The Arts The female factor at Film Africa 2011
As we went to press, plans to celebrate Film Africa 2011 in London were in top gear and as Ogo Okafor writes, more than ever before this year’s African film extravaganza in the British capital has a healthy dose of female players, too.
gramme list of films to be shown during the festival but also that the credits reveal that many women have directed the films. Leading the pack of female themes is
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‘Karmen Gei’, one of 53 interpretations of the French composer Bizet’s world-re- nowned musical Carmen. With a contem- porary jazz score replacing the traditional classical music and a more sexually charged protagonist who flirts with bisexuality, ‘Karmen Gei’ is arguably the version that best succeeds in bringing the over 100-year- old story to modern audiences. Based on the film’s description, audi-
ences would think it was the work of a European or South American film direc- tor. However, the director and creative mind behind the film is Senegalese director Joseph Gaï Ramaka, who uses powerful African women from the Wolof tribe to portray the Karmen Gei story. Although one might think the films di-
rected by women and focusing on women were carefully selected by the organis- ers to ensure the programme included a feminine agenda, the contrary is true. Te programme simply reflected the growing movement of female filmmakers, which has been going on for sometime, although sadly they remain obscure to audiences, even on the African continent itself. Tis can be attributed to many rea-
sons, but primarily a lack of finance in the industry. Nevertheless, African female participation in filmmaking has still suc- ceeded in being significant. One notable breakthrough came in 1972 when Sarah Maldoror’s ‘Sambizanga’
84 | NEW AFRICAN WOMAN | AUTUMN 2011
udiences at Film Africa 2011, organised by the Royal Af- rican Society, will not only notice that female themes are a hot subject on the pro-
Dorylia Calmel, star of Sarah Bouyain’s ‘Notre Etrangere’
became the first African feature film by a female director. ‘Sambizanga’, a historical fiction set during the Angolan liberation struggle against colonialism in the early sixties, won the Gold Palm at the 1972 Carthage Film Festival and was received in Europe and New York to critical acclaim. With the accolades ‘Sambizanga’ re-
ceived, Maldoror, born in France to Guad- eloupan parents, became highly respected in the industry and arguably raised the bar for other female directors, not just in Africa but globally. Aspiring and new fe- male directors will get the chance to meet and get some tips from the legend herself when she graces the London festival. Also in attendance will be the young
Cameroonian director Ariane Astrid Atodji , whose ‘Koundi y el jueves na- cional’ (Koundi and National Tursday) released last year has already won three awards including best documentary at the 2011 Tarifa African Film Festival. Dorylia Calmel, the lead actress in Sarah Bouyain’s ‘Notre Etrangere’, will also be present. In an industry still male-dominated,
the female view of African women has been decidedly lacking. Te result has been that too oſten cinema has portrayed
the African woman as one with no voice, docile, detached from the core issues sur- rounding her socio-economic status or as mere exotic eye candy. Audiences at this festival may be expecting nothing more, but they will soon have the record set straight. ‘Karmen Gei’s’ Senegalese ver- sion of the classic femme fatale alone is enough to make a point to audiences in doubt of the African woman’s intuition and confidence at in using her sexuality to her advantage. ‘Koukan Kourcia’, a documentary film
about the acclaimed Nigerien singer Hus- sey, explores the subtlety of female power as it tells the true story of a singer who in the 1970s used her voice to persuade hordes of young men in Niger to emigrate to wealthier parts of West Africa. Te film documents director Sani Elhadj Magori taking Hussey to the Côte d’Ivoire years later to use her hypnotic vocal instrument to bring the Nigerien men back to home soil, one of them being his own father. What audiences should gain from Film
Africa 2011 regarding African women is that they are a lot more diverse than west- ern media would have them believe. Tere are women like Karmen Gei and Hus- sey who are bold and powerful, but there are also women living on the fringe of soci- ety and subjected to violence, as shown in Mohamed Mouſtakir’s film ‘Pegase’ about violence against women in Morocco. How- ever, as Mozambican director Matthieu Bron’s film ‘Body and Soul’ illustrates, even in times of despair there are Afri- can women who remain hopeful of living full lives.
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