Rowan Sullivan, Author at FilmRoot

A Quick Review of the International Films at PAFF 2022

Whilst we weren’t able to catch any films in-person at the 30th edition of the Pan African Film Festival, the virtual screenings were almost enough to compensate. Like previous years, the international film slate at PAFF 2022 featured films from countries that other festivals in the U.S. rarely represent. Inspired by Burkina Faso and Africa’s world leading FESPACO film festival, PAFF is the best place to see films from the African diaspora in the U.S. So if you’re looking for films from sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean, and Black directors around the world, you need to add the Pan African Film Festival to your list.

The International Films at PAFF 2022

As per previous years, we focused our coverage on the International films screening at PAFF. The Pan African Film Festival typically offers one of the most diverse film festival slates in the U.S., and this year was no different. 55 countries were featured along with 18 languages, including Papiamento, Swahili, Wolof, and Yoruba. The festival also does it part to foster new talent from around the world with 61 of the feature films coming from first time directors. The only improvement we’d love to see in future editions is equal gender parity in the director’s screened, especially within the international categories. Whilst 40% of the films featured were directed by women, it felt like this was boosted by the U.S. and short films.

Quality-wise, most of the films we saw this year beat the worst films from the 2019 and 2020 editions. Here’s how they ranked.

1. Bantu Mama (Dominican Republic)

Bantu Mama was the most polished movie we saw at this year’s edition. It has art-house production quality, memorable acting and characters, and it tells its story incredibly efficiently (clocking at just 77 minutes long). Plus the soundtrack was on point – sonically representing the meshing cultures in a tribute to their shared African heritage.

Read the full review here.

2. Tug of War (Tanzania)

Like Bantu Mama, Tug of War‘s high production quality and art-house film language has helped it to screen at a few international film festivals already. It sets an anti-colonial romance within the picturesque island of Zanzibar and gives it a lot of Wong Kar-Wai style. World Cinema fans will find plenty to appreciate here.

Read the full review here.

3. The Crossing (Burkina Faso)

We loved the relaxed pacing of The Crossing. There’s rarely a moment where it feels preachy or designed to provoke. Instead, the light comedy and hang-out vibes turn the often traumatic topic of Africa to Europe immigration into an easy and humorous watch.

Read the full review here.

4. Africa & I (Morocco, South Africa)

Africa & I is the perfect viewing experience for anyone who wants (or wanted) to travel across the African continent. Othmane Zolati’s journey from Morocco to South Africa is unique and inspirational even if the narrative structure is fairly unoriginal. He shows you how to travel on a budget whilst deconstructing the tourist misconceptions of Africa.

5. Doutor Gama (Brazil)

Like Bantu Mama, Doutor Gama features another great soundtrack, this time courtesy of Tigana Santana. His voice gives a melancholy calmness to Dr. Gama’s traumatic life. Whilst the biopic is good, it feels a bit short. It jumps from slavery to an established civil rights lawyer in just a flash, when it could have done with covering more of his life in between.

6. Ayinla (Nigeria)

Ayinla‘s plot is a bit undercooked; hitting beats in Ayinla Omowura’s life without piecing them together. However, the music makes up for it, even if the lyrics aren’t always subtitled. For anyone into Nigerian music, or biopic style movies on making it in the music industry, Ayinla is worth a watch. It’s a decent tribute to both Ayinla Omowura and Abeokuta, the colorful city that both the director and the music star share.

Read the full review here.

7. Zepon (Martinique)

If you’re looking for a well made film from Martinique that gives a sample of Martinican culture, watch Zepon. Whilst it falls into some tired World Cinema tropes, there are some brilliant moments in the film that are supported by light humor that carries the film from start to finish.

Read the full review here.

8. Tales of the Accidental City (Kenya)

The Zoom call format of Tales of the Accidental City is a bit limiting, and already feels dated as quarantine restrictions have largely disappeared. However, if you’re simply looking for a quick Kenyan comedy, this film is worth a watch. It playfully makes fun of a few stereotypes of the city, giving the audience a few laughs and a small understanding of Nairobi society.

Read the full review here.

9. With No Land (Ethiopia, Israel)

Israeli history is complicated, as any documentary on its formation and relationship with Palestine and the West can confirm. However, With No Land focuses on an overlooked prejudice – the rejection of the Black Ethiopian Jews into the Israel state despite the Israeli Citizenship Law that grants every Jew in the world the unrestricted right to become an Israeli citizen. However, whilst the topic is interesting and eye-opening, the abundance of talking heads interviewees makes it very dry.

10. Hairareb (Namibia)

Whilst there are some nice shots of the rural/desert landscape, Hairareb failed to live up to the blurb. It’s not about the drought that brought the two main characters together, and it’s not about the newlyweds past lives, or living in rural Namibia. All of the narrative development is sacrificed for the sake of creating domestic melodrama, leaving the film feeling pretty hollow.

Read the full review here.

11. Juwaa (Belgium)

Juwaa is a well produced movie from the African diaspora. However, it’s incredibly bleak. It hits all the genre tropes of misery porn, starting with a traumatic childhood event which destroys the characters later happiness. Whilst there is some sort of resolution at the end, it’s not enough to make up for the depressing time spent watching the rest of the movie.

Visit the Pan African Film Festival 2022 page for all our full reviews from the 30th edition of the festival. Reviews from past editions of PAFF can also be found here: 2020, 2021.

Tug of War (Tanzania) – Pan African Film Festival 2022

In colonial Zanzibar, a young revolutionary and runaway wife from different parts of the city meet. As their romance grows, so does their revolutionary fervor in this adaptation of Shafi Adam Shafi’s novel.

It’s rare that you see Tanzanian films on the international film festival circuit, especially those that are directed by Tanzanians. The industry in the East African country is dominated by Swahiliwood’s low budget, rapidly made ‘Bongo films,’ which, like the majority of African cinema industries are largely ignored by Western film festivals. So it’s nice to see a Tanzanian representative on the international film festival circuit in Tug of War, even if it isn’t your typical Tanzanian film. Unlike ‘Bongo films,’ Tug of War‘s production quality matches the criteria for Western film festivals, with beautiful cinematography inspired by Wong Kar Wai, good production design, and great acting. It perfectly fits the Western expectations of ‘good’ international cinema.

The warmly patient pace of Tug of War defines the films tone, characters, and relationships. It’s created through the slow motion shots and orange tinted film that the director, Amil Shivji, uses throughout the film, just as Wong Kar Wai did in In the Mood for Love. The slow motion highlights some of the defining moments in the character’s relationships. This is clearest in the shot of Denge and Yasmin’s first glance of each other. Stretching out this fleeting glance captures the longing in that brief look, symbolically starting the embers that starts their romance. These slow motion moments also signify their enlightenment. One shot shows Yasmin pushing against the flow of a moving crowd. At regular speed, the shot might be forgettable, but in slow motion it becomes symbolic of her going against the grain of her family’s expectations and grabbing her own independence. Lastly the slow motion also emphasizes the link between their budding romance and new-found independence with the anti-colonial revolution that stands against both. This is captured in the slow motion scene of red pamphlets falling between them like wedding confetti (as in the image above).

For a beautifully shot, anti-colonial Tanzanian film inspired by Wong Kar Wai’s In the Mood for Love, watch Tug of War. It features sumptuously warm cinematography, a slow burning romance, and a fight for independence. This interracial, extra-marital love is anti-colonial. Viva la revolución.

Check back to our Pan African Film Festival 2022 page for more reviews coming out of the 30th edition of the festival.

Zepon (Martinique) – Pan African Film Festival 2022

Viezo and his daughter Victorine have spent happy years on the road, taking their prime fighting cocks and snake oil wares around the island. However, with the best chicken he’s ever had, Viezo wants to try his luck in the big ring one more time, reigniting past rivalries and old problems.

You shouldn’t be surprised to find a well-made film from Martinique. After all, one of the World’s most famous female directors, Euzhan Palcy, made her renowned Sugar Cane Alley on her home island. Whilst Zepon doesn’t follow the same post-colonial themes of Palcy’s most notable films, it is at least very well made, likely helped by the path that Palcy created. If you have a good eye you might even recognize actress Jocelyne Beroard (who plays Titine) from Euzah Palcy’s Siméon.

The plot, whilst colored by Martinican flavor, does stick to one of the classic tropes of World Cinema; the clash of modernity and tradition. Not, in this case, a juxtaposition of the modernity of the city vs. the country the two protagonists have been touring, but of the modern progressive symbolism of Victorine vs. the conservative traditional views of the island. As an independent young single woman, Victorine is progressive in her existence. She runs her own snake-oil style stall to fund her dreams of dancing abroad in America. Meanwhile, her father, and the rest of the island, are all stuck in an old honor code dictated by drunken handshake deals that play out in the cockfighting ring. The battle between Victorine and the island culture is unique to Martinique, but the modernity vs. tradition trope the conflict follows has played out many times before.

The highlight of the film is the cockfighting, which is portrayed brilliantly. From the intimate stands of the cockfighting ring to how the director chose to shoot the cockfight itself. For both fights, the director deliberately cuts away from the fight itself. Instead of showing the chickens fighting, the director firstly cuts to an impressionistic animation that captures the energy of the chickens in the first fight, and secondly, cuts to shots of enthusiastic spectators cheering for their bets. Both create two of the film’s most memorable visual moments and manage to capture the energy of the fighters and the crowd without showing any real violence.

For a well made film from Martinique that gives a sample of Martinican culture Zepon is worth a watch. Whilst it falls into some tired World Cinema tropes, there are some brilliant moments in the film that is supported by a light humor that carries it from start to finish.

Check back to our Pan African Film Festival 2022 page for more reviews coming out of the 30th edition of the festival.

Where I Come From (Cameroon) – Pan African Film Festival 2022

11 year old Mambi relies on her luck at gambling to pay off her father’s debts and save money for education in Where I Come From. However, as her father’s own gambling addiction gets worse, Mambi sacrifices her own dreams to protect her father.

The first thing I learned from watching Mambi was that English is spoken in Cameroon. All of the previous films I’ve seen from Cameroon were in French so I ignorantly assumed the whole country spoke French. The reality is that whilst around 80% of the country’s population are in French speaking regions, the 20% in the North, along the Nigerian border, speak English. The English speaking region has recently become a hotbed for film production, earning it the nickname ‘Collywood’ to differentiate itself from Nigeria’s neighboring Nollywood. Three of the industry’s films have even been bought up by Netflix: the award winning The Fisherman’s Diary, A Man for the Weekend, and Broken. Where I Come From might be hoping to join them soon.

Unfortunately the plot feels a bit too similar to a host of other African films that focus on poverty and promote education and stable family life such as Hand of Fate, Jebel Nyoka, and Shaina. Even though their situations all seem impossibly bleak, education is presented as a panacea for everything. It almost comes across as a government PSA because it feels so unrealistic given the protagonists’ circumstances. The promotion of gambling (and luck) as a solution also felt a bit off. Whenever Mambi gambles, inspirational, uplifting music starts as if it’s encouraging her to gamble. Promoting education and the luck of gambling in the same movie doesn’t match up.

Despite the cookie-cutter plot, Where I Come From is at least memorable for it’s brilliant lead performance from 11 year old Faith Fidel. She deservedly was nominated for Most Promising Actor at the African Movie Academy Awards last year and should be an actor to look out for in the future. It’s also worth noting that 95% of the film’s crew were under 30, so look out for more from Takong Delvis and his team in future.

Check back to our Pan African Film Festival 2022 page for more reviews coming out of the 30th edition of the festival.

Bantu Mama (Dominican Republic) – Pan African Film Festival 2022

In Bantu Mama, a French-Cameroonian woman is arrested in the Dominican Republic for attempting to smuggle drugs back home. However, she’s rescued by the Dominican underworld, sheltering in one of Santo Domingo’s notorious neighborhoods with a semi-orphaned family until she can make her escape.

It’s clear from the start that Bantu Mama is meant to appeal to the audiences at Western film festivals. Like European film festival fare, the images look dark and gloomy, and they carry the bulk of the narrative weight, with the sparse dialogue only covering the basic gaps the images can’t provide. There’s also a lot of movement in every shot, with no tripod or steadicam shots, and the short shot length and fast cutting verges on the speed of montage, especially in the opening. All these stylistic choices match the lean, moody looking standard of the big film festivals in Europe and North America, contrasting with the slower paced, dialogue focused African films that dominate the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles.

This is not to say that Bantu Mama is unoriginal; it is. Firstly, it’s incredibly efficient, telling a complete story with limited dialogue in just 77 minutes. Secondly, it’s propelled by a brilliant soundtrack of regional African music and Dominican trap. Both genres mesh together to represent the cultural dialogue with Africa that Emma, the French-Cameroonian fugitive, opens to the Afro-Latino children that shelter her. The soundtrack also creates one of the film’s most memorable moments – a visual example of this cultural link – in which Cuki is transformed into a Maasai dancer with the help of African music and Emma. In this moment, the music transports them from their dangerous neighborhood to an imagined Pan-African utopia. This is just one moment in a handful in which the soundtrack and Emma link the Dominican Republic with Africa. The cultural dialogue they create make Bantu Mama unique.

If you’re a fan of film festivals in North America or Europe and want to see a lean, music-powered cultural exchange linking the underworld of the Dominican Republic to Africa, Bantu Mama is the film you need to watch.

Check back to our Pan African Film Festival 2022 page for more reviews coming out of the 30th edition of the festival.