Portal:African cinema/DYK/41
No Simple Way Home (2022) by South Sudanese filmmaker Akuol de Mabior in her debut feature, is the first ever South Sudanese film production to screen at the Berlin Film Festival. The documentary is a tribute to the director's father, John Garang de Mabior, considered the founding father of South Sudan, and recounts her and her mother's return to the country after years in exile.
The screening permit of the award-winning Zanka Contact (2020), was suspended by the government-backed Moroccan Cinematographic Centre (CCM), which helped fund the film, due to the inclusion of a song by the Sahrawi singer Mariem Hassan. Hassan supported the Polisario Front, which seeks an independent state in the Western Sahara, considered an integral part of Moroccan territory by the government. Directed by French-Moroccan filmmaker Ismael El Iraki, the film was inspired by his journey as a survivor of the 2015 Paris Bataclan attacks and follows the love story of an aging rock star and a singer.
The Blue Elephant 2, a 2019 Egyptian drama horror mystery crime thriller film directed by Marwan Hamed became the highest-grossing Egyptian film in the history of Egyptian cinema... Starring Karim Abdel Aziz, Khaled El Sawy, Nelly Karim and Sherine Reda in the lead roles, the film is a sequel to the 2014 box office hit The Blue Elephant.
Moroccan film director Nabil Ayouche is a co-founder of Aflamin, the first Moroccan VOD platform dedicated to Moroccan cinema and international independent films. Among its aims is to make Moroccan film more legally accessible to Moroccans while diminishing piracy.
All the characters and sets in the Zambian animationThe Legend of the Sky Kingdom (2003) were constructed from junk found by the filmmakers in a lot next to their offices. It was a stylistic choice necessitated by budget considerations as well as inspired by the wire and metalwork of Africa's folk artists, who often transform discarded items into works of art. It was the country's first full-length animated film.