Source: Global Information Service – Photo: 2023
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK | December 25, 2023 (IDN) — There’s a growing industry of great African films, but you’ll be lucky to see any of them at the Oscars.
“I’m sure the majority of people don’t even know we make movies,” commented Likarion Wainaina, the 35-year-old writer-director of Supa Modo, one of Kenya’s most acclaimed films.
Kenya submitted the film for consideration in the Oscar category of “international feature films”. It was not recommended.
The Seattle Times wrote of the film, “I bawled my eyes out straight away.”
Since the international film category was introduced in 1956, only ten films from Africa have been nominated, representing just five countries. Only three have won: Algeria’s Z (1969), Ivory Coast’s B&C (1976) and South Africa’s Tsotsi (2005). Two Oscar winners were directed by Europeans and the third by a white South African.
Latin America has only one film on the shortlist: Mexico’s Totem. That’s down from two last year, with Chile’s The Settlers and Argentina’s The Delinquents missing out this year.
The list of overlooked films is impressive. The Senegalese film Atlantique, directed by Matti Diop, won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival and was described as an allegory for the migrant crisis. Diop made history by becoming the first black woman to direct a film screened in competition at the festival.
Former President Obama named it one of his favorite movies of the year. It was not recommended.
The Oscar has been awarded to a European country 58 times in 74 years, with Canada winning once. France has been nominated more times than any other country, with 41 nominations. Of the ten countries that have won the most Oscars in the category, all are in Europe except five-time winner Japan.
And only a small club of countries are even in the running. Just 62 nations—less than a third of the countries on earth—have ever had a film nominated.
Cultural biases deeply affect all Oscar categories, say organizers of the #OscarsSoWhite campaign. And consider how few women are nominated in the Best Director category. This year’s slate is all male.
“Under the Hanging Tree”
In a first submission in the international feature film category, Namibia offered “Under the Hanging Tree”. Starring Girley Jazama, David Ndjavera, Roya Diehl and Dawie Engelbrecht, the film tackled issues of colonialism, racism and superstition in Namibia, switching between Afrikaans, German and English in its 90-minute run.
Last year, Uganda submitted its first film to the Oscars, presenting Morris Mugisha’s Tembele in the international feature category.
The drama follows Tembele, a garbage collector in Kampala suffering from mental illness, who begins to lose his grip on reality after the death of his infant son.
“In Africa, men are told to hide their emotions and never show weakness because they will be seen as weak,” Mugisha said. “Tembele suggests that it is okay for a man to cry and that vulnerability is not a crime, especially if you are in pain. This is a film of hope, love and brotherhood.”
Tembele premiered in Uganda this summer and swept the Uganda Film Festival Awards, winning Best Film, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor.
Finally, “La Mere de tous les Mensonges” – The Mother of All Lies – submitted by Morocco and “La Four Daughters”, an Arabic-language documentary from Tunisia, were shortlisted in the Best International Feature Film category. , while Bobi Wine: The People’s President about the Ugandan pop star/politician is shortlisted for Best Documentary.
Finally, from Nigeria, a new wave of filmmakers is helping to change the portrayal of LGBTQ characters. Babatunde Apalowo’s debut — All the Colors of the World Are Between Black and White — is a tender portrait of two men as they experience the first moments of an uncertain relationship.
It joins the canon of elite films by brave Nollywood filmmakers, queer and otherwise, rebelling against the queerphobic stereotypes that dominate older Nollywood films. [IDN-InDepthNews]
Photo Source: World Wide Web
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