The Wooden Camera
Madiba and Sipho live in poverty in a South African township. They stumble across a dead body during one of their afternoons of play. After searching the body for belongings Sipho immediately takes to the gun and Madiba is drawn to the camera. » Read more…
This is Nollywood
This documentary highlights the $250 million dollar-yearly industry that is Nollywood. Fueled by crime and insecurity, people resorted to watching videos in the safety of their homes. The first Nollywood movie, Living in Bondage, was a huge success and paved the way for a new industry. This is Nollywood reveals the issues that Nollywood producers face, the obstacles they must overcome, and the small budgets they work with. » Read more…
Nowhere in Africa
A love story spanning two continents, Nowhere in Africa is the extraordinary true tale of a Jewish family who flees the Nazi regime in 1938 for a remote farm in Kenya. Abandoning their once-comfortable existence in Germany, Walter Redlich, his wife Jettel (Juliane Köhler) and their five-year-old daughter Regina each deal with the harsh realities of their new life in different ways. Attorney Walter is resigned to working the farm as a caretaker; pampered Jettel resists adjustment at every turn; while the shy yet curious Regina immediately embraces the country— learning the local language and customs, and finding a friend in Owuor, the farm’s cook. » Read more…
God Grew Tired of Us
Director Christopher Dillon Quinn follows three lost boys from Kenya’s Kakuma refugee camp where they remained stagnant for 10 years to the United States in this honest documentary. John Dau, Daniel and Panther were separated from their families in the 1980s. They walked a thousand miles to escape udan after war broke out. They arrived in Ethiopia but had to walk again to Kenya when turmoil struck Ethiopia too. The Lost Boys walked for five years in search of safety and thousands died along the way. » Read more…
Idris Elba stars in Mekhi Phifer movie!
Idris Elba (Quentin Whitfiled) will be starring in a movie about a family that gets together for Christmas and has to deal with classic family issues. As the family learns about each other’s secrets, they learn to deal with each other as a family, and work together to sort out their problems. The cast is great and includes Chris Brown, Regina King, Chris Londo, Keith Robinson, and Columbus Short, to name a few. Mekhi Phifer is producing this film through his production company, Facilitator Films. This movie is scheduled to be released on November 21, 2007.
Benta
Benta is a girl who comes from a well-to-do family. Unfortunately the tables turn when her parents are killed by a drunk driver and she is forced to go work as a maid to earn money for her family. She soon discovers that the woman of the house is cruel and malicious. The son of the house is interested in her but cannot be involved with her since she is ‘just the maid’. Her situation is made worse when the man of the house starts to visit her in the middle of the night and rapes her. She deals with rape and abuse as she struggles to keep her sanity.The plot moves fast and the movie highlights issues that face many young girls whose circumstances force then to work as maids to take care of their families. View the trailer below.
Catch A Fire
Derek Luke gives an electrifying performance as Patrick Chamusso, a young apolitical man who works at the oil refinery and provides for his family. He goes out of his way to make no trouble. But trouble finds him when he is falsely accused of carrying out an attack against the government. An overzealous white officer, Nic Vos, played by Tim Robbins makes turning the Chamusso family’s life upside down his number one priority. Bonnie Henna plays the character of Precious Chamusso in such a sincere manner that makes you root for her. The viewer learns to love her despite her mounting insecurities against her husband. » Read more…
Youssour N’dour - Return to Goree
Youssou N’dour travels back to Goree Island and traces the steps of the slaves and their music as they journeyed to the west. He explores how their journey helped to shape jazz and gospel music and traces their movement through some of the music centers in the United States and Europe. He travels from Atlanta to New Orleans, New York to Bordeaux and Luxembourg, and works with many different artists and musicians to document the styles that developed in jazz and gospel. Pyeng Threadgill, Ernie Hammes, and Idris Muhammed are some of the names that come together to help piece this story . Punctuated by beautiful music both by Youssou N’dour and other artists, this documentary weaves a beautiful tale of lives that have overcome their circumstances to provide music that can help us transcend to a place full of joy and victory. You can view the trailer below.
My Fathers Love
This story about love, evil, sacrifice and betrayal, is set in a Nigerian village where a man and his two wives and daughter live. They are a happy family of farmers who respect their village traditions. As the title suggests, the story line is centered on the relationship between the father and his daughter Nnumwa–a close pair who share a special song that praises each other. The father’s verse of the song talks about the love a father has for his child and how that child is especially precious because she is seen as ‘the only palm nut in the fire’ or in other words an only child. Nnumwa’s verse in the song, praises a father who loves his daughter unconditionally and without reservation.The twist in the plot comes when Nnumwa’s father lures her to an untimely death with a song. She is killed by the father who loved her so much. The father is driven to murder by his second younger wife, who does not want to share her husband with any other woman even if it was a daughter. Her vaulting ambition does not stop there, as she plots to oust the first wife. After Nnumwa’s death, her mother,the first wife, is beside herself with grief. The villagers, however, think that Nnumwa has been kidnapped by people in a rival village. The riveting conclusion sees Nnumwa’s restless spirit come to her mother in the form of a singing bird. It reveals the shocking secret that Nnumwa was killed by her father as a result of his second wife’s jealousy and manipulation. This revelation pushes the father to commit suicide at the same place where Nnumwa lies.
Sometimes in April
Sometimes in April is a movie that focuses on the story of two brothers who are caught in the horror of the genocide that occurred in Rwanda in April 1994. Augustin Muganza (Idris Elba), is a Hutu married to a Tutsi and father to three, and his brother Honoré (Oris Erhuero), is a popular public figure espousing Hutu propaganda from a powerful pulpit: Radio RTLM in Rwanda. Augustine realizes that he is wearing the uniform of an oppressive government, and as he listens to the rhetoric on the radio, he realizes that the whole situation is about to explode.
As things turn violent and the Hutu army begins to slaughter the Tutsis by the thousands, Augustine decides to defy the odds and try to save his family. In a desperate attempt to survive, he is forced to entrust his wife and sons to his brother, Honoré. He barely survives and loses tracks of his family. Years later, he is still haunted by questions about his family. He visits the UN tribunal where his brother is on trial for inciting the violence on the Tutsis. It is here that he learns the about the fate of his family. » Read more…
African Events Calendar
Upcoming Events
-
Nov. 3, 2008
TIKEN JAH FAKOLY - high performance reggae
West Europe
-
Nov. 3, 2008
CHINUA ACHEBE’S NOVEL “THINGS FALL APART” CELEBRATED AT THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
USA - North East
-
Nov. 1, 2008
Queendom - the fabulous five
West Europe
-
October 18 2008
International Night at Zereoue Lounge
See more African Events | Submit Your Own
Browse by Region
- Australia (1)
- Central Africa (2)
- East Africa (2)
- South Africa (3)
- UK (10)
- USA - Mid West (3)
- USA - North East (79)
- USA - North West (2)
- USA - South East (14)
- USA - South West (4)
- USA - West Coast (4)
- West Africa (6)
- West Europe (7)
