African Panorama

Riches

Riches

Country:Zimbabwe

Director:Ingrid Sinclair

Program:African Panorama

Year: 
2001

Summary:

The story adapted from Bessie Head follows the flight of a mixed race teacher from the chaos of apartheid South Africa to a peaceful rural backwater in Zimbabwe. But the village is not only isolated, it is very hostile to strangers. Her clash with the hypocritical headmaster of the village school sees her lose her job, but a gesture of friendship inspires her to fight back.


Same shoes

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Country:Zimbabwe

Director:Mlungisi

Program:African Panorama

Year: 
2007

Summary:

Maria a married woman takes in a stranger who has  robbed in his drunken stupor. But she can`t explain him when her brother in law suddenly shows up. She complicates things when she gives him her husband`s shoes.


Petit Lumiere

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Country:Senegal

Director:Alain Gomis

Program:African Panorama

Year: 
2005

Summary:

This film has already gained classic status with its elegant self reflexive example of African cinema: seen through a child's attempts to understand the world ("When I shut my eyes, are people still there?").


Amal

Amal

Country:Morocco

Director:Ali Benkirane

Program:African Panorama

Year: 
2004

Summary:

Amal is a 12 year old girl who lives in the Morocco countryside. Each morning, with her young brother, she walks several kilometers to reach her school. A serious and passionate pupil, her dream is to become a doctor


Pourqoui?

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Country:Senegal

Director:Sokhna Amar

Program:African Panorama

Year: 
2004

Summary:

For ten years she has kept it a secret that she was raped when she was young. In this short experimental documentary, a Senegalese woman tells her story. Tranquil images of the sea and a man in a small boat accompany her account. These images contrast starkly with what is told, but they are a fitting illustration. As a whole, the film is an urgent appeal to show respect for women.


Singha!

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Country:Ghana

Director:Kenny McCauley

Program:African Panorama

Year: 
2001

Summary:

Singha! is a love story of revenge and jealousy set against the backdrop of Kumasi Central Market. Spurred on by the misogyny of his peers, Kofi is determined to wreak his revenge on his adulterous wife Azuma who has been tricked by a wandering musician. The minstrel has trapped her by weaving her hair into the strings on his instrument. Kofi visits a traditional priest for advice and gets a knife from the blacksmith and sets off to find them.


The Next Meal

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Country:Ghana

Director:Alba Amoo-Gottfried

Program:African Panorama

Year: 
2001

Summary:

Hunger drives a young man to join an urban gang in Tema. When he uncovers the gangs secret he is forced to draw lots. He draws the short straw and has to provide the next meal for the gang or else face the consequences. Tema is a major industrial city in Ghana which was  took Ghana into the 21st Century. It is the destination for many young people desparate for work. Without enough to go round, gangs spring up and fighting for food and survival is not uncommon.


Members Only

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Country:Ghana

Director:Abiko Eghagha

Program:African Panorama

Year: 
2001

Summary:

Members Only is  sex-comedy set in a university Halls of Residence. Johnie, a charmer and ladies man, decides to go into “retirement” and ask the girl he loves to marry him — after  one last fling.  But he gets his come-uppance when he bites off more than he can chew. Meanwhile his new roommate, who he has been training to be “smooth” like him, has his own secret.


Deeds

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Country:Ghana

Director:George Bosompim

Program:African Panorama

Year: 
2001

Summary:

Deeds is an original thriller through the eyes of a young girl - the first of its kind from Ghana. A young girl witnesses the murder of her mother by her father’s mistress and is traumatised by what she has seen into silence. But her father and mistress know it will only be a matter of time before she remembers. A proverb in the Akan language says, "wo tu eduro bone a ebi ka wo ano." Meaning, if you use your fingers to poison somebody, your fingers finally go back to your own mouth.


Victims

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Country:Sierra Leone

Director:Mohamed Sheriff

Program:African Panorama

Year: 
2006

Summary:

This story was inspired by actual happenings during and after the civil war when there were lots of reprisals involving child combatants who were forcibly conscripted into the fighting forces and made to commit atrocities against their own people including close family members. Some of these were at best ostracized, and worst physically punished, sometimes to death.