Africa

Best African Films

Africa is the heart of the world. Heaped with incredible cultural diversity the continent is a force in the film world that is destined to breach across to cinemas worldwide in the future. You may already have seen some of the best African films featured below already. For example, 2009’s District 9 – an ingenious documentary style science fiction set in South Africa made it big overseas. Africa also has it’s own Hollywood in Nigeria’s Nollywood, which churns out almost as many films as Bollywood every year.

Find the best African films below. My advice would be to start with Black Girl and work your way up to Timbuktu.

Or if you’re looking for the best films from a particular country, head straight to their country pages using the links below:

Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe

*We’re still looking for the best African films from countries without pages. Send us your recommendations.

Makala – Live the Life of a Charcoal Miner in Rural DR Congo

Makala Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

This documentary film is on another level. You’ll rarely get this close to a life completely different to the one you’re used to. Not just because you probably have no idea about the lives of charcoal miners in DR Congo, but because you rarely get films that are this intimate. There are so many close ups and shots where Kabwita’s emotion is so clearly visible that you’ll feel like you’re there right beside him. The only problem is that you’ll feel even worse for not being able to help him up those hills.

Why Watch Makala?

Find out how to make a living in rural Democratic Republic of Congo
The incredible cinematography! (detail below)
Learn how to make charcoal
It’s an excellent documentary – it won Critic’s Week at the Cannes Film Festival 2017

The Breakdown

Makala starts with Kabwita (our protagonist). The camera follows him through the bush. He’s carrying two axes on his shoulders. He’s looking for a good tree. After a minute or so, the perfect tree appears near the top of the shrub covered hill. After a quick prayer, Kabwita starts cutting down the tree.

Makala covers the whole process of making a living from charcoal. You’ll see Kabwita make the product (charcoal), transport it, and sell it. This is how he manages to live.

What’s amazing about the film is how intimate it is. The director, Emmanuel Gras, found Kabwita whilst working on his previous documentary (also set in DRC). Kabwita agreed to the film in return for help building the home he mentions in the film. This is how the director manages to get so many close-up shots of Kabwita documenting his trials and tribulations.

Because of the connection the close-ups establish between us (the audience) and Kabwita, there are many times when we want to reach out and help him. We can feel his struggle pushing the charcoal logs up hills and also his frustration when a lorry crashes into his livelihood. Of course, the director could help, but to do so would be to take away from our experience. It’s the director’s responsibility to direct the life of the charcoal maker. It’s our responsibility (the viewers) to be enlightened and be inspired to make a change.

Image result for makala film

Conclusion

Makala is a beautiful film. The cinematography at times is almost unbelievably real. A lot of the shots are so intimate and close that you’d be forgiven for forgetting that this is a documentary. We are so used to seeing unrealistic intimate shots in Hollywood films (close-ups of people kissing that you’d never see in real life) but this kind of intimacy is unusual in Documentary film. In Makala you get to experience the life of the charcoal maker, not just witness it.

Fragment 53 (Liberia)

Fragment 53 Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

War. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing.

However, you can learn a lot from this documentary about the Liberian Civil War. It features interviews with the people responsible for killing hundreds if not thousands of people. You’ll also get to hear from all sides in the conflict and what they did in the role and what they think of the murders they committed now that the conflict is over. If you can’t imagine a time in which eating a heart is normal, I recommend you check out this film to find out.

Why Watch Fragment 53?

You don’t know anything about the Liberian Civil War, or anything about Liberia for that matter
Learn about the nature of war from the warlords, generals, and soldiers that fought in the Liberian conflict
Hear from General “Butt naked”
It’s a perfect compliment to Indonesia’s The Look of Silence and The Act of Killing

The Breakdown

Fragment 53 starts with the sound of a trumpet, a sound connected to war memorial services. The sound of the trumpet sets the tone of this war documentary, a tone that both recognises those lost, but also questions the nature of war. Alongside the trumpet we are shown a montage of statues and statuettes. Each one of them is a deity of war from various human cultures. War has been around for millennia. Is it a part of humanity or something we can stop?

Before, and also between the interviews of the war generals, the film hints at the surreal. We are shown shots of people working at roadside stalls, a cloud of fruit bats stripping the leaves off of a tree, and hills covered in rain forest and mist. Why are these images included? They are included as they show time passing. These mundane images are just as natural as war is to mankind. Bats will always strip the leaves off of trees, mist will always collect in the hills, and people will always be making a living. These things, just like war, will also continue into the foreseeable future.

The director’s also manipulate the interviews with the warlords and generals. Each interviewee is given the same introduction text and are all shot in close-up. But look out for how the director leaves them after the interview is complete. The first interviewee is rather vague about his opinion of war so his interview finishes with a blurred and dark image of him getting up to leave. The second interviewee is consistent in his views of war and his role and therefore the director ends his interview with a clear head shot. This is just one of the ways a director can influence our perception of interviewees in documentaries!

Conclusion

Fragment 53 is an intriguing look into the nature of war. Is it something that is a part of humanity or can it be eliminated? Hear from seven warlords/generals from Liberia. Their answers offer an insight into both the Liberian war and humanity as a whole.

For more documentaries on the nature of war, check out The Look of Silence and also Little Dieter Needs to Fly.

Lamb – See a Patriarchy Struggling to Get By

Lamb Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

Beautiful scenery, beautifully shot, Lamb could be a travel commercial for the Ethiopian tourist board. But the beautiful landscape can’t be fully enjoyed by Ephraim and his family as they’ve run out of food. The worst of each of them shows itself on film as they struggle to get by – will Ephraim’s beloved lamb survive?

From: Ethiopia, Africa
Watch: Trailer, Amazon Prime, Kanopy, Rent on Amazon, Buy on Amazon
Next: Pather Panchali, Rams, Abouna

Sampha: Process – A Journey from Sierra Leone to London

Sampha: Process Film Difficulty Ranking: 2

If you’ve been watching a lot of films recently, you’ll notice that Sampha: Process is different. Firstly it’s got a lot of music, which you’d probably expect as it’s an extended music video. Secondly, you’ll notice the quick and choreographed cuts (the editing works with the music). Music videos are where Spike Jonze and David Fincher started out, will Khalil Joseph transition to feature films as well?

Why Watch Sampha: Process?

Because there’s art in music videos – Director Khalil Joseph made a name for himself with this art/music video to accompany Kendrick Lamar’s Good Kid, M.A.A.D City and also directed Beyonce’s Lemonade visual album
If you like Sampha (you’ll at the very least appreciate his voice if you’re a music fan)
It will make you want to go to Freetown, Sierra Leone
For some fast cuts and symbolism – exactly what you’d expect from an extended music video

The Breakdown

First off, if you haven’t heard of Sampha, you should check out his latest Mercury Prize winning album Process before you watch this film – give it a listen here. Then you’ll need to know that this album was created after he lost his mum to cancer. He deals with loss in the music, but it is also the focus of this film.

Throughout the film, Khalil Joseph cuts to the image of Sampha’s mum trapped in a chrysalis. Her image appears between the beautiful beaches of Sierra Leone and urban London, connecting the two different cities. As a result, she is the link that connects Sampha to Sierra Leone. Her death, along with her mother’s old age (she’s the last of 14 siblings), threatens the link.

Image result for sampha process kahlil joseph

Conclusion

Sampha: Process is a film you should watch if you want to see how to adapt a music album into a film. Khalil Joseph takes a brilliant, complete album and manages to add more depth to it.

For more, check out this art/music video Khalil Joseph made for Kendrick Lamar’s Good Kid, M.A.A.D City album.

In the Last Days of the City – An Ode to a Disappearing Home

In The Last Days of the City Film Difficulty Ranking: 4

You might have seen Fellini’s La Dolce Vita or Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty, two films that honor the city of Rome, but you probably haven’t seen In The Last Days of the City, Tamar El Said’s tribute to Cairo. Instead of a bombastic tour around the city, In the Last Days of the City’s tribute is muted. Instead of a warm film about one man’s love for his home city, In the Last Days of the City charts the director’s growing disillusionment with his home city and the increasingly militant and fundamentalist place it’s becoming.

From: Egypt, Africa
Watch: Trailer, JustWatch
Next: The Square, La Dolce Vita, The Journey

The Breakdown

El Said wanders around Cairo trying to find a new apartment. He needs a new place to live as his current landlord is evicting him to demolish his apartment block for a new more profitable construction. In his search, he visits many parts of the city, becoming an observer of everything happening. Whilst he wanders the city, he doesn’t interfere with anything going on. He watches the changing city passively and allows us (the audience) to form our own opinions on what we see. He’s like our Virgil from Dante’s Inferno, his role is to guide us around the city and show us what is changing.

Through his eye, we start to see the growing militarization and fundamentalism of the city and the gradual loss of freedom. In terms of the militarization, we see more and more army trucks and soldiers patrolling the city, plain closed policemen chasing people, and policemen beating and arresting protestors. In terms of the growing fundamentalism, we see ‘Thou Shall Not Look at Women’ slogans stuck on walls in apartment blocks and hear prayers playing over loudspeakers in apartment elevators. Backed by a soundtrack with snippets from radio shows speaking to the growing divisions in the country, the future of the city looks bleak.

There’s a scene which serves as a warning of Cairo’s negative future. In the scene, we meet a group of the directors friends in a cafe lit by light and laughter. It’s a rare scene of laughter and happiness. Each one of the group is living in a different corner of the Arabic diaspora and represent the choices that El Said has. Two of the friends are from Baghdad. They represent the extreme direction that Cairo could take. One has left the city for Europe after seeing his home city crumble to ruins. The other can’t leave his roots despite the violence, and continues to live in fear. Both of them fail to recognize the homely city that they grew up in. The third friend from Beirut, represents the middle ground between Cairo and Baghdad. His growing disillusionment and antipathy at the changes in Beirut are conquering his happy memories. But he’s still managing to grasp onto the last remnants of the city he loved before it becomes unrecognizable like Baghdad. Each of their stories are warning signs for the direction of El Said’s Cairo. He can stay and watch the city fade or he can leave the country with some of his positive memories intact.

El Said’s indecision is reflected in his struggles to make the film. He wants to capture the city he loved, the warm city of his memory, but as he’s filming, all he can see is the cities inevitable demise. He slowly comes to realize that he will either watch the city he loved slowly disappear or leave the city and preserve the happy memories that still survive in him.

What to Watch Next

If you want to watch more films which honor the director’s home city, check out Fellini and Sorrentino’s respective odes to Rome: La Dolce Vita and The Great Beauty. You could also check out Thom Andersen’s documentary Los Angeles Plays Itself, composed completely out of Hollywood films.

Or if you’re more interested in seeing towns and cities slowly disappear, check out Once Upon a Time in Venezuela and Kings of Nowhere; two documentaries of towns destroyed by nature. There’s also Cuban docu-drama, The Project of the Century featuring one town full of hope destroyed by international politics.

Lastly, for more films set in Arabic cities subject to increasing fundamentalism and war, watch The Square from Egypt, Freedom Fields from Libya and The Journey from Iraq.