This June, AfriDocs, the only documentary broadcast stream across sub-Saharan Africa, celebrates the human spirit. This month AfriDocs screens a diverse array of triumphant human stories including For Kibera, the story of the life of a Kenyan slum-dweller turned to radio personality, journalist and self-made cameraman: Boy Dallas of Kibera; Ladies Turn, the story of women football players in Senegal fighting against all odds simply to arrange a women’s football tournament; and Plus Mother at Fifteen, the story of Mariam who became a mother at the age of 15 and like so many other underage mothers in Malawi, is forced to drop out of school and yet discovers filmmaking and uses it to engage with her community, peers and mother.
AfriDocs screens every Thursday at 19h55 (CAT) on [ED] (DStv channel 190 and GOtv channel 65) across sub-Saharan Africa, with repeats on Fridays and Sundays. For all film and scheduling information, visit the Afridocs website http://afridocs.net/.
SCREENING SCHEDULE:
2 June
For Kibera | Kati Juurus | Kenya | 2015 | 60 min
The story a slum-dweller who becomes a radio personality, journalist and self-made cameraman: Boy Dallas of Kibera. The film looks for answers to the complicated question: Why is it so hard to beat poverty? We learn the tough rules of slum life with Dallas as our guide. He notes the large amount of aid projects in his slum, Kibera, and he starts learning about the complicated mechanisms of aid. His learning process also becomes a learning process for his listeners.
Africa Shafted | Ingrid Martens | South Africa | 2011 | 56 min
Africa Shafted was filmed in Africa’s tallest residential building located in downtown Johannesburg, South Africa, that housed more than 4000 people. It gives audiences an honest glimpse at the tragic reality of xenophobia through the eyes of people from every corner of Africa living under one roof. It also conveys a powerful message that through dialogue and understanding, respect starts to take root.
9 June
A Love Apart | Bettina Haasen| Niger | 2007 | 52 min
Rhaissa is a 17 year old Tuareg girl who lives a nomadic life in the Air-mountains. She is about to marry, but it is an arranged marriage, where two families decide hereby to increase their social bounds. The film follows the whole ceremony of preparing and completing the marriage. An intimate inside-look into Tuareg life and the story of a special wedding.
Ladies Turn | Hélène Harder | Senegal | 2012 | 52 min
In 2009, in Senegal, where ‘football is king’, a women’s football street tournament is organised for the first time by the association Ladies’ Turn. Despite the passionate commitment of Seyni, the former captain of the women’s national team, and of the women and men that fight at her side, the game is far from won. Defying taboos and prejudices, the girls play on the fields for a growing audience. Will they be allowed to go all the way and play the game they love?
16 June
Coming of Age | Teboho Edkins | Lesotho | 2014 | 63min
Coming of Age is a film that follows four teenagers over the course of two years as they grow up deep in the southern African mountain kingdom of Lesotho. Very little happens in the village of Ha Sekake, but from their perspective, a lot is at stake.
Please Vote for Me | Wejun Chen | China | 2007 | 52 min
In an elementary school in the city of Wuhan in central China, eight-year old children compete for the position of Class Monitor. Their parents, devoted to their only child, take part and start to influence the results. Please Vote for Me is a film about an experiment with democracy in China.
30 June
Sonita | Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami | Iran | 2015 | 91 min
Sonita is an 18-year-old female, an undocumented Afghan illegal immigrant living in the poor suburbs of Tehran. She is a feisty, spirited, young woman who fights to live the way she wants, as an artist, singer, and musician in spite of all her obstacles she confronts in Iran and her conservative patriarchal family. In harsh contrast to her goal is the plan of her family – strongly advanced by her mother – to make her a bride and sell her to a new family. The price right now is about US$ 9.000.
