UK’s biggest festivals of African cinema include jailed Sudanese director’s film in online showcase
WE ARE TANO, showcasing 10 of the best examples of African cinema from the past decade, including one by jailed Sudanese director Hajooj Kuka.
The UK’s five biggest festivals of African film – Africa in Motion in Edinburgh/Glasgow, Afrika Eye in Bristol, the Cambridge African Film Festival (CAFF), Film Africa in London, and Watch-Africa Cymru (Wales) – are teaming up online for the first time this October to present WE ARE TANO, showcasing 10 of the best examples of African cinema from the past decade, including one by jailed Sudanese director Hajooj Kuka.
Liz Chege, the newly-appointed director of Scotland’s Africa in Motion, added: “The purpose of this season is to continue our mission to highlight the vibrancy and rich diversity of African film-making and story-telling. We are passionate about expanding people’s understanding and appreciation of African film and cultures across the UK, and we aim to reach as wide an audience as possible, especially audiences that have not been able to attend our festivals in person.”
the films chosen for the showcase is the music-rich 2014 documentary BEATS OF THE ANTONOV, directed by Hajooj Kuka whose imprisonment, with fellow artists, in Khartoum last week, has prompted a statement from the Tano network echoing worldwide condemnation and calls for their release.
Other titles in the line-up – each representing a year in the 2010s – include: UN HOMME QUI CRIE [A SCREMING MAN] (Chad/France, 2010) by Cannes Jury Prize winner Mahamat-Saleh Haroun; Akin Omotoso’s missing person drama MAN ON GROUND (South Africa, 2011); Alain Gomis’s TEY [TODAY] (France/Senegal, 2012), voted best international film at Berlin that year; writer/director Judy Kibinge’s SOMETHING NECESSARY (Kenya/Germany, 2013); AS I OPEN MY EYES (Tunisia, 2015) by Venice prize-winner Leyla Bouzid; Rahmatou Keïta’s beautiful portrait of Sahel Desert life, ZIN’NAARIYÂ! [THE WEDDING RING] (Niger, 2016); Daryne Joshua’s true story inspired NOEM ME SKOLLIE [CALL ME THIEF] (South Africa, 2017); Likarion Wainaina’s bittersweet SUPA MODO (Kenya/Germany, 2018); and the mischievously comic docu-drama FILM FESTIVAL FILM (Namibia/South Africa, 2019).
Full details of the WE ARE TANO selections and the streaming calendar can be found at wearetano.org. In return for a pay-what-you-feel donation, bookers will have up to 48 hours to view their choices, alone or with family/friends.
Further celebrations of African cinema taking place this autumn/winter by TANO network members include: Africa in Motion (Scotland): africa-in-motion.org.uk | 30 October – 29 November 2020 and Film Africa (London): filmafrica.org | 30 October – 8 November 2020
Source: blackhistorymonth.org.uk
