AfricAvenir and the Franco Namibian Cultural Centre (FNCC) present the Namibian premiere of the A Screaming Man (Un Homme Qui Crie), the Chadian film that won the prestigious Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, on 11 April at 6.30pm at the FNCC, 118 Robert Mugabe Avenue. Entrance is free.
This Chad-Belgium-France co-production was directed and written by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun. It is set in present-day war-torn Chad and focuses on Adam, a former swimming champion, who is a pool attendant at a smart N’Djamena hotel. His grown-up son Abdel helps him out, but when the hotel is taken into new ownership, it is Abdel who is given the job and Adam is demoted to the post of gatekeeper. Hurt and resentful, he feels socially humiliated.
Meanwhile, with the country mired in civil war and rebel forces attacking the government, the authorities are demanding that citizens contribute money or volunteer for the war effort. Adam is penniless, and pressurised by the District Chief, he commits a terrible act of betrayal.
In his recent films Mahamat-Saleh Haroun (Abouna, Daratt) has developed a style of measured, contemplative storytelling that brings a deceptive air of calm to the simultaneously unfolding personal and national tragedies in A Screaming Man.
Cinematographer Laurent Brunet’s striking widescreen images and Wasis Diop’s evocative score contribute much to the film’s elegant simplicity, and Youssouf Djaoro gives a quietly compassionate performance as the father who acts in haste, with devastating consequences.
AfricAvenir also presents the Namibian premiere of L’Absence (Guinea / France), directed by Mama Keita on 28 April at 7pm at Studio 77, Old Breweries Complex, entrance Garten Street. The entrance is N$ 30.
After studying in France and an absence of almost 17 years, Adama, a trained engineer, hastily comes back to his native country, Senegal in response to the alarming message that his grandmother is seriously ill. On his arrival, he discovers that his grandmother is in perfect health. Who sent the message and why?
Adama and his younger sister Aicha, who is born deaf, are orphans and were brought up by their grandmother. Aicha and her grandmother are both overjoyed to see Adama again but when he announces that he is going to settle in France, they are distraught.
Part social commentary, part thriller, L’Absence is an atmospheric and contemporary sketch of Senegal that touches on issues of drugs, prostitution, corruption, brain drain, and, possibly, redemption. Filmmaker Mama Keita gives us a film that urgently races towards a dramatic, exciting and unexpected climax.
The film won Best Screenplay at Pan African Film Festival FESPACO in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 2009 and Best Feature at the Festival de Cine Africano Tarifa, Spain, 2009.
