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Films and Videos on Africa

• Accés Cinéma Africain = African Film Access (Montréal, Québec, Canada)
  This web site offers highlights from French language immersion programs which feature the use of African and Caribbean films exhibited at an annual spring festival and discussions with the filmmakers.
  
  
• Africa (PBS Online, Public Broadcasting Corporation, Alexandria, Virginia)
  Promotional site for "Africa" the 8 part television series co-produced by WNET/Thirteen's Nature and The National Geographic Society, which begins airing in September 2001. The site includes excerpted texts, photos, "teacher tools", and other resources. See also, the National Geographic website below.
  
  
• "Africa in Motion" -- Edinburgh African Film Festival (UK)
  Latest information: AIM 2009: October-November 2009, Edinburgh Festival.
  The site features information about the films screened during the festival, a "call for entries" for the next festival, plus, summaries from previous years.
  
  
• "Africa in the Picture" 12th Annual Film Festival in The Netherlands, 9-14 September 2009
  
  
• Africa Media Centre, University of Westminster: Conference on "African Film in the Digital Era,"
  29 November 2009 (Harrow, Middlesex, UK)
  This web page features conference information, including a list of participants, on the occasion of the official launching of the centre; plus related links for the London African Film Festival and other Africa-related programs at the university.
  
  
• Africamovies.Com (Brooklyn, New York)
  This is a commercial site for mostly Nigerian video films.
  
  
• ADFF 2009: The 17th Annual African Diaspora Film Festival, New York: November-December 2009 (Co-sponsored by ArtMattan Productions, New York)
  --Coming in February 2010, Best of ADFF, Brooklyn Academy of Music
  
  
• African Film Festival/NY (AFF, Inc. New York)
  • General information on AFF programs at the Magic Johnson Theatre Complex--Harlem, USA, Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, and New York University. Information on films, musical performances, and panel discussions in North America; plus links to news and the AFF Archive of Screenings (since 1993).
  
  
• African Film Library (M-Net, Cape Town, South Africa)
  An online reference directory of African films, with synopsis, film excerpts, commentaries, and film-related news. "The library consists of award-winning works from more than 80 producers including Senegalese Ousmane Sembene and Djibril Mambety, Yousef Chahine from Egypt and Haile Gerima from Ethiopia."
  
  
• The African Guide (Nicole Smith & Albert Angel, USA)
  This searchable illustrated guide provides a listing of current and upcoming festivals and other major cultural events across Africa, with links to web sites. "The African Guide aims to promote cultural tourism in Africa as well as make Africa a priority travel destination."
  
  
• African Studies Videos at Columbia University (Columbia University Libraries)
  An annotated, up-to-date guide to the collections available to Columbia faculty and students.
  
  
• African Studies Video Collections & Web Sites of Other Major American Universities:
  • Boston University (African Studies Center, Outreach Library)
  • Harvard University
  • Indiana University (Black Film Center/Archive)
  • Michigan State University (East Lansing, Michigan)
  • Ohio University Libraries (Athens, Ohio)
  • University of California, Berkeley
  • University of Kansas, Lawrence (African & African-American)
  • University of Missouri, Columbia: Academic Support Center--Selected Media Rental Collections
    A searchable database for film & video rental from Indiana U., Penn State, U. of California, U. of North Texas, and U. of Washington.
  • Western Washington University (Bellingham, Washington)
  
  
• Center for the Study and Research on African Women in Cinema. (Beti Ellerson, Department of Art, Howard University, Washington, DC)
  The site includes a "reference guide," with suggested films, links to selected film web sites, and the 1991 Statement by African Women Professionals at Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
  --See also: bibliography -and- filmography.
  
  
• Africiné -- Le site de la Fédération Africaine de la Critique Cinématographique (Dakar, Sénégal; via France)
  Un portail des critiques, des analyses, des entretiens, des comptes rendus de festivals, et un répertoire de cinéastes. "Sur l'invitation des JCC 2004 (Journées cinématographiques de Carthage, Tunisie), des représentants de la critique cinématographique du Cameroun, du Burkina Faso, du Sénégal, du Maroc, de l'Algérie, de l'Egypte et de la Tunisie se sont réunis à Tunis du 2 au 7 octobre 2004 pour jeter les bases d'un regroupement et d'un travail commun. Il a été créé la Fédération africaine de la critique cinématographique (FACC)..."
  -- Veuillez voir aussi: Ecrans d'Afrique. (Online)--Archives, 1992-1998 -- Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso: Fédération panafricaine des cinéastes.
  
  
• ArtMattan Productions (New York)
  • "ArtMattan distributes films that focus on the human experience of black people in Africa, the Caribbean, North and South America and Europe. Many of the films listed are shown during the annual Contemporary African Diaspora Film Festival in New York."
  
  
• XXIV Black International Cinema: "A Complexion Change, International and Intercultural Diplomacy," May 7-10, 2009 (Fountainhead Tanz Theatre, The Collegium Television Program and Cultural Zephyr, Berlin, Germany and USA)
  The website offers a call for entries, plus details on the films and videos from past years.
  • XXIII Black International Cinema, May 2008, Berlin, Germany & Warsaw, Poland
  • XXII Black International Cinema, May 2007, Berlin, Germany
  • XXI Black International Cinema, April-May 2006, St. Louis, Missouri (USA); Paris, France; Berlin, Germany In cooperation with the University of Missouri--St. Louis, USA and UNESCO, Paris, France.
  • XX Black International Cinema, May 5-8, 2005, Berlin
  • XIX Black International Cinema 2004, Berlin
  • XVII Black International Cinema 2002, May 2 - June 2002, Berlin--Düsseldorf--München, Germany
  
  
• Broadcast, film, and convergence. (Online) -- London, UK: Balancing Act, 2007-
  • An English language e-newsletter dedicated to the African film and television industry, and African media technology and policy issues in general. Supercedes: African Film & TV.
  • See also: African Film & TV Newsflash. (Online): Archives -- Harare, Zimbabwe: Africa Film & TV, Z Promotions Pvt Ltd ; Winchester, Hants, UK : FURCO Ltd., 2000-2005.
    In English or French. A monthly online news magazine about the African film and television industry.
  
  
• Bull Frog Films -- African Studies (Reading, Pennsylvania)
  "Bullfrog Films is the oldest and largest publisher of videos and films about the environment in the United States. Founded in 1973...our collection includes programs on ecology, energy, agriculture, indigenous peoples, women's studies, genetics, marine biology, sustainable development, community regeneration, economics, ethics, and conflict resolution."
  
  
• California Newsreel: Library of African Cinema (San Francisco, California)
  Current catalog, plus link to Home Page. Note: this is a commercial site.
  
  
• Centro Orientamento Educativo: Festival del Cinema Africano di Milano
  General information, programme, and events calendar.
  
  
• Les cinémas d'Afrique: L'encyclopédie du film africain (Veuillez voir TV5Monde ci-dessous)
  
  
• The Cinema Guild: African Studies (New York)
  Catalog of documentary films on and from Africa, 1980-1998; plus links to those in other subject areas. Note: This is a commercial site.
  
  
• Ciné3mondes: Catalogue vidéo---Chercher Afrique (L'Association des trois mondes et La Médiathèque des trois mondes, Paris, France)
  Ce site offre une base de données...et un lien au site commercial du M3M pour commander les films sélectionnés d'Afrique, d'Asie et d'Amérique latine en France.
  
  
• Clap Noir -- Cinéma et audiovisuel africains (Paris, France)
  Les actualités du monde du cinéma, plusieurs portraits des réalisateurs africains, les événements, les dossiers de presse sur nouveaux films, et des liens appropriés.
  
  
• "Congo in Harlem Series," October 2-24, 2009, Maysles Institute, New York
  "Congo in Harlem a month-long series of film screenings accompanied by special events, panel discussions, performances, and receptions."
  
  
• Documentary Educational Resources (D.E.R.): Films on Africa and Elsewhere (Watertown, Massachusetts)
  "...a producer and distributor of films and videos in broadly defined areas of anthropology/ethnography, sociology and documentary." Note: this is a commercial site. See also, a general list of new releases and the D.E.R. Home Page
  
  
• 31st Durban International Film Festival, July 22--August 1, 2010...plus highlights from previous festivals. (Centre for Creative Arts, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa)
  
  
• Ecrans d'Afrique. (Online)--Archive --via Africiné ci-dessus.
  
  
• Facets Multi-Media (Chicago, Illinois)
  A general commercial website, with quite a number of Africa-related documentaries and features in its searchable catalog.
  
  
• FESPACO: Pan African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso)
  21st edition of FESPACO: February 28--March 7, 2009 -and- 2009 List of Films
  The official site is available in English or French: "Created in 1969 in Ouagadougou, on the initiative of a few film enthusiasts, it became an institution on January 7th 1972 by decree in Burkina Faso, because of the enthusiasm and the hope it created among the public and filmmakers in Africa. It is biennial; starting on the last Saturday in February every odd year." This site contains information about previous festivals, the African Film Library, electronic versions of some recent issues of "FESPACO News", and links to information about Burkina Faso.
  
  
• Festival of African and Caribbean Film, Barbados (via University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, Bridgetown, Barbados)
  • "The Barbados Festival of African and Caribbean Film is the latest manifestation of a growing phenomenon – a recognition of the importance of visual media to the region, and an enthusiastic engagement with the processes of production, distribution, spectatorship and criticism."
  • October 2003 films and filmmakers
  
  
• 18th Annual Festival Cinema Africano, Asia, America Latina, 7-13 April 2008, Milan, Italy (plus highlights from previous festivals)
  • The website offers the programme for this year and full information about the festival--in Italian, English or French, with links to information on previous years...detailed program (with abundant photographs), reportage on events and awards, descriptions of new films and biographical sketches of directors.
  
  
• Festival International du Film Panafricain, du 21 au 25 avril 2010, Cannes, France
  Veuillez voir aussi, les informations sur le festival de 2009 et celui de 2008
  
  
• Filmakers Library on African Studies (New York)
  Current titles on Africa from the online catalog. Note: this is a commercial site.
  
  
• Films for the Humanities & Sciences Home Page (Princeton, New Jersey)
  A general, online catalog of films, videos, and CD-ROMs, organized under general subjects rather than geographical areas. Use the "browse" or "search" tools to find African studies materials. Note: this is a commercial site.
  
  
• H-AFRLITCINE Web Page. (Humanities-Net; via Michigan State University)
  "H-AFRLITCINE is the H-Net discussion list dealing with African Literature and Cinema and is affiliated with the African Literature Association."
  
  
• Hopes on the Horizon: Africa in the 1990s (Blackside, Inc., in conjunction with Invent Media Corp.; via PBS Online)
  The web site features video and audio clips and related essays accompanying the 2-hour television program of interviews, documentary footage, and reports. Benin, Nigeria, Rwanda, Morocco, Mozambique, and South Africa are the focus of this chronicle of "pro-democracy movements" on the continent.
  
  
• Icarus Films on Africa (New York)
  Current offerings from recent catalog. Note: this is a commercial site.
  
  
• Inagina, l'ultime maison du fer: un film sur les forgerons dogon (Département d'Anthropologie et d'Ecologie, Université de Genève, Suisse)
  Ce site est une publicité pour le film, mais on y trouve les commentaires intéressants des réalisateurs, plusieurs images du film, et un bon de commande. Le film est disponible en anglais. On peut lire ce site en anglais.
  
  
• Indiana University: The Black Film Center/Archive Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies (Bloomington, Indiana)
  
  
• Indigokafe on Films -- the portal for African literatures, writers, and films
  (Funmilayo Tofowomo-Okelola et al., [Los Angeles, California?])
  A site offering summaries of modern and contemporary literary works and films by African intellectuals on the African continent and in the diaspora, videos of presentations by and interviews with African writers and filmmakers, African film clips, announcements about conferences, other events, and forthcoming publications, and an extensive list of links to Africa-related literary, artistic, and other cultural information.
  -- Indigokafe Home Page
  -- Plus: CafeAfricana: portal on culture, arts, news, politics, lifestyle, and communty.
  
  
• Insight Media: Videos and CD-Roms for College & High School Classrooms (New York)
  A general, searchable catalog of mostly documentary films....a significant number of titles in African and African-American studies.
  
  
• Journal of African cinemas. (Online) -- Bristol, UK: Intellect, Ltd., 2009-
  This online journal is edited by Keyan G. Tomaselli, University of KwaZulu-Natal and Martin Mhando, Murdoch University; guest editor: Blandine Stefanson, University of Adelaide.
  Note: this site provides free access to the November 2009 inaugural issue only; a subscription is required to access subsequent issues.
  
  
• Dani Kouyaté -- Site officiel (Roubaix, France)
  C'est le site du metteur en scène de théâtre et de cinéma Dani Kouyaté (du Burkina Faso). Voir surtout: la biographie et la filmographie.
  
  
• << Little Senegal >> : Un film de Rachid Bouchareb -- Le site de 3B Productions et Tadrart Films (Paris, France)
  Ce site commercial offre beacoup des informations à propos du film qui explore les liens entre l'Afrique noire et ses fils sur le continent américain, surtout au coeur de Harlem dans la ville de New York. Vous pourrez télécharger de nombreux éléments techniques, le scénario, un extrait du film, le dossier presse, une bande sonore, relevé musiques, dialogues, un flyer, les critiques, etc.
  
  
• Lumumba -- Zietgeist Films (New York)
  Promotional site: Video clips from the recently-released film, schedule of showings in the USA, information about the film's director, Raoul Peck -- including an audio clip from an interview. There are also brief summaries of Patrice Lumumba, the struggles of the Congolese people in Congo (Zaire), and information about the making of the film ; plus promotional links.
  
  
• Djibril Diop Mambety (1945-1998) (via Senegalaisement.Com, Paris, France)
  Ce site offre une brève biographie du cinéaste et une filmographie. De plus, il y a un lien à un interview de la Revue Noire.
  
  
• Michigan State University: African Media Program (East Lansing, Michigan)
  "The African Media Program (AMP) offers an online, comprehensive database of films, videos, and other audio-visual materials concerning Africa as well as education services about African media." The website features a searchable catalog, with film reviews and some tips on where to find items.
  
  
• National Geographic's "Africa: The Series" (Washington, DC)
  Promotional site about the 8-part television series beginning on public television in September 2001, co-produced by WNET/Thirteen's Nature. The site includes text excerpts and photographs; plus, related links to Africa-related resources and a "Kids" section.
  
  
• New Yorker Films (New York)
  Out of Business!: NYF used to be the principal U.S. distributor for films/videos by Ousmane Sembène, Idrissa Ouedraogo, and others.
  
  
• Nigeria Movies.Net (via Manassas, Virginia USA)
  This is a commercial site selling Nigerian video films, with industry news and video clips.
  
  
• PAFF: Pan African Film & Arts Festivals (Los Angeles, California)
  General information, film & festival schedules, art show, and related links.....festivals in Los Angeles and in Atlanta, Georgia. "Established in 1992, The Pan African Film & Art Festival is the largest festival in the United States dedicated to the exhibition of Black films."
  
  
• PBS Frontline Programs on Africa ("Frontline"/WGBH, Boston/PBS Online)
  • "Ghosts of Rwanda" (2004)
    The website for the PBS television program (2 hours) about reflections on the 10th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide. The site provides excerpted interviews, links & readings, a teachers' guide, etc.
  • "The Long Walk of Nelson Mandela": an intimate portrait of one of the century's greatest leaders.
    The web site contains a synopsis of the program, photos, interviews, anecdotes, a chronology, and information about ordering the video and transcripts and the teachers' guide.
  • "The Triumph of Evil"--"How the West ignored warnings of the 1994 Rwanda Genocide..."
    This web site contains further readings, graphic and disturbing images, full text interviews and other documents supplementing the 1999 documentary on the policies of the United Nations, the United States, and Belgium before and at the time of the genocide. The role of French policies is more prominent in the texts.
  • "Valentina's Nightmare: a journey into the Rwanda genocide"
    A collection of photographs, texts, and sound files supplementing a 1996 episode of the PBS television series "Frontline". Note: Most of the images are graphic and very disturbing.
  
  
• PBS Nova Programs on Africa ("Nova"/WGBH, Boston/PBS Online)
  • "The Lost Tribes of Israel"
    Supplemental web resources (and video order information) for a program on the search for the so-called "lost tribes of Israel", the "Jewish" claims made by an African community in what is now Zimbabwe, and the problems that have often arisen surrounding a "history of origins" for the Great Zimbabwe ruins, some Jewish families, and the descendants of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings in the United States.
  
  
• PBS Online: Wonders of the African World, with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
  • The web site that accompanies the television series -- a travel show, with brief history lessons and Gates' own personal views. The site includes teaching resources, background information, and brief supplementary texts, video files, and small photos. Featured in the series: the Nile River valley in Egypt and The Sudan, Ethiopia, the Swahili coast, Bénin (Dahomey), Ghana (Asante), Mali, Zimbabwe, and South Africa.
  • See also, an exchange of views about the series published in West Africa review. (Online) Vol. 1, nos. 2 and 2a (January and March 2000).
  
  
• Sankofa.Com (Washington, DC)
  A promotional site for the films of Haile Gerima and his film company, Mypheduh Films. Gerima is an Ethiopian-born filmmaker who came to the US in 1967 and has directed and/or produced such films as "Sankofa", "Ashes and Embers", "Bush Mama", and "Harvest 3,000 Years".
  
  
• The Say Brother Collection -- WGBH Boston (Boston, Massachusetts)
  The website of the archive of a local public television program (1968-1982), featuring a searchable program directory and an extensive digital gallery of sample film excerpts. "Say Brother is WGBH's longest running public affairs television program by, for and about African Americans, and is now known as Basic Black. Since its inception in 1968, Say Brother has featured the voices of both locally and nationally known African American artists, athletes, performers, politicians, professionals, and writers..."
  
  
• Ousmane Sembène, 1923-2007
  • 28ème Festival International du Film d'Amiens: Hommage à Ousmane Sembène, du 13 au 22 novembre 2009 (France)
    Le site propose une filmographie complète, une biographie, et un fichier vidéo avec des petits extraits des films de Sembène.
    
    
  • Africultures.Com: Ousmane Sembène -- Biographie et filmographie -et- << Le problème est plus mental qu'économique >> -- Entretien de Samba Gadjigo avec Ousmane Sembène à propos de Moolade. (Paris)
    
    
  • Ousmane Sembene--"Senegal's most admired film maker of the century" (Prof. Samba Gadjigo, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts)
    
  
  
• Southern Africa Communications for Development (SACOD) (Braamfontein, South Africa)
  "SACOD promotes and empowers filmmakers and distributors of audiovisual content to communicate development issues." The site features a catalogue of new and recently released films -- documentation on special projects -- events calendar -- and related links.
  
  
• South African National Film and Video Foundation: Gateway to the South African Film and Television Industry (Johannesburg, South Africa)
  
  
• The Films of Jean-Marie Teno (Harriman, New York)
  A commercial site offering a biography and filmography on the Cameroonian film director/producer; plus, order information in the United States.
  
  
• Third World Newsreel: Catalog of Films on Africa and African Americans (New York)
  Note: This is a commercial site. TWN offers only a small number of films on Africa; much more on African-Americans and other communities. "For 30 years, Third World Newsreel has been the foremost distributor of films and videos by People of Color in America and by Third World and Indigenous people throughout the world. Third World Newsreel distributes almost 300 films and videos from the African, Asian, Latino, Palestinian, and Native American diasporas."
  
  
• TV5 Monde sur l'Afrique (Paris, France)
  • Le Journal Afrique: l'actualité panafricaine
    Les rapports complets sur les actualités quotidiennes d'Afrique en format vidéo sur Internet.

    
    
  • TV5Monde -- Cinéma: Les Cinémas d'Afrique: L'encyclopédie du film africain
    Voici une base de données sur les cinémas d'Afrique qui comprend les informations de 272 films et de 186 réalisateurs. On peut rechercher par mots-clés, pays, année, catégorie, ou genre.
  
  
• University of California Extension, Center for Media & Independent Learning: African & African-American Studies (2005) (Berkeley, California)
  Warning: The sales office closed down in June 2005! The brochure of films on video (up to 2003) is in PDF format. Titles listed here may still be available from other distributors.
  
  
• Vues d'Afrique -- Journées du Cinéma Africain et Créole (Montréal, Canada)
  Ce site offre les informations sur les diverses expositions et vissionements à Montréal et à Québec, Canada. Veuillez voir les informations sur la XIIème Sommet de la Francophonie, du 14 au 20 septembre 2008 à Québec, Canada:; et aussi, sur le prochain Pan Africa International, 25ème édition, du 16 au 26 avril 2009.
  
  
• Witness: Using Video and Technology to Fight for Human Rights -- Africa (Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, New York)
  General information about the "Witness" program, a video archive catalog, and multi-media, online feature stories which include some on Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Nigeria, and South Africa.
  
  
• Zanzibar International Film Festival: 10 June--18 July 2010 (Zanzibar, Tanzania)
  General information on a wide variety of events and links to related websites. "ZIFF is a non-profit organisation based in Zanzibar [founded in 1997] which aims to promote film, music and arts from the Dhow Countries (African Continent, Gulf States, Iran, India, Pakistan and the islands of the Indian Ocean). The organisation is working throughout the year and seeks to include people from all sectors of society, with special programmes for women, children and people in rural areas."
  
  
• Zimmedia Film and Video (Harare, Zimbabwe)
  • "...a multicultural film and video production company from Zimbabwe. Winner of many international awards for both documentary and fiction, our mission is to tell stories that throw a light on what it means to be African." Including:
  • Flame - Zimbabwe 1996
    The site offers information about the award winning film, "Flame" -- available on video, its director (Ingrid Sinclair) and the production company, and related links. Flame--"shot in Zimbabwe with an entirely Zimbabwean cast, the film is based on the accounts of women who joined the liberation war."