From 19 November to 30 2014, the International Documentary Festival of
Amsterdam (IDFA) selected seven African films from South Africa, Egypt,
Madagascar, Rwanda, Sudan and Somalia.
Best known for its canals, bikes and red light district, Amsterdam is also the place
to be for documentaries. Launched in 1988, the International Documentary Festival
of Amsterdam (IDFA) welcomes 300 films, 200 000 viewers and 2 500 professionals
every year. This year the South African delegation arrived with 34 filmmakers, 12
projects in development, five in production or post-production and seven available
for sale.
Despite the current western interest in Africa (seven features directed by European
or American filmmakers were showcased this year), the continent is still under-
represented in the main competition (Egyptian Nadine Salib’s Mother of the Unborn
and South African Ryley Grunenwald’s The Shore Break in the First Appearance
section, Somalian-Danish Warriors from the North directed by Nasib Farah and
Søren Steen Jespersen in the Mid-Length Documentary section).
Thanks to the IDFA Bertha Fund, which supports filmmakers and film festivals in
Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and parts of Eastern Europe, the
Sudanese Hajooj Kuka, the Malagasy Nantenaina Lova and the South African
François Verster were selected out of competition with Beats of the Antonov (Best
of Fest), Ady Gasy, The Malagasy Way (Panorama) and The Dream of Shahrazad
(Masters). Gilbert Ndahayo’s The Rwandan Night (Rwanda) and Jolynn Minnaar’s
Unearthed (South Africa) were also presented out of competition. The 1975 film,
The Peasant Letter by Senegalese director Safi Faye – considered the first African
woman director – was screened as part of the “Female Gaze’ special focus.
These projects took many years to be made, underlining the recurrent struggle
filmmakers face to direct, produce, and then distribute their movies. But from this
selection comes a handful of brilliantly told, personal stories like one woman’s
determination to fall pregnant in Mother of the Unborn, another’s struggle against
an Australian corporation in The Shore Break or a man’s fight to take his son out of
the Al-Shabab movement in Warriors from the North.
In a way, African filmmakers are looking closely to their fellows instead of
reverting to the sensationalist subjects western audiences are used to. They
interrogate everyday lives in communities such as those of Madagascar, who
produce treasures out of nothing in Ady Gasy, or Egyptian, Turkish and Lebanese
people living their passions for music and storytelling in The Dream of Shahrazad.
By observing the surroundings, these movies give voice to the ones who are usually
not listened to, like the survivors of genocide in The Rwandan Night, the inhabitants
of the Blue Nile and Nuba Mountains in Beats of the Antonov or the people of the
Karoo region in Unearthed.
Confronting the complexity of our contemporary societies searching, on one hand to
be as developed as Western countries, and on the other to preserve the
environment and traditional way of life, the African films in attendance at this
year’s IDFA were the perfect reflection of a continent searching for its own identity.
Ady Gasy, The Malagasy Way by Nantenaina Lova – Madagascar/France – 84min.
Contact: Laterit Production
Beats of the Antonov by Hajooj Kuka – Sudan/South Africa – 66min. Contact: Big
World Cinema
The Dream of Shahrazad by François Verster – South
Africa/Egypt/France/Netherlands/Jordan – 107min. Contact: Spier Films
Mother of the Unborn by Nadine Salib – Egypt – 85min. Contact: Hassala Films
Peasant Letter by Safi Faye – Senegal – 95min. Contact: Cinematheque Afrique
The Rwandan Night by Gilbert Ndahayo – Rwanda/Switzerland/USA – 115min.
Contact: Rwanda The Movie
The Shore Break by Ryley Grunenwald – South Africa – 90min. Contact: Marie-
Verite Films
Unearthed by Jolynn Minnaar – South Africa/USA/Canada – 93min. Contact: Stage 5
Films
Warriors from the North by Nasib Farah and Søren Steen Jespersen –
Somalia/Denmark – 59min.
Contact: DR International Sales
