The purpose of the African Women in Cinema Blog is to provide a space to discuss diverse topics relating to African women in cinema--filmmakers, actors, producers, and all film professionals. The blog is a public forum of the Centre for the Study and Research of African Women in Cinema.
Le Blog sur les femmes africaines dans le cinéma est un espace pour l'échange d'informations concernant les réalisatrices, comédiennes, productrices, critiques et toutes professionnelles dans ce domaine. Ceci sert de forum public du Centre pour l'étude et la recherche des femmes africaines dans le cinémas.
Director/Directrice, Centre for the Study and Research of African Women in Cinema | Centre pour l'étude et la recherche des femmes africaines dans le cinéma
Festival de Cine Africano Tarifa - Tanger (FCAT) 2024
Simisolaoluwa Akande The Archive – Queer Nigerians Experimental - United Kingdom - 2023 - 24′
SINOPSIS La historia de los nigerianos queer ha sido borrada de la narrativa nacional de Nigeria, por lo que los nigerianos queer del Reino Unido se reúnen para contar sus historias y documentar sus experiencias para que no vuelvan a ser olvidadas.
SYNOPSIS With Nigerians queer history erased from the national narrative of Nigeria, queer Nigerians in the UK gather to tell stories, documenting their experiences so they can never be erased again.
SYNOPSIS L’histoire des homosexuels nigérians ayant été effacée du récit national du Nigeria, les Nigérians homosexuels du Royaume-Uni se réunissent pour raconter leurs histoires et documenter leurs expériences afin qu’elles ne soient plus jamais oubliées.
A seamstress with commitment issues faces strong opposition from her half-brothers when she decides to take care of the ailing father who had abandoned her as a child.
Une couturière en difficulté d’engagement se heurte à une forte opposition de la part de ses demi-frères lorsqu’elle décide de s’occuper de son père malade qui l’avait abandonnée enfant.
Source: https://fifp.fr/events/otiti/
Ema Edosio Deelen
Ema Edosio Deelen studied digital filmmaking at the New York Film Academy. Her debut film Kasala was released in 2018.
“I am an artist and every movie I make is a reflection of who I am. I am driven to create characters that are very personal to me, to share parts of my life with the audience through my stories. I believe that there is no unique experience. All humans experience joy, sadness, anger in different forms and as an African filmmaker I tell my own version of my feelings through my stories and characters.”
Ema Edosio Deelen a étudié le cinéma numérique à la New York Film Academy. Son premier film Kasala est sorti en 2018.
"Je suis une artiste et chaque film que je réalise reflète ce que je suis. Je suis inspirée par la nécessité de créer des personnages qui me sont très personnels. Partager un peu de ma vie avec le public à travers mes histoires. Je crois qu'il n'y a pas d'expérience unique. Tous les êtres humains font l'expérience de la joie, de la tristesse, de la colère de différentes manières, et en tant que cinéaste africaine, je raconte ma propre version de mes sentiments à travers mes histoires et mes personnages."
British-Nigerian filmmaker Adura Onashile lives and works in Glasgow, Scotland
Making the film Girl
“For me, it's very political because Black characters are not often afforded reality like that. It's [usually] like, What's happening? Where's the drama? Where's the trauma? And it was so lovely to be able to go let's just linger as much as we can. Because that in itself, just asking people to look at these people, to look at this mother and daughter in a 360-degree way, felt like really political but life-enhancing act.”
Casting the actor Déborah Lukumuena
“I was absolutely in awe of the way she was able to hold all of this complexity in stillness. I think she's a phenomenal, phenomenal actor. But what she also is, is an artist. She's always looking at the work in terms of the deeper aspect of what it's trying to say, and that was really important.”
(Interview with Adura Onashile by Nadia Neophytou: https://www.okayafrica.com/sundance-2023-adura-onashile/)
Description
Mother-daughter duo Grace and Ama have established a deep bond that’s protected them from outsiders, but as they start anew in Glasgow, things begin to change. Ama’s burgeoning puberty and curiosity set off reminders of a past that 24-year-old Grace has been running from. The comforting fairytale-like origin story that Grace has been telling Ama for years is interrupted by flashbacks of her painful past — their sheltered world begins to erode from the inside.
Adura Onashile’s debut feature is an impressively delicate story about trauma and coming-of-age. Where Grace is stunned and paralyzed outside of their safe nest, Ama blossoms, exploring the world with new friend Fiona. Onashile’s compassionate handling of Grace’s trauma takes an impressionist approach, deftly revealing just enough details. Déborah Lukumuena’s portrayal of Grace is sensitive and arresting, while an intimate camera and choral score heighten the evocative experience of the pair’s dueling realities. Onashile has crafted a poignant story about healing and the painful sacrifices that are sometimes needed to love ourselves and those closest to us.
Founder of African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA), she was an important voice in the Nigerian film and entertainment industry
Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, a lawyer by training and CEO of the African Film Academy and founder of the African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA), has a grassroots view of the purpose of Nollywood: to make films for the masses, not the elite. As she points out in the film, This is Nollywood, “what you have to remember about this society is that there are people in Africa who live on one dollar a day and these are the people that really watch these films.” During the 2015 AMAA gala, she underscored the importance of looking outward to the Global African diaspora: “Black people are everywhere…there is no need just to sell what you have here. When you go to the Bahamas, when you go to Barbados, when you go to Haiti you are going to see Nigerian movies.”
The goal of the African Film Academy is to ensure that there is training and funding for filmmakers in order to produce films so that the world may have a positive view of Africa.
Dorothee Wenner’s Nollywood Lady, features Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, as they navigate through Lagos, the capital of this vibrant, dynamic and dramatic moving-image phenomenon.
Synopsis In search of healing, a young woman returns to Nigeria, to her ancestral village. To bury her mother. There she finds a woman, an old love—that is rekindled.
Olive Nwosu, about Egúngúnin her own words: Egúngún came from my need to examine my own feelings about the concept of “home”. When traveling, I lived under myriad identities, and I am tormented by this recurrent question: this perception of different lives lived, and the possibilities of lives. How fate leads us on a single path, excluding other versions of ourselves: there is undeniably, the injustice, the randomness, and the beauty of it all. It corresponds to the disguise of the Egúngún, when the ancestors return into a subconscious space to remind us of their existence, and in so doing we come face to face with a great deal of subliminal things, which we don't really know—the wounds of the past, the fractures of the present—so that we can confront them. In this sense, I would say that the film is a meditation on memory, identity, duty. About the many versions of ourselves that haunt us and heal us. And I hope, that by some sort of acceptance—of the Past, of the Self, of the Ego—after so much time spent in camouflage, that one can now feel. [Translation from French. https://clermont-filmfest.org/egungun/]
Film screenings, Panel and Break out sessions, Networking 11 October 2022 https://wiffen.global/
The Women’s International Film Festival Nigeria (WIFFEN) is a premier film festival in Nigeria. Created in 2021, the goal of the festival is to celebrate women in film around the world.
The National Female Filmmakers Congress will host the screening of films by women, along with eclectic panel and break-out discussion sessions on thematic issues affecting women in film. The Congress holds on the 11th of October 2022 to mark the International Day of the Girl and the International Mental Health Day which is globally observed on the 10th of October 2022. Together, women in film in Nigeria will convene to watch social impact films produced by women while learning and sharing together about the opportunities in the industry and how women can position themselves to thrive in the industry.
Are you a Film Director, Producer, Editor, Actor or do you work in the area of sound, light, production design, costume design, hair, and makeup? Name it! Let’s connect and explore opportunities to share our experiences, learn from one another and support each other.
Register to attend the National Female Filmmakers Congress on the 11th of October 2022 at 10:00am prompt at the Auditorium, Yar’ Adua Centre, 1 Memorial Drive, Central Area (Close to the Central Mosque and the Sheraton Hotel) Abuja.
Fundraising, crowd funding for "Neighborhood Alert" a film by Ngozi Onwurah
Inspired by a true story, NEIGHBORHOOD ALERT is a film about a mother who makes an extraordinary decision to ensure the safety of her son. Directed, by award winning writer and director, Ngozi Onwurah, this film will force viewers to examine how they contribute to the violence that harms Black people as they navigate their daily lives.
DONATE HERE - www.neighborhoodalertfilm.com CashApp: $NAFilm PayPal: info@neighborhoodlalertfilm.com Zelle: info@neighborhoodalertfilm.com
"...I wanted to tell a story about forgiveness. That a grave wrong could be done to someone and have her recover to forgive the very people that had wronged her. That is powerful."---Vigil Chime
Vigil Chime
USA (Nigeria)
The Touched One 2022 - Feature - Horror/Supernatural
Synopsis The Touched One follows Chinaza, a woman anointed by a sacred ram to do good deeds, as she goes in search of a gang of men who did her wrong in order to correct them of their evil ways. One morning, Chinaza and two others board a local bus. Four men posing as passengers promptly abduct and take them deep into the woods for blood sacrifice. Chinaza is resigned to her fate when a mysterious ram appears and sets her free. Grateful to be alive, she pets it. Safe at home, she discovers that the hand with which she pet the ram corrects anyone she touches of their sinful ways. She is thus convinced this is the reason she is the sole survivor of the tragedy. Thereafter, she determines to find the kidnappers to guide them onto a righteous path. The families of the two other victims who did not make it that day have other ideas to exact their own brand of street justice on the men.
About Vigil Chime Vigil Chime is a Nigerian-American screenwriter, director and novelist. She was the recipient of the Nicholl Screenwriting Fellowship in 2017.
Description A 3D animated short film based on the Yoruba mythology of earth’s creation. This story dates back thousands and features revered Yoruba deities, Obatala and Oduduwa, (sons of Olodumare, the supreme being), who battle for the power to create earth as we now know it using an "all-powerful Satchel".
C’est l’histoire d’une sacoche toute puissante qui est l’objet de toutes les convoitises entre plusieurs royaumes d’Afrique de l’ouest.
Bio Founder and Managing Director of Animations at Creele Animation Studios
Nigerian Women in Cinema, Visual Media and Screen Culture
…representations set the pace for reading women in particular societies
--Agatha Ukata, scholar
Before the emergence of the “Nollywood” phenomenon in the 1990s, Nigerian women of the moving image were already visible in the country, the diaspora and internationally. Pioneering film practitioner Amaka Igwe (1963-2014) recalls being immersed in the weekly episodes of Mirror in the Sun a television soap opera created by Lola Fani-Kayode in 1984. Hence, Lola Fani-Kayode paved the way for Amaka Igwe’s popular soap opera Checkmate of the 1990s, which propelled her to national renown, setting the standard for Nollywood productions that followed. In addition, Igwe founded the BOBTV (Best of the Best TV), a film and television program market held annually in Abuja. Debrah Ogazuma, another early presence among women, was a senior producer at the Nigerian Television Authority. In addition to her research on Nigerian women in film and television, she directed and produced the weekly television series Magana Jari Ce from 1989 to 1990. Moreover, Emem Isong is among an increasingly long list of women who are making important contributions to the ever-expanding screen cultures of Nigeria. In addition to her role as director and producer, she was director of the Royal Arts Academy acting school and training academy. Nora Awolowo's documentary-in-progress, Baby Blues, delves into a subject that is rarely discussed postpartum depression in mothers.
Women of the Nigerian diaspora have also told their stories, reflecting their personal experiences as well as events related to their social position within the diaspora. U.S.-based Ruby Bell-Gam, British-Nigerian Ngozi Onwurah, and Nigeria-born Branwen Okpako who navigates the diasporas of the U.S. and Europe—were film practitioners who emerged in the 1980s and 1990s. Omah Diegu (Ijeoma Iloputaife), who began film studies in the United States in the late 1970s, was among a cohort of film students of color at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) whose work evolved from what has been called the L.A. Rebellion film movement, its mission to disrupt the dominant gaze of Hollywood.
Agatha Ukata’s 2010 doctoral thesis from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, “The Image(s) of Women in Nigerian (Nollywood) Videos,” traces the Nollywood phenomenon that would spread across Nigeria, the continent and beyond, at the end of the twentieth century and attests to the importance of critiquing the representation of women in this immense enterprise. Similarly, other works have examined women’s roles in Nollywood, as industry professionals and image-makers. Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, founder of the African Movie Academy Award, has been dubbed the Nollywood Lady in the film of the same name. In Amaka’s Kin (2016), filmmaker Tope Oshin Ogun turns to Amaka Igwe to pay tribute to her legacy, featuring some of the prominent women filmmakers in the Nollywood tradition.
In addition, Ema Edosio focuses her camera on the myriad worlds of life in Lagos: "as an African filmmaker I tell my own version of my feelings through my stories and characters. [The film] Kasala! is a reflection of my environment, my life existing in Nigeria." Through comedy Omoni Oboli and Kathryn Fasega examine the myriad experiences of love, family, and success. Adeniran uses animation cinema to explore memories and family. LowlaDee" Adeleke Sade strong presence on social media is indicative of her interest in taking full advantage of the dominant role of digital technology to reach audiences worldwide.
The countless Nigerian-based cinema-focused initiatives are indicative of the ubiquitous role of screen cultures in the country. Entertainment executive Chioma Ude founded the Nigeria-based Africa International Film Festival in 2010 and envisions it as a platform for training and the development and monetization of content for the public. Adaobi Obiegbosi's vision encompassed the continent as a whole through the creation of a festival for African student filmmakers as a continental platform to share their works and ideas. WIFFEN, The Women's International Film Festival Nigeria, created in 2021, has as its objective to celebrate women in film around the world. Founded by Carolyn Seaman, WIFFEN held the National Female Filmmakers Congress in Abuja in October 2022.
The cinematic stories from the Nigerian Diasporas of the United Kingdom and the United States, draw both from direct experiences in the country as well as Diasporic themes of belonging, inclusion and duality.
Nigerian-American Yvonne Orji represents a growing number of first-generationals born of immigrant parents who want to tell their hybrid-identity story of being born and/or raised outside of Africa, often living in the West between two cultures. She uses comedy to tell these immigrant experiences in the United States. Nigerian-American Nneka Onuorah puts the spotlight on lesbian identities in her film The Same Difference. Chinonye Chukwu, born in Nigeria and raised in Alaska, became the first black woman to receive the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. She is the founder of Pens to Pictures, a filmmaking collaborative that teaches and empowers incarcerated women to make their own short films, from script to screen. U.S.-based cultural producer Mojisola Sonoiki, emphasizes the importance as an African to reach out to other Africans and support their work: "We are a marginalised group in the context of world politics, or anything else within the global context really, so the more we can support each other, the more our voices will be heard, our stories told and our problems solved." Similarly, Nigerian-American Vigil Chimé, drawing from her transnational identity, endeavors to show realistic images of the African immigrant experience in the United States. Born in the United States of Nigerian and Mauritian parentage, Zuriel Oduwole describes herself as a Pan African child. In 2016, she began her filmmaking journey as as 14-year-old teen. Her goal is to use her programme, Dream Up, Speak, Up, Stand Up, to inspire girls to accomplish their dreams as she has been able to do, and to ensure that every girl gets an education. Moreover, she wants to use the visibility that she has attained in order to present positive images of Africa, those that tell real African stories.
British-Nigerian Remi Vaughan-Richards born of a Nigerian mother and father British, is "a child of two cultures and…embrace[s] both cultures equally", producing documentaries and films "that try to impact change or highlight an issue." Ebele Okoye grew up in southeastern Nigeria where, like many African filmmakers, oral storytelling was the collective experience of the society. She yearned to share these stories, recounted around the fire, under the moonlight, and it was through the medium of animation filmmaking that she fulfilled that dream. Because of the dearth of film schools in Nigeria at that time, she went to Germany to study 2D Cartoon Animation at the International Film School Cologne. Upon completion, she worked as studio animator and director/producer of her own short films. For The Legacy of Rubies (2015) project she partnered with the Nigerian animation production studio Shrinkfish Ltd, the producers of the film. Nigerian-born Branwen Okpako "locates herself where she is geographically and spiritually: "My films are my witness to life as I see it. It is a great honour to be able to make films so I use every opportunity seriously. It takes so long to gather and order experience and then to translate what one has learned into a piece of work to share with others…".
On 26 January 2022 the SOAS University of London hosted a panel discussion entitled "Shaping the Conversation: Decolonising Film with Nigerian Women Filmmakers including speakers Kemi Adetiba, Omoni Oboli, Tope Oshin with moderators Anulika Agina and Estrella Sendra. The Zoom meeting, which has become the standard in the era of COVID19, provided a platform for an international audience.
The African Women in Cinema Blog endeavors to present the myriad screen experiences of Nigeria. While not claiming by any means to be exhaustive, as the country's activities are expansive, the Blog presents a small selection of voices that are indicative of the diverse and wide-ranging screen cultures of Nigeria and its Diaspora.
Report by Beti Ellerson
Links to articles on the African Women in Cinema Blog:
The African Diaspora International Film Festival (NYADIFF) celebrates Africa Month 2021 with 2 Weeks in Lagos by Kathryn Fasegha (Nigeria/Canada) among the selection of films. Screenings and Zoom Q&As, from May 28 to May 31.
Kathryn Fasegha 2 Weeks in Lagos Nigeria/Canada Comedy Drama - 115min - 2019
https://nyadiff.org/
Synopsis
2 Weeks in Lagos is a turbulent and thrilling journey into the lives of Ejikeme and Lola. Their lives collide when investment banker Ejikeme comes home from the United States with Lola’s brother Charlie to invest in Nigerian businesses. Upon meeting Lola, Ejikeme falls in love with her and must defy his parents’ plan to marry him to the daughter of a wealthy politician. 2 Weeks in Lagos captures the excitement, vibrancy, and complexity of everyday life in Lagos, a dynamic city where anything is possible in 2 Weeks.
For information on virtual event https://watch.eventive.org/africancinema/play/609957193b03050069a44d80
Just in Time, written, directed and co-produced by Nigerian filmmaker Dolapo "LowlaDee" Adeleke, premieres on Netflix in March 2021. The comedy drama, shot in Nairobi, features Kenyan actress, Sarah Hassan who is the producer.
Dolapo Adeleke directed the popular romantic comedy Plan B, broadcast on YouTube as a Valentine Movie Special in 2019, produced by Sarah Hassan.
In 2016 she directed her first mini-series This Is It, bringing together a Nigerian and Kenyan cast. With YouTube as its broadcast platform, it has garnered millions of views.
Dolapo Adeleke is the CEO/Founder of LowlaDee Originals Inc. and the Cofounder of Giraffe Productions, Nairobi.
Plan B on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1Hii5thnhI]
This Is It on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erxLaRHHPhY]
List of winners for AMAA2020 as collectively decided by the Jury
1. EFERE OZAKO AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR BEST SHORT FILM Baxu & the Giant --Namibia Songs About My Mother - South Africa Idi Amin’s Boat - Uganda Yahoo – Nigeria SEMA (Speak Out) – DRC The letter reader – South Africa A Canvas for a Visa – Senegal After the War – Egypt
***WINNER: THE LETTER READER
2. JUBRIL MALAFIA AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR BEST ANIMATION From Here To Timbuktu – Kenya Malaika (The Warrior Queen) – Nigeria/USA A Special Gift – Mozambique The legend of Lwanda Magere – Kenya FTFO – Nigeria Sankofa – Cote D’Voire I am lIving In Ghana Get Me Out of Here – Ghana A Gugie Day – Nigeria
**WINNER: I'M LIVING IN GHANA, GET ME OUT OF HERE
3. AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY January 15, 1970: Untold memoir of the Biafran war- Nigeria Journey to Kenya – Sudan No gold for kalsaka – B/Faso Days of Cannibalism – South Africa Finding Sally – Ethiopia/Canada The letter – Kenya Becoming Black- Togo/Germany Influence – South Africa
***WINNER: NO GOLD FOR KALSAKA
4. AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR BEST DIASPORA SHORT Boxed – USA June 14 – USA Egun – Brazil Brick By Brick – USA
***WINNER: BOXED
5. AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR BEST DIASPORA DOCUMENTARY Once In Hundred Years – USA Revolution From Afar – USA Meeting My Father – France Becoming Black – Germany If Objects Could Speak – Germany
***WINNER: BECOMING BLACK
6. AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR BEST DIASPORA NARRATIVE FEATURE Aiyai: Wrathful Soul – Australia Lola – USA A day With Jerusa – Brazil Black and Blue – USA Joseph – Barbados
***WINNER: JOSEPH
7. MICHAEL ANYIAM OSIGWE AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR BEST FILM BY AN AFRICAN LIVING ABROAD Eagles Nest – Olivier Assoua Two Weeks in Lagos – Kathryn Fasegha Idemuza – Olaoye Amoke Between – Daniel Adenimokan No Shades – Claire Ayiam Osigwe
***WINNER: NO SHADES
8. OUSMANE SEMBENE AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR BEST FILM IN AN AFRICAN LANGUAGE Milk Maid – Nigeria Knuckle City – South Africa This is Not A Burial…it’s a Resurrection – Lesotho Fiela’s Child – South Africa The White Line – Namibia
***WINNER: THE MILKMAID
9. AMAA 2020 ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN This is Not A Burial, It’s a Resurrection Heroes of Africa; Tette Quarshie The White Line Ibi (The Birth) Foreigner’s God
***WINNER: THIS IS NOT A BURIAL, IT'S A RESSURECTION
10. AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKE-UP Knuckle City Ratnik The Milkmaid 1929 Heroes of Africa; Tette Quarshie
***WINNER: THE MILKMAID
11. AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUNDTRACK Fisherman’s Diary Coming from Insanity Zulu Wedding Gold Coast Lounge For Maria: Ebun Pataki Walking with Shadows Living in Bondage Mirage
***GOLD COAST LOUNGE
12. AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECT Heroes of Africa; Tette Quarshie Desrances Knuckle City Living in Bondage: Breaking Free Badamasi Ratnik Foreigner’s God A Taste of Our Land
***WINNER: KNUCKLE CITY
13. AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND Fiela’s Child Knuckle City Children of The Storm The Ghost and House of Truth For Maria: Ebun Pataki 40 Sticks Desrances Gold Coast Lounge
***WINNER: FIELA'S CHILD
14. AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION DESIGN Ratnik Knuckle City Zulu Wedding Perfect Picture: Ten Years Later This is Not A Burial, It’s a resurrection Foreigner’s God Gold Coast Lounge The Ghost and the House of Truth
***WINNER: KNUCKLE CITY
15. AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY The Ghost and House of Truth A Fisherman’s Diary Knuckle City Milk Maid 40 Sticks Desrances This is Not A Burial, It’s a resurrection Gold Coast Lounge
***WINNER: THIS IS NOT A BURIAL, IT'S A RESSURECTION
16. AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR ACHIEVEMENT IN EDITING Perfect Picture: Ten Years After The Ghost and House of Truth Knuckle City 40 Sticks Desrances
***WINNER: THE GHOST AND THE HOUSE OF TRUTH
17. AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR ACHIEVEMENT IN SCREEN PLAY For Maria: Ebun Pataki The White line 4th Republic A Fisherman’s Diary Knuckle City 40 Sticks Perfect Picture: Ten Years After 3 Days To Go
***WINNER: A FISHERMAN'S DIARY
18. AMAA 2020- NATIONAL FILM AND VIDEO CENSORS BOARD (NFVCB) AWARD FOR BEST NIGERIAN FILM Cold Feet Living in Bondage: Breaking Free 4th Republic For Maria: Ebun Pataki The Bling Lagosian Coming From Insanity The Ghost and The House of Truth Milk Maid
***WINNER: THE MILKMAID
19. AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR BEST YOUNG/ PROMISING ACTOR Faith Fidel – Fisherman’s Diary Naomi Nemlin – Desrances Chimezie Imo – Nimbe Swanky JKA – Living in Bondage: Breaking Free Wayne Smith – Fiela’s Child Cina Soul – Gold Coast Lounge Anthonieta Kalunta – Milk Maid
***WINNER FAITH FIDEL (A FISHERMAN'S DIARY)
20. AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE Arabrun Nyyeneque – 40 Sticks Adjatey Annang- Gold Ghost Lounge Narcissus Afeli – Desrances Cosson Chinepoh – Fisherman’s Diary Ramsey Noah Jnr – Living in Bondage: Breaking Free
***WINNER: RAMSEY NOUAH (LIVING IN BONDAGE - BREAKING FREE)
21. AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE Maryam Booth – Milk Maid Chairmaine Mujeri – Mirage Linda Ejiofor – 4th Republic Ndano Tramanse – Fisherman’s Diary Tina Mba – The Set Up Faniswa Yisa – Knuckle City Evelyne Juhen – Desrances
***WINNER: MARYAM BOOTH (THE MILKMAID)
22. AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE Jimmy Jean-Louis – Desrances Gabriel Afolayan – Coming From Insanity Kang Quintus – Fisherman’s Diary Bongile Mantsai – Knuckle City Alphonse Menyo – Gold Coast Lounge Eyinna Nwigwe – Badamasi Robert Agengo/Mwaura Bilal/Andreo Kamau/ Xavier Ywawa – 40 Sticks Darrin Dewitt Henson – Zulu Wedding
***WINNER: JIMMY JEAN-LOUIS (DESRANCES)
23. AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE Joselyn Dumas – Cold Feet Mary Twala Mhlongo – This is Not A Burial, It’s a Resurrection Stella Damasus – Between Meg Otanwa – For Maria: Ebun Pataki Zenobia Kloppers – Fiela’s Child Elvina Ibru – The Bling Lagosian Girley Jazama – The White Line Kelly Khumalo – Zulu Wedding
***WINNER: MARY TWALA MHLONGO (THIS IS NOT A BURIAL, IT'S A RESSURECTION)
24. AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR BEST FIRST FEATURE FILM BY A DIRECTOR Coming From Insanity – Akinyemi Sebastine Akinropo Living in Bondage – Ramsey Noah Jnr. Bling Lagosian - Bolanle Austen- Peters For Maria: Ebun Pataki - Damilola E. Orimogunje The Zulu Wedding - Lineo Sekeleoana A Taste of Our Land -–Yuhi Amuli – Mirage - Malaika Mushandu The White Line - Desire Kahikapo
***WINNER: A TASTE OF OUR LAND (BY YUHI AMULI)
25. AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR BEST DIRECTOR Akin Omotoso - The Ghost and House of Truth Enah Johnscott - A Fisherman’s Diary Jahmil X.T Quebeka- Knuckle City Desmond Ovbiagele- Milk Maid Victor Gatonye- 40 Sticks Appoline Traore - Desrances Jeremiah Lemohang Mosese - This is Not A Burial, It’s a resurrection Pascal Aka - Gold Coast Lounge
***WINNER: JEREMIAH LEMOHANG MOSESE (THIS IS NOT A BURIAL, IT'S A RESSURECTION)
26. AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR BEST FILM The Ghost and the House of Truth A Fisherman’s Diary Knuckle City Milk Maid 40 Sticks Desrances This is Not A Burial, It’s a Resurrection Gold Coast Lounge
UPDATE: Also see below a conversation with Ngozi Onwurah and Beti Ellerson
Ngozi talks about her films Coffee Colored Children (1988) and Shoot the Messenger (2006).
The film screening and the conversation are part of the New York African Film Festival's Streaming Rivers: The Past into the Present 2020 virtual edition.
On this post I will take the opportunity to present excerpts from our interview in 1997 published in my book Sisters of the Screen: Women of Africa on Film, Video and Television, 2000--Beti Ellerson.
During the interview Nigerian-British filmmaker elaborated on a diversity of themes: being a woman, filmmaker, bi-racial person, her transnational upbringing. Below are excerpts exploring these themes.
Identity as a transnational filmmaker:
As a black woman filmmaker, I get invited to a lot of different things and sometimes they want me to wear different hats. Sometimes I am a woman filmmaker and that's the priority at that particular event. Where it gets particularly muddy is when it has to do with being an African filmmaker. Because the way that black America has appropriated the word African American, the context in which people refer to Africa gets very muddy.
As a filmmaker who works out of London, the problems that I have making films are completely different to a woman who, say, lives in Nigeria, who lives and works in Zambia, or Zaire, or Tanzania. The problems that she has as a filmmaker are completely different to the problems that I have as a filmmaker, or the people who we make the films for are different. So, in terms of who I am on a professional level, it gets very complicated.
It is less complicated on a personal level. On a personal level, I know who I am; I know where I am from. But in terms of talking about it, you cannot lump together a woman who lives in London, who gets funding from the BBC to make films, with someone who is living in Nigeria, where literally the budgets, the facilities, everything, would be completely different in terms of how she has to work. So it gets complicated and sometimes I don't think there is enough differential made between black people or people of African descent working outside of Africa and people of African descent working in Africa. It is two different experiences.
Mixed-race, bi-cultural identities:
The fact that I have a white mother and a black father is essential to my identity. Obviously, it gives me a unique perspective politically. Politically I am black; emotionally I'm black. But once you say that "unequivocally, I'm black," there are specifics that come out of the fact that I have a white mother and a black father and that I lived half my childhood in Africa and half my childhood in an all-white neighborhood in Newcastle in England, that give me a specific viewpoint on everything I see.
On another level, there are issues around a kind of polarization, especially in America, but also in England, though nowhere near to the extent as in America: The two races are incredibly polarized in America, there's black and there's white and they seem to very rarely mix. They seem to very rarely live in the same neighborhoods, and that's not the case in England.
My work has always been specifically about being three or four things simultaneously. It's about being black British, it's about being bi-racial, it's about being African and it's about being all those things, because that is what I am.
...I have these three identities that are concurrent with each other and yet the only natural one, the only one that was natural and not forced on me in any way was the one I had in Nigeria up until the age of twelve.
Storytelling:
…What I inherited coming from Africa and living in Africa until I was twelve, the thing that was the most important to me, was storytelling. I was told a lot of stories. My whole approach to storytelling comes from what I grew up on in Africa.
...In Africa, stories are neither realism nor non-realism, there is no line between what is real and what is non-real. So the spirit's world, or whatever, co-exists side-by-side with the real world. And they are not one thing or another. And what I think about European filmmaking, even African-American filmmaking, is that it is very much lodged in realism.
Storytelling is realism, so that if you are walking down the street, you are real, you are three-dimensional and what is going on in your brain is something that you cannot see. If you look at all of my other work apart from Mondays' Girls there is a certain amount of mixing of reality, what's called reality, and what's called non-reality.
In The Body Beautiful, the mother is having the love scene with the younger man. That didn't really in actual fact happen; that happens in her head, but you bring it to life and the daughter is watching it. In Welcome to the Terrordome, the Africans go underneath the water because they are trying to walk back to Africa and we see what their life is like underneath the water. These are all things that are absolutely comprehensible to Africans. If you look at a lot of African literature, it deals with the spiritual world side by side with the real world….
Online through Zoom Speaker: Ebele Okoye Project Development Guest Lecture Series Tuesday 10 November, 14.00
Ebele Okoye (who goes by the artist’s name “Omenka Ulonka”) is a two-time winner of the Africa Movie Academy Awards in the category Animation, her 28 minutes short ‘The Legacy of Rubies’, inspired by an African folk tale, has won many prizes including the best Animation at the prestigious Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) same year.
Referred to by many as the ‘mother of African animation’, Ebele says she is very passionate about imparting Animation knowledge, and pursues this teaching and giving workshops in different constellations which include The Bauhaus University, Weimar, Zanzibar International film festival, OpenToonz Animation Lab. Additionally, The Animation Club Africa and Shrinkfish Media Lab (SmedLAB), which she founded in 2009 and 2013 respectively.
An adoring couple elects to test the strength of their marriage when they run against each other for the office of state governor.
Bio
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 comedy-drama, Love is War.
