African Cinema
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- DirectorDjibril Diop MambétyStarsMagaye NiangMyriam NiangChristoph ColombMory, a cowherd, and Anta, a university student, try to make money in order to go to Paris and leave their boring past behind.
- DirectorGillo PontecorvoStarsBrahim HadjadjJean MartinYacef SaadiIn the 1950s, fear and violence escalate as the people of Algiers fight for independence from the French government.
- DirectorOusmane SembeneStarsLy AbdoulayAlbourahBoron Sarret is arguably the first film made by a black African. It illustrates poverty in Senegal, particularly for the working man.
- DirectorKamal SelimStarsFatma RouchdiMokhtar OsmanZaki RostomThe story of Mohammed the son of a barber who has recently got his degree, his lover Fatma, his rivel Al-Etr.
- DirectorYoussef ChahineStarsFaten HamamahOmar SharifZaki RostomA rich landlord floods and destroys a village on purpose to prevent the people living there from making a profit off their crops. What he doesn't know is that his own daughter is in love with Ahmed, a young man from the village.
- DirectorMamadou SarrPaulin VieyraStarsPaulin VieyraMamadou SarrMarpessa DawnPaulin Vieyra and his collaborator Mamadou Sarr explore the lives of Africans living in Paris.
- DirectorSalah AbouseifAhmad El-SabawiAmin Yousseff GhurabStarsTahiyyah KaryukaShukri SarhanShadiaA young man from the country arrives in Cairo to finish his education. His landlady, a widow and successful businesswoman in the quarter of the Citadel, seduces him. Although she teaches him much about life she also makes him forget his obligations to his family, his studies, even his religion. When he tries to put her aside she attempts to force him to give up everything in which he believes.
- DirectorSalah AbouseifStarsFaten HamamahYehia ChahineMaryam FakhruddinTeenage Nadia is raised by her father after her mother's death. Returning home from boarding school, her father has re-married. Jealous Nadia decides to get rid of the competition of a stepmother by accusing her of sleeping with her uncle.
- DirectorYoussef ChahineStarsFarid ShawqiHind RustumYoussef ChahineA newspaper salesman at the train station in Cairo develops an unhealthy obsession with a woman who sells refreshments.
- DirectorSalah AbouseifStarsFarid ShawqiOmar SharifAminah RizqAfter the death of the father, the family consisting of a mother and two young men and a girl themselves without a breadwinner finds, to begin each of them in the direction to a different path, to err on the older brother (Hassan) to work drug, and graduated (Hussein) East of the Police College, while working (Nafisa) prostitution without the knowledge family, to hide them from the fate of many surprises.
- DirectorOusmane SembeneStarsMbissine Thérèse DiopAnne-Marie JelinekRobert FontaineA black girl from Senegal becomes a servant in France.
- DirectorMed HondoStarsRobert LiensolThéo LégitimusAmbroise M'BiaA native of Mauritania is delighted when he is chosen to work in Paris. However, he is disappointed when he sees racial inequity as blacks are relegated to manual labor while less skilled whites are given preferential treatment.
- DirectorMohammed Lakhdar-HaminaStarsKeltoumMohamed ChouikhHassan El-HassaniA story about the suffering of a mother (Kalthoum) from the Auras region whose husband died after aerial bombardment of the house by the French army during colonial days also the capture of her son. The mother did not give up for the search of her son despite the difficulties and obstacles, and she went from one prison to another just to see her son one more time.
- DirectorOusmane SembeneStarsMakhouredia GueyeYnousse N'DiayeIsseu NiangA money order from a relative in Paris throws the life of a Senegalese family man out of order. He deals with corruption, greed, problematic family members, the locals and the changing from his traditional way of living to a more modern one.
- DirectorYoussef ChahineStarsMahmoud Al MelejiNagwa IbrahimEzzat El AlailiA small peasant village's struggles against the careless inroads of the large local landowner. The Land shows why political oppression does not necessarily lead to a sense of solidarity among the disinherited.
- DirectorChadi Abdel SalamStarsAhmed MareiAhmad HegaziNadia LutfiAn Upper-Egyptian clan robs a cache of mummies and sells the artifacts on the illicit antiquities black market. After a conflict within the clan, one of its members goes to the police, helping the Antiquities Service find the cache.
- DirectorJans RautenbachStarsCobus RossouwJill KirklandHermien DommisseA catatonic mathematics professor with an Oedipus complex is committed to an asylum which is a microcosm of South African society, circa 1970. The inmates band together to attempt to restore him to life once more and when one of their number commits suicide because of him, they then attempt something more on his behalf: murder.
- DirectorHussein KamalStarsMagda El-KhatibAdel AdhamAhmed Al JaziriSet against the backdrop of the 1967 Six-Day War, the movie adaptation of Naguib Mahfouz's novel follows the escapist, drug-fuelled riverboat meetings of a group of frustrated Egyptians from various walks of life.
- DirectorSaid MarzoukStarsAbdel-Moneim BahnassyAbdel Moneim BassioniNour El-SherifChief Morsy is a lighthouse staying at a faraway lighthouse. He marries Suad and shortly returns to the lighthouse where he recounts to Nour his adventures with women.
- DirectorOumarou GandaStarsOumarou GandaJoseph SalamatouZalika SouleyAn Islamic faithful returns from his holy pilgrimage to Mecca with the venerated title "el hajji". On his return he falls in love with his daughter's friend Santou, who is already engaged to be married to Garba. El Hadji however already has two wives and his second wife, Gaika, cannot stand the idea of another younger wife entering her house. She plots to kill Santou.
- DirectorOusmane SembeneStarsAndongo DiabonRobert FontaineMichel RenaudeauAs World War II is going on in Europe, a conflict arises between the French and the Diola-speaking tribe of Africa, prompting the village women to organize their men to sit beneath a tree to pray.
- DirectorSarah MaldororStarsElisa AndradeDomingos de OliveiraJean M'VondoA man is wrongfully arrested and tortured to death after he is suspected of being part of a revolutionary group.
- DirectorYoussef ChahineStarsSalah QabilAli El SherifMahmoud Al MelejiSet shortly before and during the Six-Day War in June of 1967, The Sparrow follows a young police officer stationed in a small village in Upper Egypt whose inhabitants suffer from the harassment of a corrupt businessman.
- DirectorSouheil Ben-BarkaStarsAbdou ChaibaneMimsy FarmerSi AhmedIn Morocco, an old dyer and his young son Miloud work transporting wool packs. So begins this story in the hands of thousands of old men, women and children involved in meticulous weaving carpets.
- DirectorOusmane SembeneStarsThierno LeyeMyriam NiangSeune SambA corrupt politician is cursed with impotence on the night of his third wedding after embezzling 100 tons of rice.
- DirectorMohammed Lakhdar-HaminaStarsYorgo VoyagisMohammed Lakhdar-HaminaLeila ShennaA meticulous chronicle of the evolution of the Algerian liberation national movement. The film demonstrates that the Algerian War was a slow process of revolts and suffering, uninterrupted, from the start of colonization of Algeria in 1830
- DirectorHussein Shariffe'The Dislocation of Amber' was filmed in the city of Suakin, a formerly flourishing port in Sudan, now in ruins. Its history is one of famine and opulence, devastation and progress, rich trade and damage, and colonialism.
- DirectorJean-Pierre Dikongue-PipaStarsPhilippe AbiaArlette Din BeliGisèle Dikongue-PipaNgando and Ndomé; are in love. Ngando wishes to marry Ndomé; but her family reminds him that the traditional dowry must be settled. Unfortunately, Ngando is poor and unable to fulfill the tradition. Ndomé; is pregnant and bears his child. According to the village tradition, she must take a husband, at least one who can afford to pay the dowry. The villagers decide that Ndomé; should marry Ngando's uncle, who has already three sterile wives. In despair, the young man kidnaps his daughter upon the day of the traditional feast. An African Romeo and Juliet story.
- DirectorMerzak AllouacheStarsBoualem BenaniAziz DeggaFarida GuenanecheA somewhat cynical but realistic look at the alienation of men in Algerian society.
- DirectorSafi FayeStarsAssane FayeMaguette GueyeSafi FayeNgor is a young man living in a Senegalese village who wishes to marry Columba. Ongoing drought in the village has affected its crop of groundnuts and as a result, Ngor cannot afford the bride price for Columba.
- DirectorHaile GerimaStarsKasu AsfawGebru KasaWorke KasaIn Ethiopia; there is a slow boiling of a feud between a wealthy Lord and a protester who feels he is mistreating his laborers. While the viewer gets to closely examine the culture, conversations, and lives of the locals who surround them.
- DirectorCelso LuccasJosé Celso Martinez CorrêaDocumentary made in Mozambique about its process of independence and President Samora Machel's revolutionary government.
- DirectorOusmane SembeneStarsTabata NdiayeAlioune FallMoustapha YadeIn protest of forced conversion to Islam, the Ceddo (outsiders) kidnap King Demba War's daughter Princess Dior Yacine and hold her hostage.
- DirectorSouleymane CisséStarsIssiaka KaneAoua SangareNiamanto SanogoA young man with magical powers journeys to his uncle to request help in fighting his sorcerer father.
- DirectorSouleymane CisséStarsBalla Moussa KeitaBaba NiareBubukar KeitaA young manager of a factory encounters a man walking along a road who says his family traditionally are servants to the manager's family. The manager offers him a job, and as he watches out for the other man's welfare, begins to see how the company mistreats its workers. The manager is challenged between his ethics and the pressure from others to protect his own interests as dire problems surface at the factory
- DirectorAbdellatif Ben AmmarStarsYasmine KhlatRaouf Ben AmorDalila RamesTunis in 1980, A family leaves the old city, the Medina of Tunis to settle down in one of the new populated cities on the outskirts of the capital.
- DirectorFadika Kramo-LancinéStarsFatou OuataraJoachim OuataraEl Hadj Sindou DembéléKramoko Kouyate, son of a griot, cannot marry Fanta who is of noble blood. In flashback, the film explains the origin of the problem and shows their attempts to get around it.
- DirectorJamie UysStarsN!xauMarius WeyersSandra PrinslooA comic allegory about a traveling Bushman who encounters modern civilization and its stranger aspects, including a clumsy scientist and a band of revolutionaries.
- DirectorGaston KaboréStarsSerge YanogoRosine YanogoJoseph NikiemaIn pre-colonial times a peddler crossing the savanna discovers a child lying unconscious in the bush. When the boy comes to, he is mute and cannot explain who he is. The peddler leaves him with a family in the nearest village. After a search for his parents, the family adopts him, giving him the name Wend Kuuni (God's Gift) and a loving sister with whom he bonds. Wend Kuuni regains his speech only after witnessing a tragic event that prompts him to reveal his own painful history.
- DirectorAbabacar Samb-MakharamStarsAbou CamaraLamine Amadou CamaraFatou FallDuring a workers strike, while people fight corruption and indignity, a griot tells stories about past struggles of the Senegalese people, all connected by the Wolof concept of "jom", a core virtue of respect, self-worth, and courage.
- DirectorAtef El-TayebStarsSharif AbdulhamidAaliyah AbdulmoneimNimat AbdulnaserHassan is a bus driver and the only male sibling of five sisters, his father owns a workshop that got suspended due to taxes problems. Hassan tries to provide money before the workshop is sold on the auction.
- DirectorSouleymane CisséStarsFousseyni SissokoGoundo GuisséBalla Moussa KeitaFinye tackles the generation gap in post-colonial West Africa. Its heroine is the pot smoking daughter of a provincial military governor who falls in love with a fellow university student, the descendent of one of Mali's chiefs.
- DirectorNacer KhemirStarsNacer KhemirSoufiane MakniNoureddine KasbaouiA teacher is assigned to a remote desert village that is obsessed with a mysterious buried treasure and whose children are cursed to wander the desert.
- DirectorMed HondoStarsAï KeïtaJean-Roger MiloFéodor AtkineOn January 2 1899, starting from the French Soudan, a french column under the commandment of the captains Voulet and Chanoine is send against the black Sultan Rabah in what is now the Cameroun. Those captains and their african mercenary troops destroy and kill everything they find on their path. The French autority try to stop them sending orders and a second troop but the captains even kill the emissaries who are reaching them. Sarraounia, queen of the Aznas, have heared about the exactions. Clever in war tactics and in witchcraft, she decides to resist and stop those mad men.
- DirectorNouri BouzidStarsImed MaalalKhaled KsouriHabib BelhadiIn the ensuing days before his wedding bridegroom Hachemi faces both the anxieties of the future and the shadows of the past. His best friend, Farfat, is the topic of street graffiti and local gossip, which calls his manhood into question. This ripples out to affect Hachemi for, unbeknownst to anyone, as apprenticed youths they were molested by Ameur, the local carpenter. Farfat is banished from his father's home and the shared secret between the two friends threatens to undo more than just the wedding, but their very lives.
- DirectorKhairy BesharaStarsSherihanFardous Abdel HamidAhmed AbdelazizBased on a novel by Yahia Al Tahir Abdulla, the film focuses on Hazina (Fardous Abdel Hamid), who lives in Karnak, Luxor, with her paralyzed husband (Ezzat El Alaili), her daughter and granddaughter (both played by Sherihan). The family desperately awaits the return of the son (also played by Ezzat El Alaili) from Sudan. Hazina, her daughter, and granddaughter contend with the daily injustices and discrimination of their patriarchal, misogynist society. One marries a sexually impotent man, while the other falls pregnant out of wed-lock, incurring the wrath of her uncle, who kills her.
- DirectorOusmane SembeneThierno Faty SowStarsSidiki BakabaHamed CamaraIsmaila CisséIn this semi-autobiographical film, black soldiers help to defend France, but are detained in prison camp before being repatriated home.
- DirectorFlora GomesStarsBia GomesTunu Eugenio AlmadaMamadu Uri BaldeThe story of a woman who searches through the country for her husband, a resistant, while the war for independence is raging. She finds him at last and saves his life. When peace finally arrives, they have to learn how to be together again and start living in a destroyed land.
- DirectorAmadou Saalum SeckStarsDiankou BakhayokhoAbdoul Aziz DiopFabienne Joëlle FelhioTamsir returns to Senegal after 17 years in Europe. His uncle gives him a patronage job in Dakar, virtually without duties. He visits his family's village to see his parents, and there he meets the beautiful Lissa. Tamsir espouses traditional ways, as does Lissa, but when her parents agree to marry her off to a corrupt and well-spoken member of parliament, Tamsir and Lissa dishonor the family and she becomes pregnant. The MP's response, his and Tasmir's uncle's plan to capture the village farmland, the reactions of Lissa's parents, who are strict followers of Islam, the disaffection of Dakar youth, and the dreams of a village mechanic to find "Saaraba" (Utopia) complete the story.
- DirectorMohamed ChouikhStarsDjillali Ain-TedelesYamina BachirMohamed BakiIn a small village in rural Algeria, the "village idiot" is madly in love with a married woman. His voyeurism and antics bring shame on his father, who guarantees that his son will be married that same day, or his four wives will be repudiated.
- DirectorYoussef ChahineStarsYoussraYoussef ChahineHussein FahmyDuring a hunger strike by the Egyptian film industry, Yehia, a famous Egyptian director, finds himself obsessed with Amir, the leading man in one of his movies, and Nadia, a woman he desires to work with.
- DirectorKwaw AnsahStarsKofi BucknorIan CollierAnima MisaThe story of Quincy Bosomfield who is the product of colonial education and has risen to become the district commissioner. In the process, he abandons his African heritage and all that has real meaning to him.
- DirectorOliver SchmitzStarsThomas MogotlaneMarcel van HeerdenThembi MtshaliMapantsula tells the story of Panic, a petty gangster who inevitably becomes caught up in the growing anti-apartheid struggle and has to choose between individual gain and a united stand against the system.
- DirectorIdrissa OuedraogoStarsFatimata SangaNoufou OuédraogoRoukietou BarryA small village in Burkina Faso. The story focuses on Bila, a ten year old boy who befriends an old woman, Sana. Everybody calls her 'Witch' but Bila himself calls her 'Yaaba' (grandmother). When Bila's cousin Nopoko gets sick it is Sana's medicine who saves her.
- DirectorIdrissa OuedraogoStarsRasmané OuédraogoIna CisséRoukietou BarrySet in a pre-colonial African past, Tilai is about an illicit love affair and its consequences. Saga returns to his village after an extended absence to discover that his father has taken Nogma, Saga's promised bride, for himself. Still in love with each other, the two begin an affair, although it would be considered incestuous. When the liaison is discovered, Saga's brother, Koudri, pretends to kill Saga for the honor of the family and village. Saga and Nogma flee to another village, but when Nogma's birth mother dies, he returns home. Having brought ruin on the family, Saga is shot by Koudri, who walks off into exile and probable death.
- DirectorDaoud Abdel SayedStarsMahmoud Abdel AzizSherif MounirAida RiyadSheikh Hosny is a blind man who lives with his old mother and his frustrated son in the Kit Kat neighborhood. His son Youssef dreams of going to Europe to find work, and has a relationship with a divorced woman named Fatima. Sheikh Hosny refuses to admit his handicap and dreams of riding a motorcycle like every sighted person, he also spends his nights smoking marijuana with the locals in order to forget his miseries after the loss of his wife and selling his father's house. He knows everything about his neighbors and their secrets and love affairs.
- DirectorFérid BoughedirStarsSelim BoughedirMustapha AdouaniRabiah Ben-AbdullahNoura struggles to reconcile two worlds, Muslim women and men, while also dealing with his own sexuality.
- DirectorFlora GomesStarsMaysa MartaPedro DiasAntonio Simao MendesA beautiful, intelligent and flirtatious young girl, Yonta, is secretly in love with a friend of her parents, Vicente, a hero of the war of independence. Vicente is unaware of her passion as she is of the love of a young man who sends her anonymous love letters.
- DirectorDjibril Diop MambétyStarsMansour DioufAmi DiakhateMamadou Mahourédia GueyeDramaan is the most popular man in Colobane, but when a woman from his past, now exorbitantly wealthy, returns to the town, things begin to change.
- DirectorJean-Pierre BekoloStarsSerge AmougouSaïdou AbatchaTimoléon Luc BoyoguenoA young girl crosses paths with a witch who has the power to satisfy her curiosity about men by changing her into one.
- DirectorRichard StanleyStarsRobert John BurkeChelsea FieldZakes MokaeA woman on the run from her abusive husband encounters a mysterious hitch-hiker.
- DirectorJean-Marie TénoStarsJean-Marie TénoNarcisse KouokamMarie Claire DatiA documentary examining political repression in Cameroon, Central Africa.
- DirectorRoger Gnoan M'BalaStarsAlbert AyatollahAkissi DeltaPierre GondoA West African pig farmer has a religious vision, wherein he is told that he'll be Magloire the First, a prophet of Christ. He then sets out to rid his local villagers of superstition and instead save them for Jesus.
- DirectorMuhammad CamaraStarsMohamed CamaraMaimouna CoulibalyAwa TraoréMariama and her blind son Bilaly are shunned by their neighbors. When Mariama rescues an albino man, Samba, from drowning, she discovers that he is a healer and can cure her son's blindness. In order for him to do this, Mariama must commit incest with Bilaly.
- DirectorYousry NasrallahStarsSeif AbdelrahmanAhmed KamalAbla KamelNoubi, an avowed communist from a wealthy family, sets out to find his half-brother Gamal after Gamal inherits his father's fortune. In the process, Noubi is supposed to kill his stepmother Raifa, a supposed drug dealer, before she can kill Gamal.
- DirectorHaile GerimaStarsKofi GhanabaOyafunmike OgunlanoAlexandra DuahA self-absorbed Black American fashion model on a photo shoot in Africa is spiritually transported back to a plantation in the West Indies where she experiences first-hand the physical and psychic horrors of chattel slavery, and eventually the redemptive power of community and rebellion as she becomes a member of a freedom-seeking Maroon colony.
- DirectorDani KouyatéStarsSeydou BoroHamed DickoAbdoulaye KomboudriA storyteller named Djeliba comes to the town of a young boy named Mabo with promises that he will reveal the origin of the boy's ancestry.
- DirectorYoussef ChahineStarsYoussraKhaled NabawyMahmoud HemidaRam leaves the nomadic life and embarks on a quest for knowledge in a pharaonic Egypt mired in political intrigue. Based on a biblical story.
- DirectorIdrissa OuedraogoStarsRichard BohringerSaïd DiarraFélicité WouassiMoctar lives in Mali with his mother Saffi and his ailing grandfather. One day, Saffi receives a letter from France which overwhelms her with happiness. Ibrahim Sow, her husband and Moctar's father, who has emigrated there, can at last accommodate them. Mother and son say farewell to Grandpa, as he cannot follow them. When they arrive in Lyon, where Ibrahim is waiting for them, something strange happens. Moctar sees a hyena in a street... Of course, nobody believes him...
- DirectorMoufida TlatliStarsHind SabriGhalya LacroixNejia OuerghiAs she grows up, Alia (the daughter of housemaid Khedija) learns the secrets of the peaceful palace where she and her mother live.
- DirectorCheick Oumar SissokoStarsIssa Falaba TraoréBalla Moussa KeitaHabib DembéléDocuments the rise and fall of a cruel and despotic village chief Guimba, and his son Jangine in a fictional village in the Sahel of Mali.
- DirectorJorge AntónioStarsJoão CabralAline SolangePaulo Xisto
- DirectorBassek Ba KobhioStarsAndré WilmsMarisa BerensonAlex DescasCameroonian filmmaker Bassek ba Kobhio provides a fascinating revisionist perspective on Albert Schweitzer, Noble Peace Prize winner and secular saint of the colonial era. Like FRANTZ FANON: BLACK SKIN, WHITE MASK, this film begins to rewrite the history of colonialism from the point of view of the colonized. LE GRAND BLANC DE LAMBARÉNÉ is not, however, a facile exercise in iconoclasm but rather a deeply-felt lament for a missed opportunity, for a cross-cultural encounter between Africa and Europe which never happened. The film reveals that the ultimate tragedy of colonialism may have been its refusal to see and value the colonized as autonomous, creative human beings. The film's epigraph, ironically, is a famous remark by Schweitzer himself: "All we can do is allow others to discover us, as we discover them."
- DirectorMuhammad CamaraStarsCécile BoisMamady Mory CamaraMuhammad CamaraTwo young high school boys, Manga and Sory, are gay and in love in Guinea. This is their story.
- DirectorMoussa Sene AbsaStarsIsmaël LôNdèye Fatou NdawThierno Ndiaye DossTells the story of an idealistic young politician's rise and fall. Daam, a well-intentioned but vacillating European-trained politician must choose between two social paradigms exemplified by his two wives. The first, Gagnesiri, is the village beauty, who waits patiently for Daam. Unfortunately, they are unable to conceive a child, so Daam takes European-educated Kiné, who is eager to get ahead by marrying a politician. Daam becomes involved in a shady business deal with Président, a local businessman; when the details are made public, he is forced out in disgrace.
- DirectorGaston KaboréStarsJean-Claude BamogoAbderramane BoufachaAlassane DakissagaIn an early 19th century African village, Wend Kuuni - a young man, lives with his adopted family after his mother was killed as a witch. When Pughneere - his adopted sister - becomes ill, the villagers suspect Wend Kuuni. In order to save Pughneere's life (and his own) he must set out on a journey to find a healer. His quest brings him in contact with people around him and is a journey of self-discovery.
- DirectorYoussef ChahineStarsNour El-SherifLayla OlwiMahmoud HemidaThe story is set in the 12th century in Arab-ruled Spanish province Andalusia, where famed philosopher Averroes is appointed grand judge by the caliph and his liberal court judgments are not liked by everyone. The caliph's political rivals, centered around the leader of a fanatical Islamic sect, force the caliph to send Averroes into exile, but his ideas keep on living thanks to his students.
- DirectorMohamed ChouikhStarsHacen AbdouMessaouda AdamiShyraz AlianeAmin and Myriam are secretly in love. Their families are rivals and when their relationship is discovered, conflict is inevitable. In the quiet atmosphere of the palm groves, the two communities have long nurtured the seeds of discord and hatred. The persecution is the first signal of inevitable evil. From inside the cave where they have taken refuge, the two young people hear the cries of a senseless murderous raid. A universal metaphor to denounce the horror of all extremist violence, THE DESERT ARK is a splendid and terrifying metaphor for a burning contemporary reality.
- DirectorFatima Jebli OuazzaniStarsHanane El MhidiNajia ElkniiLoubna Ait Bella OualiMoroccan filmmaker Fatima Jebli Ouazzani investigates the status accorded women in Islamic marriage customs and the continuing importance of virginity. Having left her father's house in Morocco in order to escape the constraints her culture has placed on women, Fatima now returns to confront those traditions, her family and herself.
- DirectorRadwan El-KashefStarsSeif AbdelrahmanManal AfifiHamdy AhmedThis film is an exploration of what happens to places in general, and people in particular, once the menfolk abandon an Egyptian village to investigate the greener-grass on the proverbial 'other side'. The womenfolk, those too old and those too young are left behind... and as the years pass, only letters return, telling tales of loneliness and hard-times. A young man, Ahmed, grows-up under these surroundings and has to deal with being the de-facto man-in-charge; when several of the migrant workers return one day, everyone has to come to terms with things being forever changed.
- DirectorCheick Oumar SissokoStarsSotigui KouyatéSalif KeïtaBalla Moussa KeitaInspired by the book of Genesis, this film tells the power struggle between two families: a clan of herders led by Jacob and another clan of hunters fronted by his brother Esau.
- DirectorAbderrahmane SissakoStarsAbderrahmane SissakoNana BabyMohamed SissakoIn the last days of 1999, after a few shots of a French supermarket, abundant in food and color, we hear Dramane compose a letter home to his father in Mali whom he then visits in the village of Sokolo. He meets the lovely Nana, and there are possibilities. People place long-distance calls from the post office. "Reaching people," says the postmaster, "is a matter of luck." Contrasts between Paris and Sokolo - between Mali and France and between Africa and Europe - are underscored by voice-over poems and comments by Aimé Césaire. A man dictates a letter to a brother in France: what is the nature of their hardships? People look for their place on this earth.
- DirectorDaoud Abdel SayedStarsAhmed ZakiFarahHamdy GheithA mix between an honored police officer who fight the crimes and a drug dealer in the same person and a confliction in and out.
- DirectorDjibril Diop MambétyStarsMoussa BaldéLissa BaleraAminata FallA girl sells copies of Soleil, the government paper.
- DirectorSaâd ChraïbiStarsMouna FettouTouria AlaouiAbdallah AmraniFour women who reunite after a period of estrangement. Their happy facades mask a lot of misery and pain, caused by divorce and betrayals as one of them discovers that the man she loves is cheating on her with one of her closest friends.
- DirectorKatinka HeynsStarsMarius WeyersAletta BezuidenhoutIan RobertsA family's life in the Karoo (a semi-desert area in South Africa) is changed when a travelling circus leaves behind a clown.
- DirectorMweze NganguraStarsGérard EssombaDominique MesaHerbert FlackA Congonese king arrives in Brussels in search of his long-lost daughter.
- DirectorNewton I. AduakaStarsFraser AyresShaun ParkesJohn PickardFraser Ayres stars as Jamie, also known as Rage, a mixed-race, angry youth living on a grim council estate in South London. He is part of a rap trio with his two friends Godwin and Thomas.
- DirectorYoussef ChahineStarsHanan TurkHani SalamaNabila EbeidEgyptian director Youssef Chahine exposes the links between power and fanaticism and denounces intolerance in this bitter portrait of the Egyptian business world, where unconditional drive for money rules. Adam (Hani Salama), the son of a rich businessman and his American wife, meets Hanane (Hanane Turk), a journalist of modest means at the airport on his return from his studies in the US. She is part of a campaign against a wealthy elite, which has thrived on plundering its own people. They fall in love and get married. Corruption is everywhere in the country and American interests are taking over the lucrative tourist trade. Adam's rich parents and their friends in the government are at the heart of this corrupt system. Adam's mother, Margaret (Nabila Ebeid), nourishes a strange affection for her son. She is possessive to the point of violence and is ready to get rid of Hanane, whom she considers her rival. Adam turns against the global economy of which his parents are the perfect examples as he sees through the greed of international speculators and the secret ties that bind them to fanatical fundamentalist sects. The fact that Hanane's brother has become an Islamist terrorist does not help matters. The resistance that the couple has to put up makes them grow strong, for which they pay a heavy price. 52nd Cannes Film Festival, 1999.
- DirectorJean OdoutanStarsJean OdoutanLaurentine MileboGladys AgboliagboA poor Beninoise corn farmer wanting to break out of his deep misery buys a shaky Peugeot 504 and tries his hand at being a bush cabdriver.
- DirectorNabil AyouchStarsMounïm KbabMustapha HansaliHicham MoussouneA group of children living on the street leave their gang, prompting retribution from the gang's leader. After one of the children dies, the rest try to come up with the resources to give their friend a proper burial.
- DirectorRoger Gnoan M'BalaStarsRasmané OuédraogoAlbertine N'GuessanZiable Honoré Goore BiIn West Africa during the late 17th century, King Adanggaman leads a war against his neighboring tribes, ordering his soldiers to torch enemy villages, kill the elderly and capture the healthy tribesmen to sell to the European slave traders. When his village falls prey to one of Adanggaman's attacks, Ossei manages to escape, but his family is murdered except for his captured mother. Chasing after the soldiers in an effort to free her, Ossei is befriended by a fierce warrior named Naka.
- DirectorMoufida TlatliStarsRabiah Ben-AbdullahSabah BouzouitaGhalia BenaliThe gulf between men and women in Tunisia, political, psychological, and physical, is explored in this downbeat drama. A woman and her two daughters return to the female community on the island of Djerba from Tunis, where her husband works.
- DirectorAbderrahmane SissakoStarsKhatra Ould Abder KaderMaata Ould Mohamed AbeidMohamed Mahmoud Ould MohamedThe story of two people who cross paths in Nouhadhibou.
- DirectorAbdoulaye AscofareStarsAminata OusmaneBalla Moussa KeitaSafiatou MahamaneThe story of Zamiatou, a Songhaï woman, in North Eastern Mali. With two young sons, a pretty daughter and a handicapped husband, Zamiatou struggles to survive in a remote and barren area. She doesn't want her daughter to "work" for white people, but her determination will take her far from her family
- DirectorFlora GomesStarsFatou N'DiayeJean-Christophe DolléÂngelo TorresIt has always been a firm conviction of the family that any woman who sings, will die. Now, while a girl is in France she becomes an international star. She realises that sooner rather than later her mother in Africa will learn that she sings. To solve this dilemma she goes back to her native village and arranges her own funeral, albeit with instantaneous rebirth. She is lying in the coffin while all invited guest form a queue and pass the coffin one by one. When she needs go to the toilet a boy will take her place. And then one of the guests says: How different she looks after having died. Is this an allusion to Bergman's movie "Now About These Women"?
- DirectorMahamat-Saleh HarounStarsAhidjo Mahamat MoussaHamza Moctar AguidZara HarounTahir (15) and Amine (8) wake up one morning to learn that their father has left home. The brothers decide to go looking for him. One day, they see their father on the big screen and decide to steal the reel.