Filmatique's African Cinema series features seminal works by Lionel Rogosin, Djibril Diop Mambéty, and Samba Gadjigo.
Lionel Rogosin's landmark film Come Back, Africa chronicles the rise and fall of a vibrant black community in apartheid-era South Africa; Senegalese master Djibril Diop Mambéty's Hyenas offers a biting satire of post-colonail Senegal. Two music documentaries—Stéphane Tchalgadjieff & Jean Jacques Flori's Fela Kuti: Music Is The Weaponand Samba Gadjigo & Jason Silverman's Sembene!—offer stirring portraits of the films' eponymous subjects, pioneers of African music and storytelling who left lasting legacies in their respective home countries of Nigeria and Senegal, and beyond.
Come Back, Africa, Lionel Rogosin / South Africa-USA, 1959
Having served as a soldier in WWII, Lionel Rogosin became committed to countering the effects of fascism wherever they sprouted. To that end he spent a year in Sophiatown, a South African ghetto where Black citizens had formed their own vibrant community and culture. Famous residents included Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, Father Trevor Huddleston, Hugh Masekela, Bloke Modisane, Can Themba and celebrated singer Miriam Makeba—but even as Rogosin filmed, Sophiatown was demolished block-by-block and its residents forcibly removed, until the entire town was razed and replaced by a "whites-only" suburb by the end of production.
One of the bravest and best of all political films, Come Back, Africa remains a powerful classic for its unflinching glimpse at Black livelihood in the face of apartheid. The second film from Oscar-nominated filmmaker Lionel Rogosin (On the Bowery) premiered at the Venice International Film Festival, where it won the Pasinetti Award.
Fela Kuti is to African music what Bob Marley is to reggae: a prophet. All contemporary forms of black music, from funk to electronic, owe something to the irresistible groove of the Afrobeat sound he created. Fela recorded more than 60 albums and spent a lifetime fighting against political corruption in Nigeria, where the people affectionately called him their "Black President."
Shot in Lagos at the peak of his career in 1982, this documentary contains interviews with Fela detailing his thoughts on politics, Pan-Africanism, music and religion. Fela Kutu: Music Is The Weapon is essential viewing for all who wish to know more about an artist at the heart of African musical history.
Once poor, Linguère is now fabulously wealthy. She returns to her impoverished hometown to propose a deal to the local populace—her fortune, in exchange for the death of the man who years earlier abandoned her and left her with his child.
One of the treasures of African cinema, Hyenas is a film of sinister laughter, a biting satire of contemporary Senegal in which post-colonial dreams mingle with western materialism. Senegalese master Djibril Diop Mambéty’s long-delayed follow-up to his canonical Touki Bouki premiered at Cannes and Chicago, where it won the Special Jury Prize. Screening in a new 2K Restoration by Thelma Film AG with the support of Cinémathèque suisse, at Eclair Cinema, from the original negative.
Sembene!, Samba Gadjigo & Jason Silverman / Senegal, 2015
Compiled from rare archival footage and hours of exclusive footage, Sembene! chronicles the life and work of the legendary Senegalese film director, considered by many to be the father of African cinema.
Ousmane Sembène grew up in Senegal, dropping out of school in the fifth grade and spending many years as a dockworker. Yet he harbored an impossible dream—to transform his continent through storytelling, by returning African stories to Africans. Sembène's colleague and biographer Samba Gadjigo recounts the incredibly true story of a man who overcame incredible odds to become a fearless advocate for the marginalized.
Samba Gadjigo and Jason Silverman's documentary premiered at Sundance, Cannes, Black Film Festival Montreal, and Luxor African Film Festival, where it won the Jury Prize.
