisian director Feriel Ben Mahmoud (25.9.). For its “Sisters” theme, FilmInitiativ received funding from the German Federal Cultural Foundation (Kulturstiftung des Bundes) for the first time. This not only allowed us to provide German subtitles for many of the films, but we were also able to invite a number of directors to the festival in Cologne, and have the films shown in other German cities, including Hamburg, Münster, Osnabrück, Saarbrücken, Freiburg, Berlin and Bayreuth. This project illustrates the transregional significance of the Cologne African film festival as the largest of its kind in Germany and one of the biggest in Europe.

Further funding was provided for the festival by the city of Cologne’s Office for Cultural Affairs (Kulturamt) and Engagement Global, the funding department of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). In addition to this, the festival was able to acquire dozens of supporters and cooperative partners for the 2016 edition.

There will be an event with films, readings, live music and African guests at the Central Library (Zentralbibliothek), for example, with the title Africa 2016: cool, creative and visionary (19.9.), and a discussion event at Filmclub 813 with a film on the revolution in Burkina Faso with the director in attendance, in cooperation with the africologneFESTIVAL (20.9.).

The festival programme also includes two school screenings with feature films and animations for older (16.9.) and younger (23.9.) school classes, a South African animated film to mark Cologne’s World Children’s Day celebrations (18.9.), plus the awarding of audience prizes for the best feature film (sponsored by choices magazine) and best documentary (sponsored by WDR’s documentary film department). Rapper AWA (African Women Arise) from Zimbabwe will also perform, before the festival is brought to a close by the Moroccan film L’ORCHESTRE DES AVEUGLES on 25.9.

For festival pre-announcements and reports on festival-related events, plus meetings and discussions with the international guests, FilmInitiativ will gladly provide screener copies of films (via link or DVD) as well as press photos and background material.

For interview requests or other queries, please email us at mail@filminitiativ.de or call us on +49 – 221 – 46 96 243.

Contact persons: Christa Aretz, Esther Donkor, Sebastian Fischer, Karl Rössel

Extensive information on the festival will be available on the website www.filme-aus-afrika.de/EN from August. You can already watch the festival trailer on the site.

(Category: “Out of Europe” festival)

[FRANÇAIS]

14ième Festival du film africain à Cologne (15-25. Septembre 2016)
83 films de 25 pays africains & 30 invités internationaux

Thème: Sisters in African Cinema

Des longs métrages, des documentaires et des courts métrages primés aux plus grands festivals du continent africain (Ouagadougou, Tunis, Durban, Zanzibar …), des nouvelles productions de la diaspora africaine mondiale et l’accent sur les Sisters in African Cinema avec des films actuels de réalisatrices d’origine africaine qui discuteront sur une table ronde. Trois spectacles musicaux, une exposition, une lecture et des films pour les enfants et pour les écoliers – tout cela fera parti du 14ième Festival du Film Africain de FilmInitiativ e.V., qui aura lieu du 15 au 25 Septembre 2016. Des avant-premières seront montrées quelques mois avant le festival tout autour de Cologne, par exemple :

· un film sud-africain (ZAMBEZIA) pour enfants lors de la fête d’été africaine dans le centre de jeunesse Northside à Chorweiler (4.6.).

· des longs métrages de l’Afrique du Nord (STARVE YOUR DOG) et de la diaspora africaine (QU’ALLAH BÉNISSE LA FRANCE ) lors des « Nuits de cinéma » à Cologne au Filmhauskino et au Odeon (8.7. & 9.7.)

· une contribution cinématographique au sujet de l’aide du développement lors de la journée africaine « Akwaaba » au musée Rautenstrauch-Joest (27.8.)

· des courts métrages de réalisatrices/réalisateurs afro-allemands dans le cadre de « Art&Amen », un évènement culturel à l’église St- Michael au Brüsseler Platz (14.9.)

· un film d’animation de la Côte d’Ivoire (AYA DE YOUPOUGON) au l’Institut français (14.9.)

Pour l’ouverture du festival (le 15 Septembre au Filmforum Museum Ludwig) des réalisateurs et réalisatrices de l’Ethiopie, du Cameroun, du Kenya, du Soudan et de la Tunisie seront invités. Mallence Bart-Williams et son frère, le musicien originaire de Cologne mondialement connu Patrice, assument le parrainage du festival. A l’occasion de l’ouverture ils présenteront un court métrage filmé au Sierra Leone. L’auteur afro-américaine Beti Ellerson, qui possède un blog sur le rôle des femmes dans le cinéma africain, introduira le thème Sisters in African Cinema, pendant que le groupe SISTERS (Onejiru, Nicole Hadfield, Mamadee Wappler & Meli Wharton) l’accompagnera avec de la musique.

Le film d’ouverture A PEINE J’OUVRE LES YEUX a déjà gagné des douzaines de prix aux festivals internationaux et éprouvera son début en Allemagne lors de sa présentation au festival de Cologne. La réalisatrice du film, Leyla Bouzid, sera sur place. Le long métrage HEDI (18.9.), pour lequel l’acteur tunisien Madj Mastoura a reçu le prix « Silberner Bär » comme meilleur acteur à la Berlinale 2016 fera aussi parti d’une des prévisualisations du festival. Autres points forts du programme de onze jours sont des longs métrages de l’Egypte, l’Algérie, du Burkina Faso, la Côte d’Ivoire, l’Ile Maurice, du Maroc et de l’Afrique du Sud, et des documentations sur les combattants islamistes en Somalie. L’utilisation de musique contre les traumatismes de guerre au Soudan et le pionnier Ousmane Sembène du Senegal ont leur place dans le programmes, également le cinéma Nollywood du Nigéria, des court métrages de la Lybie, des découvertes

cinématographiques de tout les coins du continent africain et la présentation de « Visual Art » de l’Afrique.

Pour le sujet thématique du festival Sisters in African cinema Filminitiativ a été conseillé par des réalisatrices de cinq pays pour la compilation des films. 33 films ont été choisis d’une longue liste, et donnent un aperçu sur le travail cinématographe actuel de femmes en 13 pays africains ainsi que de la diaspora. Ceci sont exemplaires pour la diversité des sujets, des approches esthétiques et des genres. Des réalisatrices tunisiennes, camerounaises, kényanes et sud-africaines discuteront la position des femmes dans la création cinématographique (18.9.). La documentation FEMINISM INSH’ALLAH invite à une discussion avec la réalisatrice Feriel Ben Mahmoud sur l’histoire et la situation actuelle du movement féministe en Afrique du nord (25.9.).

Pour le sujet thématique du festival « Sisters » Filminitiativ a reçu pour la première fois des subventions de la Kulturstiftung des Bundes (fondation culturelle de la fédération). Ceci a permis le sous-titrage de nombreux films et l’invitation de beaucoup de réalisateurs et réalisatrices au festival de Cologne. Il a aussi été possible de transmettre plusieurs films dans d’autres villes allemandes (Hambourg, Münster-Osnabrück, Saarbrücken, Fribourg, Berlin et Bayreuth). Ce projet montre l’importance que le Festival du Film Africain de Cologne a gagné en Allemagne et en Europe entant que le plus grand et plus important festival de son genre.

Autres sponsors principaux du festival sont le bureau de culture de la ville de Cologne (Kulturamt) et Engagement Global, le département engagée à la promotion de l’éducation à l’aide du développement du BMZ (ministère de l’économie et aide au développement). En effet, de nombreux sponsors et partenaires de coopérations ont pu assurer leur collaboration pour le festival de 2016.

Un spectacle nommé Afrika 2016: Cool, kreativ und visionär (L’Afrique: cool, créative et visionnaire) aura lieu à la bibliothèque centrale auquel les spectateurs pourront voir et écouter un film, de la musique et une lecture avec les invités africains (19.9.). Un évènement entouré d’une discussion aura lieu au Filmclub 813 (20.9.). Cet évènement, une coopération avec le festival de théâtre africologne, parlera de la révolution au Burkina Faso accompagné d’un film et avec la présence du réalisateur.

Deux représentations scolaires font partie du programme du festival ; des longs métrages et des dessins animés pour les plus jeunes classes (23.9.) et plus âgés (16.9.), un dessin animé sud-africain à l’occasion de la journée mondiale de l’enfant (18.9.)

La remise du prix du public pour le meilleur long-métrage (sponsorisé par le magazine choices) et pour le meilleur film documentaire (sponsorisée par la rédaction de film du WDR) aura lieu durant la soirée de cloture. A cette occasion, la rappeuse AWA (African Women Arise) du Zimbabwe viendra sur scène avant que le festival prenne fin avec le film marocain L’ORCHESTRE DES AVEUGLES (25.9.).

Pour toutes annonces préliminaires auprès du festival et des comptes rendus auprès de son déroulement, ainsi que les discussions avec nos invités internationaux Filminitiativ mettra des copies de films (à travers un lien ou une DVD) ainsi que des photos de presse et des documentations à disposition.

Pour plus d’informations, veuillez nous contacter à l’adresse suivante :

mail@filminitiativ.de ou au tel. 0049 – 221 – 46 96 243.

Interlocuteurs : Christa Aretz, Esther Donkor, Sebastian Fischer, Karl Rössel .

Vous trouverez des informations détaillées sur le site web à partir du mois d’ âout

www.filme-aus-afrika.de/FR. La bande annonce est également déjà disponible

(Catégories: Festival « Au-delà de l’Europe »).

[DEUTSCH] 

14. Afrika Film Festival Köln (15. – 25. September 2016)
83 Filme aus 25 Ländern Afrikas & 30 internationale Gäste

Fokus: Sisters in African Cinema

Schirmherrschaft: Mallence & Patrice Bart-Williams

Preisgekrönte Spiel-, Dokumentar- und Kurzfilme von den wichtigsten Festivals des afrikanischen Kontinents (Ouagadougou, Tunis, Durban, Sansibar...), neue

Produktionen aus der weltweiten afrikanischen Diaspora, den Schwerpunkt Sisters in African Cinema mit aktuellen Filmen von Regisseurinnen afrikanischer Herkunft und einer Podiumsdiskussion, drei Live-Musik-Acts, eine Ausstellung, eine Lesung sowie Schul- und Kindervorführungen – das bietet das Programm des 14. Afrika Film Festivals von FilmInitiativ Köln e.V., das vom 15. bis 25. September 2016 stattfindet.

Previews zur Einstimmung gibt es bereits einige Monate vor dem Festival quer durch Köln, so z.B.:

* einen südafrikanischen Kinderfilm (ZAMBEZIA) beim Afrikanischen Sommerfest im Jugendzentrum Northside in Chorweiler (4.6.)

* Spielfilme aus Nordafrika (STARVE YOUR DOG, Filmforum im Museum Ludwig) und der afrikanischen Diaspora (QU’ALLAH BÉNISSE LA FRANCE, präsentiert im Rahmen des Programms „Meine Kino Nacht“ von Shary Reeves im Odeon) bei den Kölner Kinonächten (8.7. & 9.7.)

* einen cineastischen Beitrag zum Thema Entwicklungspolitik beim AKWAABAAfrika-

Tag im Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum (27.8.)

* Kurzfilme Schwarzer deutscher FilmemacherInnen in der Kulturreihe „Art&Amen“ der Kirche St. Michael am Brüsseler Platz (9.9.)

* einen Animations-Spielfilm aus der Elfenbeinküste (AYA DE YOUPOUGON) am

monatlichen Kinotag des Institut Français am Vorabend des Festivalbeginns (14.9.)

Zur Eröffnung des Festivals (am 15.9., Filmforum im Museum Ludwig) sind Filmschaffende aus Äthiopien, Kamerun, Kenia, Südafrika, Sudan und Tunesien eingeladen. Mallence Bart-Williams und ihr Bruder, der aus Köln stammende international bekannte Musiker Patrice, haben die Schirmherrschaft des Festival

übernommen. Sie stellen zum Auftakt einen Kurzspielfilm vor, den sie in Sierra Leone gedreht haben. Die afroamerikanische Autorin und Filmemacherin Beti Ellerson, die einen Blog zur Rolle von Frauen im afrikanischen Kino betreibt, wird den Fokus Sisters in African Cinema einleiten und die Band SISTERS (Onejiru, Nicole Hadfield, Mamadee Wappler & Meli Wharton) wird dazu live den passenden Soundtrack präsentieren. Der Eröffnungsfilm A PEINE J’OUVRE LES YEUX hat bereits Dutzende Preise bei internationalen Festivals gewonnen und erlebt mit seiner Vorführung beim Kölner Festival in Anwesenheit der tunesischen Regisseurin Leyla Bouzid seinen bundesweiten Kinostart. Als Kino-Preview läuft ebenso der Spielfilm HEDI (18.9.), für den der tunesische Schauspieler Madj Mastoura bei der Berlinale 2016 mit dem Silbernen Bären als bester Darsteller ausgezeichnet wurde.

Zu weiteren Highlights des elftägigen Programms gehören Spielfilme aus Ägypten, Algerien, Burkina Faso, der Elfenbeinküste, Mauritius, Marokko und Südafrika ebenso wie Dokumentationen über islamistische Kämpfer in Somalia, über den Einsatz von Musik gegen Kriegstraumata im Sudan, ein cineastisches Portrait des senegalesischen Kino-Pioniers Ousmane Sembène und eine selbstkritische Vorstellung des nigerianischen Nollywood-Kinos. Die Kurzfilm-Programme präsentierten aktuelle Produktionen aus Libyen, cineastische Entdeckungen aus allen Teilen des afrikanischen Kontinents sowie „Visual Art“ aus Afrika.

Bei der Zusammenstellung der Filme für den Schwerpunkt Sisters in African Cinema wurde FilmInitiativ von Regisseurinnen aus fünf Ländern beraten. Aus einer langen Vorschlagsliste wurden schließlich 33 Spiel-, Dokumentar- und Kurzfilme ausgewählt, die einen Überblick über das aktuelle Filmschaffen von Frauen in 13 afrikanischen Ländern sowie in der Diaspora bieten und beispielhaft für die Vielfalt der Inhalte, filmästhetischen Herangehensweisen und Genres stehen.

Bei einer Podiumsdiskussion erörtern Regisseurinnen aus Tunesien, Kamerun, Kenia und Südafrika die Stellung von Frauen im heutigen afrikanischen Filmschaffen (18.9.) und die Dokumentation FEMINISM INSH’ALLAH lädt dazu ein, mit der tunesischen Regisseurin Feriel Ben Mahmoud über Geschichte und Stand der Frauenbewegung in Nordafrika zu diskutieren (25.9.).

Für den Sisters-Schwerpunkt des Festivals erhielt FilmInitiativ erstmals Fördergelder der Kulturstiftung des Bundes. Diese erlauben nicht nur die deutsche Untertitelung vieler Filme, sondern auch die Einladung zahlreicher Regisseurinnen zum Festival in Köln sowie die Vermittlung von Filmen in weitere bundesdeutsche Städte (von Hamburg über Münster, Osnabrück, Saarbrücken, Freiburg und Berlin bis nach Bayreuth). Das Projekt illustriert die überregionale Bedeutung, die das Kölner Afrika Film Festival als größtes seiner Art in Deutschland und eines der bedeutendsten in Europa inzwischen gewonnen hat.

Weitere Hauptförderer des Festivals sind das Kulturamt der Stadt Köln und Engagement Global, die Förderabteilung für entwicklungspolitische Bildung des BMZ. Darüber hinaus konnten für das Festival 2016 wieder Dutzende Unterstützerinnen und Kooperationspartner gewonnen werden.

So findet z.B. eine Veranstaltung mit Film, Lesung, Live-Musik und afrikanischen Gästen unter dem Titel Afrika 2016: Cool, kreativ und visionär in der Zentralbibliothek statt (19.9.) und eine Diskussionsveranstaltung mit Film und Regisseur zur Revolution in Burkina Faso in Kooperation mit dem africologneFESTIVAL im Filmclub 813 (20.9.).

Zum Festivalprogramm gehören schließlich noch zwei Schulvorstellungen mit Spielund Animationsfilmen für ältere (16.9.) und jüngere (23.9.) Klassen, ein südafrikanischer Zeichentrickfilm zum Kölner Weltkindertags-Fest (18.9.) sowie die Verleihung von Publikumspreisen für den besten Spielfilm (gestiftet von der Zeitschrift choices) und für die beste Dokumentation (gestiftet von der Dokumentarfilmredaktion des WDR). Dazu wird die Rapperin AWA (African Women Arise) aus Zimbabwe auftreten, bevor das Festival mit dem

marokkanischen Abschlussfilm L’ORCHESTRE DES AVEUGLES am 25.9. zu Ende geht.

Für Vorankündigungen des Festivals und Berichte über dessen Verlauf und die

Diskussionen mit den internationalen Gästen stellt FilmInitiativ gerne Sichtkopien von Filmen (per Link oder DVD) sowie Pressefotos und Hintergrundmaterialien zur Verfügung. Anfragen und Interviewwünsche bitte an:

mail@filminitiativ.de oder telefonisch (+49 – 221 – 46 96 243)

AnsprechpartnerInnen: Christa Aretz, Esther Donkor, Sebastian Fischer, Karl Rössel Ausführliche Informationen zum Festival finden sich ab August auf der Internetseite www.filme-aus-afrika.de. Der Festival-Trailer kann dort bereits gesichtet werden.

(Rubrik: Festival „Jenseits von Europa“)

LINKS:

Afrika Film Festival Cologne 2016, Fokus : Sisters in African Cinema - Film Selection - DE | EN | FR

Afrika Film Festival Cologne 2016, Fokus : Sisters in African Cinema - Programmheft | Booklet | Brochure - Deutsch | English | Français