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.

When the Stars Meet the Sea – Life’s Journey set in Madagascan Myth

When the Stars Meet the Sea Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

Why Watch When the Stars Meet the Sea?

If you like mythology – Kapila’s Madagascan origin story is like a dark version of Hercules.
It’s also a Siddartha-esque story about tuning out hate for peace and happiness.
To see how Raymond Rajaonarivelo uses the landscape to represent the story of life.

From: Madagascar, Africa
Watch: Trailer, Vimeo, Kanopy, IMDb
Next: Zerzura, Kirikou and the Sorceress, Sleepwalking Land

Kapila is born during a solar eclipse in the opening of When the Stars Meet the Sea. According to traditional Madagascan beliefs this gives him destructive powers, so his father secretly leaves him in a cattle pen to be trampled. He’s permanently crippled, but before the cows kill him, he’s saved by Raivo, who takes him to the city to raise as her own child. However, even though he’s brought up by a loving adoptive mother, he’s never able to fit into the community because of his crippled leg and growing supernatural powers. So he starts to question his roots, and with the help of a mystical blind woman he starts a journey into his past.

A dark Madagascan version of Hercules

When the Stars Meet the Sea feels a bit like a modest Madagascan version of Hercules. In both, a child with supernatural powers is left to die but is saved by a humble villager that raises him as their own. Similarly, they both grow up with supernatural powers and realize that their humble families are not their own. So they go on a quest to find their true identity. However, whilst Hercules is destined for greatness, Kapila is cursed to use his powers for destruction.

Taming Vengeance with Love

Kapila’s journey therefore becomes his battle with destiny. Society believes he’s evil because of his birth date, and the glimpses of his destructive supernatural power justify their fears. It appears in his weakest moments: when’s he’s bullied or grieving. In order to allay his power, he has to quell his desires for vengeance against those who cross him, and replace those desires with love. In this way, his journey resembles that of Siddhartha: he can achieve peace and happiness if he tunes out his anger and desires for vengeance. It’s a journey of purification and finding peace with oneself.

The Landscape Holds the Ultimate Journey

When the Stars Meet the Sea infuses the landscape into the story. As Kapila walks through the Madagascan landscape on his way home he passes through the desert, woodland, mountains, and the savannah. The variety of scenery may look like an advertisement for the beautiful landscapes of Madagascar, but it’s also representative of the diversity of our own lives. In traditional Madagascan beliefs, the sky (where Kapila draws his supernatural powers) and the sea (where he journeys towards) represent birth and death. The earth represents the life in between. His journeys through the different Madagascan landscapes therefore represent the diversity of life and its challenges whilst his journey towards the sea represents life’s ultimate journey in this world: from birth to death.

What to Watch Next

If you’re looking for more African films in which the main character embarks on a magical quest, check out Zerzura from Niger. It features a psychedelic journey into the desert to fight the Djinn. You could also watch the brilliantly animated Kirikou and the Sorceress which features a magical baby that takes on an evil sorceress that demands human tributes from his village or Sleepwalking Land which features a post-apocalyptic Mozambique.

Otherwise if you’re looking for more films with a bit of magic and family secrets, go watch Eve’s Bayou, an American film set in rural Louisiana.

Kings of Mulberry Street – Pan African Film Festival 2020

Kings of Mulberry Street feels like it could have been your 9 year old self’s favorite film. A film that your parents would happily let you watch when you’ve grown out of Disney animation, or that your teachers might put on at school when it’s raining at break-time. A film that the adults would end up staying to watch it with you, because it’s a fun coming-of-age story that everyone can enjoy, set in an Indian community in South Africa.

The first minute immediately sets the tone for the rest of the film. It’s where we first meet 11 year old Ticky dancing along to a classic Bollywood action film projected on the big screen in front of him. He knows all the words and all the action routines. He wants to be the next Amitabh Bachchan, and judging by his confidence, his dreams don’t look too farfetched. The opening establishes Ticky’s charisma and energy; a playful energy and humor that carries through Kings of Mulberry Street.

In the next scene we meet his future sidekick Harold, a chubby kid spoiled by his single dad. They’re posh Indians, as demonstrated by their knitted jumpers and English accents. Harold’s dad even pop quizzes his son on his spelling on their way to their new house. They arrive in Ticky’s neighborhood and immediately try to stay away from mingling with any of the neighbors. Even though they’ve just moved to the hood, and the dad is now writing obituaries for a little local paper, they still see themselves as better then everyone else. They’re the stereotypical wannabe English upper class, complete with the stiff upper lips, that want to stay away from anyone that might disrupt their peace and quiet (see Elton’s dad in Rocketman or Stevens in Remains for the Day for two examples). However, despite Harold’s dad’s efforts to keep him from mixing with the local rabble, inevitably, Harold and Ticky become best friends.

Ticky is Harold’s antidote to his reserved ‘English’ inspired father. He helps him break from his dad’s mold to become ‘more Indian’. Ticky teaches him Indian slang, feeds him Indian food, and introduces him to his big family. Bu,t most importantly, Ticky introduces him to Bollywood film, whose heroes provide the inspiration for them to take back their bike from the local crime boss. In welcoming Harold into the community, Ticky helps tug Harold away from the bland English culture that his father lives by, and into the colorful Indian culture that helps dispel his loneliness. It also helps to break their class boundaries by connecting them through their shared cultural roots. It’s a heartwarming message at the center of a fun coming of age film.

Head to our Pan African Film Festival Hub for more reviews and short films from the Pan African Film Festival 2020.

Batuque (Cape Verde) – Hear the Music that Defines a Nation

Batuque Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

Do you want to go to Cape Verde? Whilst you won’t see the lush beaches in this film, you’ll hear the sounds and soul of the island. Plus you’ll have an amazing Batuque band to tour you around! For a trip to Cape Verde for the price of lunch, watch this film here (Amazon).

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Why Watch Batuque?

It’s the best way to experience Cape Verde without paying for a flight
If you love music
To learn about Cape Verdean history
Meet some of Batuque’s biggest stars

The Breakdown

The film starts with a Batuque band called Raiz di Tambarina playing at a local wedding. All the band members are dressed in white for the occasion and sit in an almost complete circle with a dancer in the middle. They keep the percussion and the vocals going whilst the lead vocalist (hidden in the circle) leads them in their call and response style singing.

As you’ll see, Batuque is alive and well in Cape Verde. However, it’s had a troubled history. Under colonial times in the 1800s the Portuguese attempted to eradicate all forms of black culture. As a result, Batuque was outlawed so ‘honest hardworking folk would not be misled.’ These backwards laws weren’t overruled until the 1970s when independence was finally granted. Raiz di Tambarina (the band in the film) are an example of how intertwined the genre is with Cape Verdean culture. The band, like many of the Batuque stars today, started whilst under prohibition, and like the genre, have outlived it’s persecution.

In addition to the music and history of Batuque, this documentary also shows us life in Cape Verde by following the band members as they go about their day jobs. One of them buys fish from the port to sell inland whilst another is a truck driver. At one point in the film, whilst at the fish market, a group forms spontaneously and starts singing and drumming Batuque with anything ready to hand. The spontaneity shows how ingrained Batuque is into the culture of Cape Verde. It has survived slavery and colonisation and is now a celebrated part of Cape Verde.

Conclusion & What to Watch Next

Batuque is more than a film about Batuque music. Instead, it uses Batuque music to tell the story of Cape Verde: it’s history, people, and culture. You’ll hear the music that defines the nation, before you meet the people behind it and follow them at their ‘day-jobs’. Batuque is an arm-chair traveler’s guide to Cape Verde.

For another musical exploration, go visit the sound of the Democratic Republic of Congo courtesy of the Kasai Allstars. It took home the Best Picture at the African film awards in 2017 and won the Jury Prize at the Berlin Film Festival. Read more here and go watch it here (Amazon).

Or, if you’re interested in seeing more creative ways of telling the history of a nation, check out The Missing Picture. It tells the story of a Cambodian family looking for a missing picture of their relative lost in the Cambodian genocide. Read more here or go watch it here (Amazon).

Liyana – Mythical Animation from eSwatini

Liyana Film Difficulty Ranking: 1

If you’re looking for a great children powered docu-animation from eSwatini (Swaziland) you’ve come to the right place. Liyana is both a universal children’s story that everyone can relate to or sympathise with and a film which uses a unique way of storytelling. It’s familiar and unique.

From: eSwatini, Africa
Watch: Trailer, Request a Screening
Next: Africa United, Song of the Sea, The Missing Picture

Too Early, Too Late – Documenting the Land of Two Countries

Too Early, Too Late Film Difficulty Ranking: 5

Too Early, Too Late isn’t your typical documentary. Instead of following a person, animal, or political movement, it documents the landscape through a series of long sweeping shots of fields, land, and people. If you’re a people watcher, or someone who likes to sit on a park bench and contemplate the view, you’ll enjoy Too Early, Too Late. It requires patience, an open mind, and some open ears.

From: France, Egypt, Europe, Africa
Watch: YouTube, Rent on Amazon
Next: Playtime, Peace, Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania

Read The Full Review