African film finally hits the small screen, writes Janet Smith
A year ago SABC2 general manager Thaninga Msimango was a lone voice in a crowd. Today she is credited as the person who will herald an African renaissance in broadcasting and film. Her dream comes true this weekend on SABC2 with the first screening of an African film in a series to be carried on Saturday afternoons.
Msimango’s drive at a dream is especially endorsed by the corporation’s Africa boss, Madala Mphahlele, who bought 13 West African features and short films a couple of years ago, but is rumoured to have faced incompetent haggling between the channels as to which would take the films and which language would be used for dubbing.
Accepting that “most people don’t have two feet in Africa”, Msimango has cleverly brought respected film-maker John Matshikiza on board to discuss and contextualise the films before each screening.
“We feel we have nothing to learn because we’ve got the infrastructure and development which puts us ahead,” she says. “But I think it’s a case of payback: Africa helped us. Now we must do something in return.”
The films in the Movies for Africa series on SABC2 have been bought from the Film Resource Unit (FRU), the distribution and educational agency which promotes African film and documentaries for development.
It is largely due to FRU’s pioneering work that there has been a blossoming of interest in African film in South Africa: its library is impressive and open to anyone who shares its vision. Enhanced public exposure began last year with the premiere of Hynes, the award-winning Senegalese film (marked on SABC2’s calendar for August 30), in association with Ster- Moribo.
With the assistance of the French Institute, FRU also introduced Djibril Diop Mambety, the director of the film, on a national tour which included university workshops. The contact between SABC2 and FRU promotes the idea of sharing the gift of resources.
The channel even packages its Movies for Africa series using the same image as that on the FRU catalogue, which includes films from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso, Zaire, Mali, Senegal, Guinea, Tunisia, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Togo and Mozambique.
The first three films to be screened at 2.30pm on Saturdays on SABC2, are the 1991 Senegalese film Ashakara (see page 16), Bal Poussiere (Ivory Coast, 1988) and Hynes (Senegal, 1992). Bal Poussiere is a hugely entertaining film about the love-games men and women play, while Hynes is a masterpiece of symbolism and cinematic intrigue as it explores the dynamism of history and tradition. Neither is to be missed.
“The African film industry is very powerful, and yet we know nothing about it. We adopt a high and mighty attitude and look to Europe and America for ideas. This series is only the beginning of trying to change those perceptions through television, which is a national interest.”
Msimango’s other inspiring project, the Mangaung African Cultural Festival, is on track to get the drums pounding in Bloemfontein from September 19 to 24. Macufe, as it is now known, has been established in part to juxtapose the Eurocentrism of other national arts festivals, including July’s Grahamstown explosion.
There has been murmured criticism of Msimango’s decision to host an event like this in Free State, the province which happens to be led by Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, the former SABC board chair. But the consequences of Macufe offer generous encouragement to the voguish ideal of an African renaissance.
Meanwhile the nominations for M-Net’s tenth All Africa Film Awards, worth more than R200000, are in. There are 10 films in the Arabophone category: five from Egypt, three from Tunisia, one from Algeria and one from Morocco. The Francophone category has one film from Burkina Faso in the regional running, with two more from Cameroon and one from Ivory Coast.
For the first time, the Anglophone category features an Ethiopian nomination. The Zimbabwean film Kini & Adams, which was directed by celebrated West African film maker Idrissa Ouedraogo and accepted in official competition at Cannes this year, is also on the list, as is the South African film Fools, which is based on Njabulo Ndebele’s award-winning collection of short stories.
Other South African films in contention are A Woman of Colour starring supreme Hollywood has-been Bo Derek, and Paljas, Katinka Heyns’s new Afrikaans feature which was expected to be screened at Cannes this year but was held back, allegedly for further editing.
The winning films from the regional categories will compete for the Grand Prize this year, and an eight-person jury will view all nominated films early next month. The awards will made in late October.