Top 100 African Films
Films from Egypt (17), Senegal (16), South Africa (9), Morocco (7), Algeria (6), Ivory Coast (5), Mali (5), Mauritania (5), Burkina Faso (4), Tunisia (4), Chad (3), Ethiopia (3), Angola (2), Cameroon (2), Ghana (2), Nigeria (2), Sudan (2), Congo/Zaire, Kenya, Lesotho, Niger, Rwanda and Zambia.
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- DirectorRené VautierStarsRené VautierDocumentary about the living conditions in a small Ivorian village during French colonization.Made in the French Colony of Ivory Coast a few years before its independence.
- DirectorJean RouchStarsOumarou GandaGambiPetit Touré"I, a Negro" depicts young Nigerien immigrants who left their country to find work in the Ivory Coast, in the Treichville quarter of Abidjan, the capital. These immigrants live in squalor in Treichville, envious of the bordering quarters of The Plateau (the business and industrial district) and the old African quarter of Adjame. The film traces a week in these immigrants' lives, blurring the line between their characters' routines and their own. Every morning, Tarzan, Eddy Constantine and Edward G. Robinson seek work in Treichville in hopes of getting the 20 francs that a bowl of soup costs them. They perform menial jobs as dockers carrying sacks and handy labor shipping supplies to Europe. At night, they drink away their sorrows in bars while dreaming about their idealized lives as their "movie" alter-egos, alternatively as an FBI Agent, a womanizing bachelor, a successful boxer, and even able to stand up to the white colonialists that seduce away their women. These dream-like sequences are shot in a poetic mode. Each day is introduced by an interstitial voice of god omniscient narration from Jean Rouch, providing a universal thematic distance to the movie's events. The film is book-ended by a narration directed at both Petit Jules and the audience from Edward G. Robinson fondly looking back on his childhood in Niger and concluding that his life is worthy of his dreams.Made in the French Colony of Ivory Coast a few years before its independence.
- DirectorYoussef ChahineStarsFarid ShawqiHind RustumYoussef ChahineA newspaper salesman at the train station in Cairo develops an unhealthy obsession with a woman who sells refreshments.
- DirectorJean RouchStarsNadine BallotDeniseElolaThe arrival of Nadine, a new student, at a school in Abidjan is the starting point for a discussion about interracial relationships.
- DirectorOusmane SembeneStarsLy AbdoulayAlbourahBoron Sarret is arguably the first film made by a black African. It illustrates poverty in Senegal, particularly for the working man.
- DirectorGillo PontecorvoStarsBrahim HadjadjJean MartinYacef SaadiIn the 1950s, fear and violence escalate as the people of Algiers fight for independence from the French government.
- DirectorOusmane SembeneStarsMbissine Thérèse DiopAnne-Marie JelinekRobert FontaineA black girl from Senegal becomes a servant in France.
- DirectorMed HondoStarsRobert LiensolThéo LégitimusAmbroise M'BiaA native of Mauritania is delighted when he is chosen to work in Paris. However, he is disappointed when he sees racial inequity as blacks are relegated to manual labor while less skilled whites are given preferential treatment.
- DirectorOusmane SembeneStarsMakhouredia GueyeYnousse N'DiayeIsseu NiangA money order from a relative in Paris throws the life of a Senegalese family man out of order. He deals with corruption, greed, problematic family members, the locals and the changing from his traditional way of living to a more modern one.
- DirectorSarah MaldororStarsCarlos PestanaNoureddine DreisMohamed ZinetAbuses by the Portuguese slave traders in their colony of Angola are depicted through the torture of one prisoner, based on ignorance and incomprehension.
- DirectorChadi Abdel SalamStarsAhmed MareiAhmad HegaziNadia LutfiAn Upper-Egyptian clan robs a cache of mummies and sells the artifacts on the illicit antiquities black market. After a conflict within the clan, one of its members goes to the police, helping the Antiquities Service find the cache.
- DirectorDjibril Diop MambétyA somewhat-humorous look at the city of Dakar, its people, architecture, politics, social behavior, and even the white French tourists, and especially the influence of France's culture and its contrast with the indigenous culture of Senegal pre-colonization but still present in Dakar.
- DirectorYoussef ChahineStarsMahmoud Al MelejiNagwa IbrahimEzzat El AlailiA small peasant village's struggles against the careless inroads of the large local landowner. The Land shows why political oppression does not necessarily lead to a sense of solidarity among the disinherited.
- DirectorOusmane SembeneStarsAndongo DiabonRobert FontaineMichel RenaudeauAs World War II is going on in Europe, a conflict arises between the French and the Diola-speaking tribe of Africa, prompting the village women to organize their men to sit beneath a tree to pray.
- DirectorMohamed ZinetStarsGeorges ArnaudHimoud BrahimiSuzie NacerA mixture of archive images and fictional scenes, the film is a tribute to the city of Algiers, which is at the origin of the project. Random walks and meetings, Simon and his wife, a couple of French tourists, discover Algiers. Simon recognizes an Algerian in a bistro whom he was once tortured. The man stares at him. Panicked, Simon flees. "Tahia Ya Didou is the only film by actor Mohamed Zinet. Born from an order from the city of Algiers, which expected it to be a tourist documentary, it was not to the taste of the authorities and there is no not cut, no theatrical release.Despite everything, it has become a cult film, Tahia Ya Didou is much more than a promotional documentary.A tribute to the city of Algiers, to its inhabitants, it has an unclassifiable tone, cohabitation of comic burlesque and tragic reminiscences of the country's painful past."
- DirectorSarah MaldororStarsElisa AndradeDomingos de OliveiraJean M'VondoA man is wrongfully arrested and tortured to death after he is suspected of being part of a revolutionary group.
- DirectorYoussef ChahineStarsSalah QabilAli El SherifMahmoud Al MelejiSet shortly before and during the Six-Day War in June of 1967, The Sparrow follows a young police officer stationed in a small village in Upper Egypt whose inhabitants suffer from the harassment of a corrupt businessman.
- DirectorDjibril Diop MambétyStarsMagaye NiangMyriam NiangChristoph ColombMory, a cowherd, and Anta, a university student, try to make money in order to go to Paris and leave their boring past behind.
- DirectorJamie UysStarsPaddy O'ByrneHilarious documentary on the wildlife of the Namib Desert.
- DirectorJean RouchStarsDamouré ZikaLam Ibrahim DiaTallou MouzouraneThe story follows three poultry sellers on a trip across the bush, attempting to deliver a load of chickens to a market in Niamey. When a third person joins the group, the organization of the trip begins to look even more precarious.
- DirectorMostafa DerkaouiStarsNour AbdellatifSalah Eddine BenmoussaMohamed DerhamIn search of a subject for their film, a group of directors ask passers-by about their expectations of Moroccan cinema in the streets and bars of Casablanca.
- DirectorOusmane SembeneStarsThierno LeyeMyriam NiangSeune SambA corrupt politician is cursed with impotence on the night of his third wedding after embezzling 100 tons of rice.
- DirectorHaile GerimaStarsKasu AsfawGebru KasaWorke KasaIn Ethiopia; there is a slow boiling of a feud between a wealthy Lord and a protester who feels he is mistreating his laborers. While the viewer gets to closely examine the culture, conversations, and lives of the locals who surround them.
- DirectorJean-Pierre Dikongue-PipaStarsPhilippe AbiaArlette Din BeliGisèle Dikongue-PipaNgando and Ndomé; are in love. Ngando wishes to marry Ndomé; but her family reminds him that the traditional dowry must be settled. Unfortunately, Ngando is poor and unable to fulfill the tradition. Ndomé; is pregnant and bears his child. According to the village tradition, she must take a husband, at least one who can afford to pay the dowry. The villagers decide that Ndomé; should marry Ngando's uncle, who has already three sterile wives. In despair, the young man kidnaps his daughter upon the day of the traditional feast. An African Romeo and Juliet story.
- DirectorSafi FayeStarsAssane FayeMaguette GueyeSafi FayeNgor is a young man living in a Senegalese village who wishes to marry Columba. Ongoing drought in the village has affected its crop of groundnuts and as a result, Ngor cannot afford the bride price for Columba.
- DirectorOusmane SembeneStarsTabata NdiayeAlioune FallMoustapha YadeIn protest of forced conversion to Islam, the Ceddo (outsiders) kidnap King Demba War's daughter Princess Dior Yacine and hold her hostage.
- DirectorSalah AbouseifStarsFarid ShawqiEzzat El AlailiShouweikarThe story of the friendship that develops between two men with quite different world views. One, a water carrier whose wife has died twenty years before, spends his days thinking about her. The other, who works in the funeral business, spends his life in the pursuit of pleasure because he recognizes that death will bring an end to all enjoyment. They meet and become friends. Through this friendship the water carrier is encouraged to change his morbid way of thinking and to enjoy life.
- DirectorSouleymane CisséStarsBalla Moussa KeitaBaba NiareBubukar KeitaA young manager of a factory encounters a man walking along a road who says his family traditionally are servants to the manager's family. The manager offers him a job, and as he watches out for the other man's welfare, begins to see how the company mistreats its workers. The manager is challenged between his ethics and the pressure from others to protect his own interests as dire problems surface at the factory
- DirectorMed HondoStarsCyril AventurinFernand BersetRoland BertinThis vast musical fresco covers hundreds of years of history from enslavement to 20th-century immigration. Set on an enormous slave ship and boasts a dazzling array of brilliant choreography, wide-ranging musical styles and sharp satire.
- DirectorYoussef ChahineStarsNaglaa FathiAhmed ZakiFarid ShawqiYehia is a young man living in the cosmopolitan Alexandria during World War II. Inspired by American movies and Shakespeare, he aspires to be an actor, but struggles to pursue his Hollywood dream, given the constraints of his life in the middle class and the horrors of war.
- DirectorAhmed BouananiStarsMohamed El HabachiMohamed Saïd HafifiMustapha MounirA man discovers money in a flour bag. It is the beginning of a story between pats and future, between silence and cry, and that ends like a disillusion.
- DirectorFarouk BeloufaStarsYasmine KhlatYoussef SaiahLina TebbaraIn January 1975, Larbi Nasri, a young Algerian journalist, was caught in the whirlwind of events preceding the civil war in Lebanon. He witnesses the construction of the myth of Nahla, a singer adored by the Arab population.
- DirectorJamie UysStarsN!xauMarius WeyersSandra PrinslooA comic allegory about a traveling Bushman who encounters modern civilization and its stranger aspects, including a clumsy scientist and a band of revolutionaries.
- DirectorIbrahim ShaddadA camel operating a sesame mill reflecting on existence.
- DirectorAtef El-TayebStarsSharif AbdulhamidAaliyah AbdulmoneimNimat AbdulnaserHassan is a bus driver and the only male sibling of five sisters, his father owns a workshop that got suspended due to taxes problems. Hassan tries to provide money before the workshop is sold on the auction.
- DirectorGaston KaboréStarsSerge YanogoRosine YanogoJoseph NikiemaIn pre-colonial times a peddler crossing the savanna discovers a child lying unconscious in the bush. When the boy comes to, he is mute and cannot explain who he is. The peddler leaves him with a family in the nearest village. After a search for his parents, the family adopts him, giving him the name Wend Kuuni (God's Gift) and a loving sister with whom he bonds. Wend Kuuni regains his speech only after witnessing a tragic event that prompts him to reveal his own painful history.
- DirectorSouleymane CisséStarsFousseyni SissokoGoundo GuisséBalla Moussa KeitaFinye tackles the generation gap in post-colonial West Africa. Its heroine is the pot smoking daughter of a provincial military governor who falls in love with a fellow university student, the descendent of one of Mali's chiefs.
- DirectorYoussef ChahineStarsOussama NadirMohsen MohieddinNour El-SherifIn the middle of his own heart surgery, an Egyptian filmmaker remembers his life. In fact his old self, as a child, is accused of the attempted murder of his new self. Through the metaphoric trial, we are drawn into his life in relation to the Egyptian revolution, his constant need for success, and the effect the American Dream has on him.
- DirectorAbabacar Samb-MakharamStarsAbou CamaraLamine Amadou CamaraFatou FallDuring a workers strike, while people fight corruption and indignity, a griot tells stories about past struggles of the Senegalese people, all connected by the Wolof concept of "jom", a core virtue of respect, self-worth, and courage.
- DirectorCheick Oumar SissokoStarsChaka DiarraAlikaou KantéMaciré KantéA young brother and sister try to balance school and their menial jobs in order to be able to continue their education and so that their impoverished family can make ends meet.
- DirectorSouleymane CisséStarsIssiaka KaneAoua SangareNiamanto SanogoA young man with magical powers journeys to his uncle to request help in fighting his sorcerer father.
- DirectorOusmane SembeneThierno Faty SowStarsSidiki BakabaHamed CamaraIsmaila CisséIn this semi-autobiographical film, black soldiers help to defend France, but are detained in prison camp before being repatriated home.
- DirectorOliver SchmitzStarsThomas MogotlaneMarcel van HeerdenThembi MtshaliMapantsula tells the story of Panic, a petty gangster who inevitably becomes caught up in the growing anti-apartheid struggle and has to choose between individual gain and a united stand against the system.
- DirectorMohamed KhanStarsNaglaa FathiAhmed ZakiAida RiyadFollows the story of two lower-middle class women trying to survive with their dreams in 1980's Egypt.
- DirectorIdrissa OuedraogoStarsFatimata SangaNoufou OuédraogoRoukietou BarryA small village in Burkina Faso. The story focuses on Bila, a ten year old boy who befriends an old woman, Sana. Everybody calls her 'Witch' but Bila himself calls her 'Yaaba' (grandmother). When Bila's cousin Nopoko gets sick it is Sana's medicine who saves her.
- DirectorYoussef ChahineStarsYoussraYoussef ChahineHussein FahmyDuring a hunger strike by the Egyptian film industry, Yehia, a famous Egyptian director, finds himself obsessed with Amir, the leading man in one of his movies, and Nadia, a woman he desires to work with.
- DirectorIdrissa OuedraogoStarsRasmané OuédraogoIna CisséRoukietou BarrySet in a pre-colonial African past, Tilai is about an illicit love affair and its consequences. Saga returns to his village after an extended absence to discover that his father has taken Nogma, Saga's promised bride, for himself. Still in love with each other, the two begin an affair, although it would be considered incestuous. When the liaison is discovered, Saga's brother, Koudri, pretends to kill Saga for the honor of the family and village. Saga and Nogma flee to another village, but when Nogma's birth mother dies, he returns home. Having brought ruin on the family, Saga is shot by Koudri, who walks off into exile and probable death.
- DirectorRaoul PeckStarsPatrice LumumbaDocumentary about African political leader Patrice Lumumba, who was Prime Minister of Zaire (now Congo) when he was assassinated in 1961.
- DirectorDjibril Diop MambétyStarsMansour DioufAmi DiakhateMamadou Mahourédia GueyeDramaan is the most popular man in Colobane, but when a woman from his past, now exorbitantly wealthy, returns to the town, things begin to change.
- DirectorOusmane SembeneStarsAbou CamaraMarie Augustine DiattaYama DiedhiouBurial of a Christian political activist in a Muslim cemetary forces a conflict imbued with religious fervor. A satiric portrayal of religion and politics, sometimes humorous, sometimes deadly serious.
- DirectorIdrissa OuedraogoStarsBakary SangaréMariam KabaAbdoulaye KomboudriSamba Traore returns to his village flush with funds. Soon enough he manages to charm the beautiful Saratou into marrying him and, along with another friend, builds the first bar their village has ever seen. But his conscience keeps nagging him and the police are on the lookout for the "gas station murderer."
- DirectorMoufida TlatliStarsHind SabriGhalya LacroixNejia OuerghiAs she grows up, Alia (the daughter of housemaid Khedija) learns the secrets of the peaceful palace where she and her mother live.
- DirectorIbrahim ShaddadStarsMohamed M. AliNasir El TayebFatin A. MagidSudanese filmmaker, Ibrahim Shaddad provides a dramatic and powerful account of the trials and tribulations of a Sudanese villager in an alien, large city. Shot entirely without dialogue, the film's innovative use of sound helps tell the story of a shepherd who leaves his wife and herd to settle in a nearby town. Since its premiere at the Alexandria Film Festival, Insan has been shown in a number of festivals in the Middle East and Europe. This film is a prime example of experimental Arab cinema.
- DirectorGaston KaboréStarsJean-Claude BamogoAbderramane BoufachaAlassane DakissagaIn an early 19th century African village, Wend Kuuni - a young man, lives with his adopted family after his mother was killed as a witch. When Pughneere - his adopted sister - becomes ill, the villagers suspect Wend Kuuni. In order to save Pughneere's life (and his own) he must set out on a journey to find a healer. His quest brings him in contact with people around him and is a journey of self-discovery.
- DirectorAbderrahmane SissakoStarsAbderrahmane SissakoNana BabyMohamed SissakoIn the last days of 1999, after a few shots of a French supermarket, abundant in food and color, we hear Dramane compose a letter home to his father in Mali whom he then visits in the village of Sokolo. He meets the lovely Nana, and there are possibilities. People place long-distance calls from the post office. "Reaching people," says the postmaster, "is a matter of luck." Contrasts between Paris and Sokolo - between Mali and France and between Africa and Europe - are underscored by voice-over poems and comments by Aimé Césaire. A man dictates a letter to a brother in France: what is the nature of their hardships? People look for their place on this earth.
- DirectorDjibril Diop MambétyStarsMoussa BaldéLissa BaleraAminata FallA girl sells copies of Soleil, the government paper.
- DirectorNabil AyouchStarsMounïm KbabMustapha HansaliHicham MoussouneA group of children living on the street leave their gang, prompting retribution from the gang's leader. After one of the children dies, the rest try to come up with the resources to give their friend a proper burial.
- DirectorAbderrahmane SissakoStarsKhatra Ould Abder KaderMaata Ould Mohamed AbeidMohamed Mahmoud Ould MohamedThe story of two people who cross paths in Nouhadhibou.
- DirectorOusmane SembeneStarsFatoumata CoulibalyMaimouna Hélène DiarraSalimata TraoréWhen a woman shelters a group of girls from suffering female genital mutilation, she starts a conflict that tears her village apart.
- DirectorGavin HoodStarsPresley ChweneyagaeMothusi MaganoIsrael Matseke-ZuluSix days in the violent life of a young Johannesburg gang leader.
- DirectorFarida BenlyazidStarsMariola FuentesNadia AlamiFrancisco AlgoraThe daughter of an Englishman and an Andalusian woman, Juanita rejects the historical changes taking place in Tangier.She lives alone in this "Paradise lost", surrounded by her sister Elena; Esther, her close friend who dedicates her entire life to an impossible love affair with a Moroccan; and Hamruch the housemaid, who disappears one day without saying a word. The Spanish Civil War, WWII with the arrival of refugees from Europe, and the Moroccan independence finally returns the city to its Arab origins. Juanita's tragedy lies in not realizing that her world is destined to disappear by the destructive and rejuvenating force of History.
- DirectorAbderrahmane SissakoStarsAïssa MaïgaTiécoura TraoréMaimouna Hélène DiarraBamako. Melé is a bar singer, her husband Chaka is out of work and the couple is on the verge of breaking up... In the courtyard of the house they share with other families, a trial court has been set up. African civil society spokesmen have taken proceedings against the World Bank and the IMF whom they blame for Africa's woes... Amidst the pleas and the testimonies, life goes on in the courtyard. Chaka does not seem to be concerned by this novel Africa's desire to fight for its rights...
- DirectorMahamat-Saleh HarounStarsAli BarkaiYoussouf DjaoroAziza HisseineChad, 2006. After a forty-year civil war, the radio announces the government has just amnestied the war criminals. Outraged by the news, Gumar Abatcha orders his grandson Atim, a sixteen-year-old youth, to trace the man who killed his father and to execute him. Atim obeys him and, armed with his father's own gun, he goes in search of Nassara, the man who made him an orphan. It does not take long before he finds him. Nassara, who now goes straight, is married, goes to the mosque and owns a small bakery. After some hesitation Atim offers him his services as an apprentice. He is hired then it will be easy for him to gun down the murderer of his father. At least, that is what he thinks...
- DirectorHaile GerimaStarsAaron ArefeAbiye TedlaTakelech BeyeneThe Ethiopian intellectual Anberber returns to his native country during the repressive totalitarian regime of Haile Mariam Mengistu and the recognition of his own displacement and powerlessness at the dissolution of his people's humanity and social values. After several years spent studying medicine in Germany, he finds the country of his youth replaced by turmoil. His dream of using his craft to improve the health of Ethiopians is squashed by a military junta that uses scientists for its own political ends. Seeking the comfort of his countryside home, Anberber finds no refuge from violence. The solace that the memories of his youth provide is quickly replaced by the competing forces of military and rebelling factions. Anberber needs to decide whether he wants to bear the strain or piece together a life from the fragments that lie around him.
- DirectorFrancois VersterLying on the coast of Cape Town - South Africa's most segregated city - there is one public space where everyone does seem to come together: the Sea Point Promenade and Municipal Pools. Set between city and ocean, this beautiful strip of "everymansland" offers a quirky and often entertaining mix of class, race, gender and religion: a place where South Africans of all backgrounds can experience happiness together... But is all as it appears? SEA POINT DAYS presents an unusual and impressionistic record of life at Cape Town's Sea Point Promenade and municipal pools, using largely cinematic vignettes to explore issues of belonging, integration, nostalgia, happiness and identity in an ex-white South African neighbourhood.
- DirectorTariq TeguiaStarsKader AffakIna Rose DjakouAhmed BenaïssaLiving almost as a recluse, the topographer Malek accepts a job in a region of western Algeria at the insistence of his friend Lakhdar. Malek arrives at the base camp previously used by a team, but decimated by fundamentalists. A young shepherd observes him from afar; several men, some armed, approach and question his being there. Having previously run from Islamist terrorism, these farmers decided to return to their village. At dusk, the local police arrive for a routine visit. After the police have left, Malek is invited by the villagers to a makeshift party. During the night a series of explosions are heard. At dawn, Malek begins the first topographical readings, surveys the area surrounding the base camp and measures distances. During the night, again his sleep is disturbed by powerful explosions. The next morning, Malek sees a crowd along the edges of the mined field. On his return to the base camp, he discovers a young woman hiding in a corner of the Saharan hut. She's an African woman and won't give her name. Lakhdar arrives at the site, to find that both she and Malek have disappeared. At first, the two runaways head north, towards the Moroccan frontier which is the route to reach the Spanish enclave of Mellila. But the young woman doesn't want to flee to Europe; she's exhausted and wants to return home. With her finger, she traces the itinerary on Malek's maps, an interminable diagonal towards the southeast, the route to Tchad - towards the desert, towards a point of mutual disappearance.
- DirectorNeill BlomkampStarsSharlto CopleyDavid JamesJason CopeViolence ensues after an extraterrestrial race forced to live in slum-like conditions on Earth finds a kindred spirit in a government agent exposed to their biotechnology.
- DirectorSouleymane CisséStarsSokona GakouAssane KouyateBadra Alou SissokoAn adultery drama set in a bourgeois family in Bamako, Mali, where tensions are rife within the household: Mimi, bored with the polygamy and routine of marriage, wants to leave Issa. She has a lover, Aba. How will all three cope with this?
- DirectorSteven SilverStarsRyan PhillippeMalin AkermanTaylor KitschA drama based on the true-life experiences of four combat photographers capturing the final days of apartheid in South Africa.
- DirectorMahamat-Saleh HarounStarsYoussouf DjaoroDiouc KomaEmile Abossolo M'boPresent-day Chad. Adam, fifty-five, a former swimming champion, is pool attendant at a smart N'Djamena hotel. When the hotel gets taken over by new Chinese owners, he is forced to give up his job to his son Abdel. Terribly resentful, he feels socially humiliated. The country is in the throes of a civil war. Rebel forces are attacking the government. The authorities demand that the population contribute to the "war effort", giving money or volunteers old enough to fight off the assailants. The District Chief constantly harasses Adam for his contribution. But Adam is penniless; he only has his son....
- DirectorJohn AkomfrahPart documentary, part personal essay, this experimental film combines archive imagery with the striking wintry landscapes of Alaska to tell the story of immigrant experience coming into the UK from 1960 onwards.
- DirectorEmmanuelle DemorisPeople of Mafrouza, a shantytown of Alexandria in Egypt, show lucid and strong vitality. Their thoughts and hearts are free in front of Muslim Brothers, who seized their mosque. In the center, Mohamed Khattab, grocer and sheik of the neighborhood, is resisting with irony or gravity, explaining his 'strategy', his rage and his intention to . Later, he will be the one who will express complicity and tenderness for the camera, because it's time of separation after these two years of shooting in the neighborhood. The Art of Telling is the last part of the Mafrouza film project that includes 5 installments, shot along two years in the area. Each film can be seen independently.
- DirectorEmmanuelle DemorisIt's the end of summer in Mafrouza, a shantytown in Alexandria (Egypt). Preparing tea, preaching, messing around, making babies, dancing, singing, swimming... The camera follows the people of Mafrouza as they patiently reconstruct themselves and the world around them. They show some kind of an incredible strength of life, some kind of a crazy capacity for happiness, that enables them to grin and bear the harshness of the material conditions. This may sometimes appear to be pure miracle, but turns the neighborhood into a space of vitality and freedom. What is to be done ? is the third part of the Mafrouza film project that includes 5 installments, shot along two years in the area. Each film can be seen independently.
- DirectorFaouzi BensaïdiStarsFehd BenchemsiFouad LabiedMouhcine MalziIn Tetouan, at the northern edge of Morocco, three young men decide to rob a jewelry store. The heist goes awry, and their destinies part drastically.
- DirectorAndrew DosunmuStarsDanai GuriraIsaach De BankoléAnthony OkungbowaAdenike and Ayodele, a Nigerian couple living in Brooklyn, are having trouble conceiving a child - a problem that defies cultural expectations and leads Adenike to make a shocking decision that could either save or destroy her family.
- DirectorAbderrahmane SissakoStarsIbrahim AhmedAbel JafriToulou KikiA cattle herder and his family who reside in the dunes of Timbuktu find their quiet lives -- which are typically free of the Jihadists determined to control their faith -- abruptly disturbed.
- DirectorMohamed DiabStarsNilli KarimHany AdelMuhammad El-SebaiSet entirely in an 8m police truck, a number of detainees from different political and social backgrounds are brought together by fate, during the turmoil that followed the ousting of former president Morsi from power.
- DirectorRayhana ObermeyerStarsHiam AbbassFadila BelkeblaNadia KaciFatima, a strong-minded woman, is the lead masseuse of a hammam in Algiers. This is 1995 and the situation is tense in the capital. The day ahead promises to be hectic for all, and for Fatima in particular. Already, while walking to her place of work, she is the distant witness of a terrorist attack. At the hammam, Fatima should feel better, but the atmosphere proves electric in her small enclosed world, she has great difficulty in maintaining order. All the more as Meriem, a sixteen-year-old pregnant girl comes to take shelter at the hammam. And as irate brother, Mohamed, is after her to cleanse his honor in blood.
- DirectorTamer El SaidStarsKhalid AbdallaLaila SamyHanan YoussefA documentary filmmaker in Cairo is having difficulty finishing his film, so his friends send him footage from the cities they live in: Baghdad, Beirut, and Berlin.
- DirectorMohamed Ben AttiaStarsMajd MastouraRym Ben MessaoudSabah BouzouitaHedi, a young man with great dreams, is struggling his way through social conventions in Tunisia. While his mother tries to decide his life for him, Hedi meets Rim and suddenly he discovers that his world goes beyond and above conventions.
- DirectorTarik SalehStarsFares FaresMari MalekYasser Ali MaherA maid witnesses a murder at an upscale hotel and a policeman is assigned to the case, but it soon becomes clear that important people don't want the case solved.
- DirectorRungano NyoniStarsMaggie MulubwaHenry B.J. PhiriNancy MuriloIn a remote Zambian community a girl is denounced as a witch and sent on a trajectory of exploitation, as a tethered member of a witches' camp, a witch for hire and a tourist exhibit.
- DirectorWanuri KahiuStarsSamantha MugatsiaNeville MisatiNice Githinji"Good Kenyan girls become good Kenyan wives," but Kena and Ziki long for something more. When love blossoms between them, the two girls will be forced to choose between happiness and safety.
- DirectorAbu Bakr ShawkyStarsRady GamalAhmed AbdelhafizOsama AbdallahA Coptic leper and his orphaned apprentice leave the confines of the leper colony for the first time and embark on a journey across Egypt to search for what is left of their families.
- DirectorRosine Mfetgo MbakamEnter the Jolie Coiffure hair salon in the African Matonge district of Brussels, where charismatic owner Sabine presided over customers' flirting, gossiping, and harrowing tales of immigration.
- DirectorBlitz BazawuleStarsJoseph OtsimanMamley DjangmahKobina Amissah-SamA man is trapped in a mine shaft by his vengeful brother while his daughter embarks on a magical journey to rescue him.
- DirectorMati DiopStarsMame Bineta SaneAmadou MbowTraoreIn a popular suburb of Dakar, workers on the construction site of a futuristic tower, without pay for months, decide to leave the country by the ocean for a better future. Among them is Souleiman, the lover of Ada, promised to another.
- DirectorMehdi BarsaouiStarsSami BouajilaNajla Ben AbdallahYoussef Khemiri11 year old Aziz needs a liver transplant after being seriously injured during a terrorist ambush while on holiday in 2011. At the hospital a family secret will be revealed.
- DirectorKivu RuhorahozaStarsOris ErhueroJennie LathanLisa MoorishRwandan director Kivu Ruhorahoza (Grey Matter, Things of the Aimless Wanderer) decides to film his new movie, A Tree Has Fallen, in London. It is to be a stylish drama about Simon, a mysterious Nigerian man (Oris Erhuero), who returns to London to make amends with Anna, his mixed-race lover (Lisa Moorish) and Bruce, Anna's white ex-husband (Matt Ray Brown). Progressively, this love triangle mirrors the increasing social and racial tensions in Great Britain and Europe. In parallel to his narrative fiction, Kivu documents these tensions by filming a series of rallies in the streets of London. But inevitably, the 'hostile environment' immigration policy of the ruling Conservative Party comes back to haunt the reunited lovers and to disrupt Kivu's filmmaking effort. Sensing that his London stay is coming to a forced end, Kivu attends and films a number of protests, including one of the far right, to try and understand the rising xenophobia of the Brits and of his character Bruce.
- DirectorLemohang Jeremiah MoseseStarsMary TwalaJerry MofokengMakhaola NdebeleWhen her village is threatened with forced resettlement due to reservoir construction, an 80-year-old widow finds a new will to live and ignites the spirit of resilience within her community.
- DirectorMounia MeddourStarsLyna KhoudriShirine BoutellaHilda Amira DouaoudaIn 1997 Algiers, terrorists wanting an archaic Islamic state are everywhere. They oppress women, determined to control their bodies, clothing, and public space. Young student Nedjma is passionate about creating a fashion show.
- DirectorOliver HermanusStarsKai Luke BrummerBarbara-Marié ImmelmanMichael KirchA young man in 1981 South Africa must complete his brutal and racist two years of compulsory military service while desperately maintaining the secrecy of his homosexuality.
- DirectorPippa EhrlichJames ReedStarsCraig FosterTom FosterA filmmaker forges an unusual friendship with an octopus living in a South African kelp forest, learning as the animal shares the mysteries of her world.
- DirectorPhilippe LacôteStarsBakary KonéSteve TientcheuJean Cyrille DigbeuA young man is sent to "La Maca", a prison of Ivory Coast in the middle of the forest ruled by its prisoners. With the red moon rising, he is designated by the Boss to be the new "Roman" and must tell a story to the other prisoners.
- DirectorUyaiedu Ikpe-EtimStarsUzoamaka AniunohCindy AmadiA love story about ìfé and Adaora, two Nigerian women who fall in love over a three-day date, but their love is soon tested by the realities of being lesbian in Nigeria.
- DirectorOmar El ZohairyStarsDemyana NassarSamy BassiounyFady Mina FawzyA family is forced into a period of self-discovery after its authoritarian patriarch is accidentally turned into a chicken by a magician during a children's birthday party
- DirectorMahamat-Saleh HarounStarsAchouackh Abakar SouleymaneRihane Khalil AlioYoussouf DjaoroAmina, a practicing Muslim, lives with her daughter, 15-year-old Maria. When Amina learns Maria is pregnant and wants to abort the child, they face an impossible situation in a country where abortion is legally and morally condemned.
- DirectorJessica BeshirStarsDJ ExpressKawa SherifSalih SigirciA spiritual journey into the highlands of Harar, immersed in the rituals of khat, a leaf Sufi Muslims chewed for centuries for religious meditations - and Ethiopia's most lucrative cash crop today.
- DirectorAyten AminStarsBassant AhmedBasmala ElghaieshHussein GhanemThe film revolves around the relationship of two teenage sisters in one of Egypt's Nile Delta cities, one of them holds a secret life in the virtual world.
- DirectorMaryam TouzaniStarsLubna AzabalSaleh BakriAyoub MissiouiA middle-aged tailor and his wife find their relationship challenged by the arrival of a handsome new apprentice.