Films from Africa made by Africans offer restorative images and a new film language. The beautiful and sometimes challenging films in this collection not only showcase the works of master filmmakers but also innovative new talents who are embracing video technology. To see Africa through African eyes will break stereotypes and enlighten viewers about life in Africa.
Articles to help you view and teach African cinema written by African filmmakers and scholars are also available.
Several of our newest releases touch upon the most urgent issues in world affairs that confront the African continent, specifically, war, human rights and the AIDS pandemic. We have prepared Advocacy for Africa , an exclusive new section of our website to provide you with critical information and to encourage you to join with groups taking action. Click here for information on the new South Africa-based African Film Library on-line subscription service.
DVD, 98 minutes, 2 titles on 1 cassette, Cameroon, 1999 and 1994, in French with English subtitles
These two documentaries ponder democratic development in Africa. Chef! locates the roots of Africa's authoritatrian regimes in the patriarchal family, reinforced by traditional kingship and the colonial experience. La tête dans les nuages examines the informal economy. MORE...
VHS and DVD, 58 minutes, South Africa, 2004, In English and Afrikaans with English subtitles
Poorly paid garment workers in the Coloured townships around Cape Town have for years made clothes so that other women could dress up. But each year, after working for weeks on glamorous dresses, one woman among them will be crowned in the Annual Spring Queen pageant. MORE...
VHS, DVD and 35mm, 95 minutes, Cameroon, 1996, in French with English subtitles
The first feature film by director Jean-Marie Teno wrestles with the dilemma of Africans who seek their fortunes abroad versus fighting the autocratic regimes at home. MORE...
Ezra is the first film to give an African perspective on the disturbing phenomenon of abducting child soldiers into the continent’s recent civil wars. Ezra is structured around the week-long questioning of a 16 year old boy, Ezra, before a version of the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions, created in Sierra Leone in 2002 in the wake of its decade long civil war. This hearing is then inter-cut with chronological flashbacks to pivotal moments during Ezra’s ten years in the rebel faction which made him who he is. MORE...
VHS, DVD and 35mm, 121 minutes, Senegal, 2001, in French and Wolof with English subtitles
Ousmane Sembene, the father of African cinema, examines the interplay of gender, economics and power in the fictional life story of businesswoman Faat Kine. MORE...
VHS and DVD, 78 minutes, 3 titles on 1 cassette, Tanzania / Nigeria / Ethiopia, 2000, in Amharic, English and Swahili with English subtitles
Three dramatic shorts from Tanzania, Nigeria and Ethiopia take a critical look at the relationship between fathers and their children in contemporary Africa. MORE...
