African Films

A black girl from Senegal becomes a servant in France.

Balthazar is a young African filmmaker on the brink of directing his first project, The Cycle of the Cockroach, a fictional story about a young woman who survived unspeakable atrocities only to find herself committed to the same mental institution as a man driven insane by the crimes he perpetrated during the war. Potential funders for the film insist the themes are too bleak and pessimistic-they encourage Balthazar to make a "message" film that raises awareness about gender-based violence or HIV/AIDS instead. But he refuses to give up. Instead of telling his production team the news, Balthazar continues preparations for the film without financing or equipment. After rehearsing a scene with each of the characters, reality blurs and scenes from the script materialize, provoking the question: Can a film like this exist only in the director's dreams? Armed with a daring and creative visual language, writer/director Kivu Ruhorahoza boldly grasps at the illusory trick of representation in the wake of trauma and its ensuing madness. Paralleling the protagonist in his film, Ruhorahoza's debut marks the very first feature-length narrative film directed by a Rwandan filmmaker living in his homeland.

Tahir (15) and Amine (8) wake up one morning to learn that their father has left home. The brothers decide to go looking for him. One day, they see their father on the big screen and decide to steal the reel.

Six days in the violent life of a young Johannesburg gang leader.

An American woman doctor comes to Tanzania to work at a hospital for the mentally disturbed, with her Tanzanian lover. There, she meets a sometimes catatonic patient, Samahe, who seems to be in communication with another reality. In their confrontation with their individual and collective pasts, Dr Asira and Samehe are bound by fears and half remembered images of unbearable pain. Only through the spirit of Maangamizi, can the women resume their lives with an understanding of the ancestors and their eternal presence in a world of cruelty, hatred and death. It is a story that seeks to reclaim the connection between Africa and her Diaspora, and one that dares to represent the histories of two continents as it peels away layers upon layers of pain to bring healing of the soul.

An African doctor finds a cure to a deadly virus and decides to mass produce the drug at low cost in Africa. However, a pharmaceutical multinational does not want the doctor to succeed and sends an agent to Africa first to buy the drug then to destroy it.

In 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.

The story of two people who cross paths in Nouhadhibou.

A 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.

A touching mother-daughter relationship that reflects the modern South Africa.