South African Women in Cinema, Visual Media and Screen Culture

South African Women in Cinema,

Visual Media and Screen Culture

Report by Beti Ellerson

Notes continuing...

 

There are multiple racial, ethnic, religious, and historical signifiers of South African identity and this identification is reflected in the creative expression of the artists. Hence, the inquiry to know: Who are these women makers, cultural producers and workers? How do they negotiate these identities within the often contested terrain that continues to manifest itself decades since the emergence of a democratic and so-called rainbow nation?

The African Women in Cinema Project emerged in 1996, two years after the official end of apartheid, hence my initial focus was on the black women of South Africa and their experiences during this historic moment. Since the creation of the Centre for the Study and Research of African Women in Cinema and the African Women in Cinema Blog in 2009 the endeavor has extended, to present the myriad multi-ethnic experiences of South African women, from African, Indian, Malaysian, European origins. Moreover, Audrey T McCluskey's book of interviews, The Devil you Dance with : Film Culture in the New South Africa, released in 2009 attests to the multiple identities of the country.

Masepeke Sekhukhuni, who was a director the Newtown Film and Television School in Johannesburg, noted the importance for black students to understand the implications of cinema/filmmaking practice in terms of identity. As filmmakers they would be shaping a new way of seeing and interpreting cinema and visual media.

Miriam Patsanza set up the video production company Talent Consortium in Zimbabwe in 1984. The company, which is also a school, moved in Johannesburg in the 1990s to take a more active part in "redefining the media" in South Africa: "Whilst there are specific gender related obstacles for the majority of us in Southern Africa, the problems endured by most women in TV and film are the same as those experienced by males who have also been excluded because of their race. The strategy for change, therefore, is to address the issues of media ownership and cultural representation as a joint force whilst at the same time insisting on bringing about respect and acknowledgment of other sexes, different languages, and the culture and style of indigenous peoples".* 

Legendary screen and stage actor, producer, playwright Thembi Mtshali who played the role of Pat in Mapantsula (directed by Oliver Schmitz and written by Schmitz and Thomas Mogotlane, recalls in a interview with me in 1997 the impact of this social political film produced and released in 1988 during the apartheid era: "That was the first political movie made in South Africa, in the late eighties, during the state of emergency in our country. A lot was happening around us. I remember that the casting was very closed. During the interview, they wanted to understand what your political views were and, of course, they really had to be careful.  Everything was underground. It was done clandestinely.  Finally, we started filming. Most of the shots were done in Soweto, in this woman's house.  Most of the whites who were working with the film were liberals.  The whole thing was done right under the nose of the system, without them knowing it. Before they knew it, the film was outside the country. It was introduced at the Cannes Festival." She was conferred an honorary Doctor of Philosophy in Visual and Performing Arts from Durban University of Technology in May 2022.

Black visual activist Zanele Muholi focuses her lens—both still and moving image—on the experiences of black lesbians.

Embracing the technologies of the new millennium Jabu Nadia Newman’s web series “The Foxy Five” is an intersectional feminist exploration of the lives of its five black protagonists as they confront the myriad issues around gender, sexuality and race. At the same time, she describes the web series format as having the potential of radical feminist expression.

Zulfah Otto-Sallies (1961-2016) explored the lives and histories of the Cape Malay community in the Bo-Kaap society of Cape Town, especially as it relates to intergenerational relationships and attitudes towards tradition versus modernity and the diverse experiences of Cape Muslim society.

Maganthrie Pillay, of Indian descent, directed the pioneering feature film 34 South.

Filmmaker-scholar Jyoti Mistry, also of Indian descent, is a scholar and filmmaker.

The desire to network and empower women in the film and television sectors of South Africa is particularly evident from the grassroots, individual initiatives to the insertion of policies on the governmental level. Following is a selection of initiatives.

Women of the Sun founded in 2005, though no longer active, described its role as "an instrumental organisation promoting women in the film and television industry…provid[ing] vital services to women in the sector." Through its first ever African women film festival in 2010, its aim was to put "African women filmmakers on the map." The Women of the Sun Film Festival ran alongside the African Women Filmmakers' Forum hosted by the Goethe Institute; most of the women who attended the forum also screened works at the festival. Twenty-five women from more than fifteen countries, representing most regions of the continent and the diaspora, convened to discuss as a group the various issues that they had vowed to keep alive since their last respective meetings. The purpose of the event, according to the organizers, was to contribute to existing structures and build upon long-term strategies, thus working alongside African women filmmakers who are already leading the way. The publication Gaze Regimes: Film and Feminisms in Africa. Eds. Antje Schuhmann, Jyoti Mistry. Johannesburg: University of the Witwatersrand, 2015, was one outcome of the African Women Filmmakers' Forum.

Mzansi Women's Film Festival, created in 2014 "celebrates women filmmakers of South Africa, Africa and the World thus to encourage spirit of engagement, collaboration, co-create for a better and screen films about women and by women filmmakers." It's objective is to provide "a platform to empower women filmmakers by showcasing films by women and about women".

Sisters Working in Film and Television (SWIFT) South Africa, currently chaired by Zanele Mtembu, was launched in 2017, as a network of South African women whose focus is the empowerment and advancement of women in the visual media. The next year it partnered with the National Film and Video Foundation on the research for the publication, Gender Matters in the South African Film Industry". The National Film and Video Foundation, an agency of the South African Department of Arts and Culture endeavors to ensure gender parity in all aspect of art and cultural production.

The Durban FilmMart Programme 2021 featured the Film Panel, Africa in Focus: Womxn in Film. The objective of the initiative: to traverse issues of gender equality and safe working spaces, how to go about changing the structures of production and the infrastructure of the industry, while navigating spaces of sexism and other antiquated notions. The panel featured Edima Otuokon of the Ladima Foundation, Zanele Mthembu, current chair of SWIFT and Antoinette Engel of Black Women Disrupt. The conversation explores the newly-created initiatives that challenge the status quo and work towards a more equitable ways of working.

Filmmaker/artist/activist Seipati Bulane-Hopa held the post of Secretary General of FEPACI (Pan African Federation of Filmmakers from 2006 to 2013, the first woman to hold the position.

Similarly, Jackie Motsepe, who served on the all-women-helmed juries at Fespaco 2013, is a producer and film activist.

 

The complexities and ambiguities of discourses in/on South African cinema by some white South African women have often revolved around the vexed history of apartheid and their positionality as white people in the post-1994 South Africa. A few examples explored in the African Women in Cinema Blog: Filmmaker and historian Rina Jooste, an Afrikaans-speaking South African of European descent asserts her identity and claims her experiences as part of African history. She uses filmmaking as a tool to explore the complex layers of South African society with a focus on Afrikaner identity and the collective history of apartheid from both sides. Scotland-based scholar Lizelle Bisschoff acknowledges her white privilege as a White South African and attempts to negotiate that identity in her work and research on African cultural production. In her films and writing, Bridget Thompson examines her evolution as a filmmaker outside of the “white cultural Bantustan into the wider black world intellectually, politically, socially, culturally and spiritually."

While not claiming by any means to be exhaustive, as the country's activities are ever-growing, the African Women in Cinema Blog includes a small selection of voices that are indicative of South African's diversity and wide-ranging initiatives.

*Source: Miriam Patsanza: From Zimbabwe to South Africa: starting all over again | Du Zimbabwe à l’Afrique du Sud: on recommence tout by/par Julia Landau. Ecrans d’Afrique/African Screen N° 8 - 1994. p. 30. Also include in Zimbawbe entry.

Seipati Bulane-Hopa: Fepaci (Pan African Federation of Filmmakers)

https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2009/03/african-women-in-professional-film.html

 

Women of the Sun Making Herstory
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2010/08/women-of-sun-making-herstory.html

Zulfah Otto Sallies: Filming Bo Kaap
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2011/10/zulfah-otto-sallies-filming-bo-kaap.html

 

Moikgantsi Kgama's ImageNation

https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2012/05/limagenation-de-moikgantsi-kgama.html

Zanele Muholi: Some Prefer Cake Bologna Lesbian Film Festival
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2012/07/some-prefer-cake-bologna-lesbian-film.html

 

Zanele Muholi: Difficult Love

https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.fr/2015/09/difficult-love-by-zanele-muholi-and.html

Jabu Nadia Newman: The Foxy Five Web Series
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-foxy-five-web-series-created-and.html

Muneera Sallies: Twisted Christmas
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2021/01/recent-films-muneera-sallies-twisted.html

Marycate Masilela: South African content creator
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2021/02/marycate-masilela-south-african-content.html

Shameela Seedat
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2021/03/cfaf-2021-shameela-seedat.html

Nthabiseng Mosieane: Overcome beloved
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2021/05/recent-films-nthabiseng-mosieane-overcome-beloved.html

Sara Chitambo
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2021/07/cannes-2021-marche-du-film-sara-chitambo.html

Gender Matters in South African Film Industry
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2021/07/gender-matters-in-south-african-film-industry.html

Karabo Lediga: What did you dream best
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2021/08/karabo-lediga-what-did-you-dream-best.html

Seipati Bulane Hopa
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2021/08/a-film-on-seipati-bulane-hopa-art-and.html

Omelga Mthiyane: Lefu
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2021/11/omelga-mthiyane-lefu.html

Lindiwe Matshikiza: One take grace
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2022/02/one-take-grace-by-lindiwe-matshikiza-q.html

Mmabatho Montsho: Desmonds not here anymore
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2022/02/mmabatho-montsho-desmonds-not-here.html

White Women of South Africa Negotiating Identities
Rina Jooste
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2012/12/rina-jooste-visualising-south-african.html

Lizelle Bisschoff
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2012/03/conversation-with-lizelle-bisschoff.html

Bridget Thompson
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2010/10/bridget-thompson-what-shapedshapes-my.html 

Women of the Screen from the African Diaspora of Canada

Women of the Screen from the African Diaspora of Canada

Cilia Sawadogo, Najwa Tlili and Nadia Zouaoui are among the early African women filmmakers to make Canada their home to work and live. As a young university student Cilia, of German-Burkina heritage, came to Quebec to study, now decades later she is a professor at Concordia University where she teaches animation cinema. Najwa has made an important contribution to Quebecois screen culture, bringing a perspective that highlights the evolving diversity of Canadian society. She was especially active at the Vues d'Afrique International Festival, an institution that has been at the forefront in promoting the African and Creole cultures of Canada. Nadia Zouaoui, who has lived in Quebec since the late 1980s, studied at universities there and has made documentaries for the NFB, radio Canada and Aljazeera. In her co-directed film, Nadia’s Journey (2006), she returns to Kabylie, the region of Algeria where she grew up. The Islam of my Childhood (2019) is a road-movie of sorts, relates the devastating impact of political Islam on the traditional cultures and religions of Algeria.

Other women have followed their footsteps, migrating from diverse African and Caribbean countries, as well as navigating between European African diasporas or connecting within the global francophonie. For instance, Dorothy A. Atabong from Cameroon studied in the U.S. and Canada and navigates between the two locations. Also Djiboutian, Lula Ali Ismaïl, based in Canada, has a foot in three continents, in Paris, Montreal and on diverse locations in Africa. Malagasy cultural producer Tiana Rafidy followed a similar transnational trajectory. Djia Mambu, who has since returned to Belgium, spent ten years in Canada during which time she initiated the Ottawa-based VisuElles Film Festival in 2017. Sierra-Leonean-Canadian Ngardy Conteh George uses her camera to tell stories of the Africa and the Diaspora. The co-directed film The Flying Stars, focuses on amputee soccer in post-war Sierra Leone. With the documentary Into the Light, Togolese filmmaker Gentille M Assih focuses her camera on the empowering life stories of Quebecois women of West African origin, as they attempt to break out of the cycle of domestic violence. Tunisian-born Najwa Tlili brought this phenomenon to light decades before with her film Rupture. She had this to say in to me in an interview in 1997: "Rupture is a film that addresses the problem of conjugal violence lived by Arab women in Canada. While doing this film about conjugal violence, I discovered that the complexities of this inquiry are tied to the circumstances of immigration, and the host country and its culture..."

Notes continuing…by Beti Ellerson

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

Gentille M Assih - Sortir de l’ombre | Into the Light  
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2021/04/vues-dafrique-2021-gentille-m-assih.html

Cilia Sawadogo - Presidentes des jurys FESPACO 2019 : Séries télévisuelles et de cinéma d’animation | TV serials and animation
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2019/02/cilia-sawadogo-presidentes-des-jurys-fespaco-2019.html

Fespaco 2019 @CNA : Dhalinyaro by/de Lula Ali Ismail (Djibouti) – Village Cinéma Numérique Ambulant | “Digital Mobile Cinema”
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2019/02/fespaco-2019-cna-dhalinyaro-byde-lula.html

IIFF 2018 - International Images Film Festival for Women : Sound of Tears, Dorothy A. Atabong, Cameroon/Canada
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2018/08/iiff-2018-international-images-film_22.html

LAFF 2015 - Nadia Zouaoui : Post-9/11: Fear, Anger and Politics | Peur, Colère et Politique
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2015/03/laff-2015-nadia-zouaoui-post-911-fear.html

FESPACO 2015 - Rachèle Magloire and/et Chantal Regnault : Deported | Expulsés
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2015/02/fespaco-2015-rachele-magloire-andet.html

World Premiere: “The Flying Stars” by Ngardy Conteh George (Sierra Leone-Canada) and Allan Tong – 14 November 2014
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2014/11/world-premiere-flying-stars-by-ngardy.html

Femmes de cinéma, cinéma de femmes | Women of cinema, cinemas of women de/by Djia Mambu, Africiné, Montréal
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2014/04/femmes-de-cinema-cinema-de-femmes-women.html

FESPACO 2013 - Lula Ali Ismaïl : Laan | Les Copines | Girlfriends
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2013/02/fespaco-2013-lula-ali-ismail-laan-les.html

Tiana Rafidy: Lorety sy Mardy
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2011/03/tiana-rafidy-lorety-sy-mardy.html

Najwa Tlili: Reflections on her film "Rupture"
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2010/06/najwa-tlili-reflections-on-her-film.html

Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo (Benimana) : La Fabrique 2022 - Les Cinémas du monde

Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo: Benimana

Rwanda
La Fabrique 2022 - Les Cinémas du monde
Film project in development

Each year, the Fabrique des cinemas du monde selects film projects from around the world, during which the directors are invited to the Cannes Film Festival for two weeks. The activities include meetings, professional interviews and master classes, and the finalization of a script or completion of a budget.

Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo, Rwandan filmmaker and producer, was among the participants with her film project, Benimana (Children of God)!.

She had this to say about the project: "It's a film that talks about intergenerational trauma and the need to deconstruct prejudices… portraits of women in Rwanda, of women who were victims of the Tutsi genocide, of survivors, of women who are members of the families of the killers. I especially wanted to work on memory: how it is experienced at the individual level." (During an interview with RFI special correspondent, Isabelle Chenu)

"Benimana is a reflection on how political decisions impact us individually and what it costs us to be part of the community," she stated during an interview with Falila Gbadamassi of France Télévisions Rédaction Afrique

Synopsis

The feature film relates the story of Veneranda as she confronts her past when she learns that her daughter, who was conceived as a result of the rape she suffered during the Rwanda genocide, is pregnant by her boyfriend, presumed to be a Hutu, the ethnic group responsible for the genocide. Convinced that her daughter was raped and afraid that her history will repeat itself through her daughter, she decides to end the pregnancy and the relationship.

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT
BENIMANA is about intergenerational trauma and the need to deconstruct prejudices and resentments. The film’s characters, who are mainly women, go through successive moments of happiness, chaos and darkness in which love and hate, resentment and reconciliation are intertwined.They thus portray my country, Rwanda, in its effort to rebuild itself after the Tutsi genocide of 1994.

Sources:
lescinemasdumonde link
RFI link
Imagesfrancopones link
francetvinfo link
 

A Celebration of Black Women in Film at the Cannes Film Festival

A Celebration of Black Women in Film at the Cannes Film Festival

Source. https://mailchi.mp/c8b7bc1e540b/black-women-in-film



NEWS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FOR US BY US, GLOBAL CHANGEMAKERS TO CELEBRATE BLACK WOMEN IN FILM AT FESTIVAL DE CANNES, IN RESPONSE TO GROSS UNDERREPRESENTATION IN COMPETITION, THROUGHOUT 75-YEAR HISTORY

LOS ANGELES - May 17, 2022 - Yolonda Brinkley, creator of Diversity in Cannes, the independent film movement promoting inclusion at the Cannes Film Festival, is pleased to announce Dear Cannes, Do Better: A Celebration of Black Women in Film at the Cannes Film Festival, Wednesday, May 25, 2022. Presented by Cheryl Polote-Wiliamson’s Cheryl Magazine and Williamson Media Group, the festivities kick-off today with the launch of #DearCannes, a digital social media campaign, encouraging the Festival de Cannes to dismantle the patriarchy, embrace inclusion and select more black women to compete in competition. The culmination is a day of #blackgirlmagic including the world premiere of The Invitation, a short film commemorating 75 years of The Links, Incorporated, the world’s most formidable organization for black women changemakers, directed by Wendy Eley Jackson.

“In 75 years, the Cannes Film Festival has selected only one black woman director in competition, With the plethora of talented black female voices sounding off at other global film festivals, awareness is no longer an acceptable excuse for the gross underrepresentation of black women directors in competition,”  comments Diversity in Cannes’ Yolonda Brinkley. “As they celebrate their jubilee as the world’s most prestigious film festival and welcome their first female president, I believe change is inevitable. In the interim, delay is denial, and I welcome the opportunity to align with Cheryl Polote-Williamson to celebrate black women in film, at the 75th Festival de Cannes.”

 
A collaboration between Entertainment Publicist and Diversity in Cannes Founder, Yolonda Brinkley, Cheryl Polote-Williamson, editor-in-chief, Cheryl Magazine, Filmmaker Wendy Eley Jackson and Karine Barclais, founder of Pavillon Afriques, Dear Cannes, Do Better: A Celebration of Black Women in Film is the direct result of women changemakers, empowered to build their own table at the world’s most prestigious film festival. No longer awaiting permission from the patriarchy, they’ve created an opportunity for established and emerging black women in film to amplify their authentic voices during the Cannes Film Festival, where they’ve been ignored for the past 75 years.

"After a year working with our production teams and reflecting on the vast examples of how African American experiences have been captured in film, we are honored to demonstrate our commitment to creators of color by taking a stand with Diversity in Cannes”, said Cheryl P. Williamson, Co-Founder of Williamson Media Group." With this body of work, we aim to provide Black women in film with an honorable professional foundation to amplify their voices, create space for their stories and illuminate a path to a sustainable career in film."

In addition to Dear Cannes: Do Better, the digital social media campaign, launching today in harmony with Festival de Cannes’ 75th anniversary, the celebration of black women in film is Wednesday, May 25, 2022. It will kick off with an invitation only breakfast and will extend into the Marché du Film at Pavillon Afriques and the Cannes Short Film Corner.

In solidarity, black women and their allies attending the Celebration of Black Women in Film are invited to wear any combination of black, white and yellow attire and are encouraged to upload their own videos in response to the realization that there’s only been one black woman selected in competition at the Cannes Film Festival in its 75 years. Use hashtags #dearcannes #diversityincannes when posting.

Schedule of Events
11:00: Breakfast (Invitation only)                                                                         

13:00: World Premiere: The Invitation Q&A  (Pavillon Afriques)
14:00: Cannes Conversation: Black Women Tell All
16:00: Cannes Short Film Corner: Black Women in Film (Palais F)
19:00: Cocktail Reception (Pavillon Afriques)
All are welcome. RSVP required by May 23, 2022

###

ABOUT DIVERSITY IN CANNES

Created in 2010 by Yolonda Brinkley, Diversity in Cannes is an independent filmmaker movement promoting inclusion at the Cannes Film Festival. The movement was established to promote the presence of underrepresented filmmakers sharing stories about marginalized populations during the Cannes Film Festival. Specifically, the grassroots initiative provides a platform for globally diverse filmmakers to promote their talents, present their work and expand their international network during the Cannes Film Festival.

ABOUT YOLONDA BRINKLEY
Yolonda Brinkley, a full-service marketing communications professional, is an Illinois MBA with extensive brand development, event production and public relations experience. She holds a BA from Clark Atlanta University & is fluent in French with international experience. A corporately trained marketer, Yolonda worked 10 years at Ford Motor Company, including assignments with the Lincoln Mercury and Aston Martin, Jaguar Land Rover brands. During her 10-year tenure, Yolonda established herself as a valuable resource within the branded entertainment community. As an entrepreneur, the momentum continues. Since 2008, Yolonda has managed events for the NAACP Hollywood Bureau (Image Awards), the Hollywood Black Film Festival and Filmmakers Alliance. She’s represented actors and filmmakers at global film festivals including Sundance and the Toronto International Film Festival. Yolonda constantly creates opportunities for herself and impacts the global entertainment industry as the creator of Diversity in Cannes, the independent filmmaker movement promoting inclusion at the Cannes Film Festival.


 

PITCH O' FEMININ - Salon du cinéma au féminin 2 | Women's film fair 2 (On Move Magazine)

PITCH O' FEMININ

Salon du cinéma au féminin 2 | Women's film fair 2

On Move Magazine

 

https://www.onmovemag.com/salon-du-cinema-au-feminin-article-a-lire-bientot

 

Le pitch o’ Féminin est une activité ouverte aux étudiantes en cinéma et à toutes femmes étant à son premier projet cinématographique. Il s’agit  d’un concours qui vise à détecter la plus belle plume en matière de scénario et contribuer ainsi  à la promotion de ces jeunes talents dans l’exercice des métiers du 7ème Art. Pour cette édition, l’appel à candidature est ouvert aux porteuses de projets de court métrage et de capsule.

The Pitch o’ Féminin is an activity open to female film students and all those who are working on their first film project. This is a contest that aims to detect the most beautiful writing skill and thus contribute to the promotion of these young talents in a professional environment. For this edition, the call for applications is open to short film and shortcom.

[FR] Le salon du cinéma au féminin a ouvert depuis le mois d'Avril l'appel à candidature du concours pitch o féminin éditions 2. Pour candidater allez sur:  https://forms.gle/sQcan4n7ULrtsDLx5

[EN] The women film fair opened the call for applications of the Pitch o' feminin competition 2 edition since the month of Avril. To apply, go to: https://forms.gle/sQcan4n7ULrtsDLx5