The year 2023 was exceptional for African films at the Cannes Film Festival, revealing a new generation of filmmakers from Senegal, Sudan, Tunisia, Cameroon and elsewhere. For the 77th edition which opens this Tuesday, May 14, the presence is constant although less significant in number.
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With our special correspondent in Cannes, Houda Ibrahim
The 77th Cannes Film Festival opens this Tuesday, May 14 with the backdrop, for African cinema, of the sweet memory of its – no less than twelve films – which competed in the different selections in 2023. This year, the presence remains notable, but will be less significant. Like the race for the Palme d’Or in which no African work is participating, while in 2023, two directors from the continent were in the official competition: the Tunisian Kaouther Ben Hania and the Franco-Senegalese Ramata Toulaye Sy .
For this new Cannes edition, Moroccan Nabil Ayouch, a filmmaker accustomed to the official selection, is screened at “Cannes Première”, a recent event dedicated to French and/or experimental cinema. His film Everyone loves Touda paints the portrait of a Cheikha, a traditional Moroccan artist. The new production by Brazilian-Algerian filmmaker Karim Aïnouz is being presented out of competition.
Update on the works present
Thierry Frémaux, general delegate of the festival, judges that a new generation of filmmakers from East, West or sub-Saharan Africa has been emerging at Cannes since 2021, while North Africa is more traditionally there. present. In the “Un certain regard” selection, devoted mainly to the young guard of world cinema, we find a Somali film by Mo Harowe, which paints the portrait of a family which survives the chaos of the country. Zambian director Rungano Nyoni deals with the relationship between men and women in her country.
First-look image from Rungano Nyoni’s ON BECOMING A GUINEA FOWL. More official synopsis: On an empty road in the middle of the night, Shula stumbles across the body of her uncle. As funeral proceedings begin around them, she and her cousins bring to light the buried secrets of… https://t.co/pS8x13EKJ4 pic.twitter.com/3BeXEYytdr
— Akoroko — African Cinema Now! (@akorokoafrica) May 12, 2024
Still in this same selection devoted to the director’s first or second films, the Franco-Moroccan Saïd Hamich, in his first work filmed in Marseille, tackles the story of a young immigrant, whose meeting with a police officer changes his life. life. A short film, Alazarby the Ethiopian Beza Hailou Lemma, also appears in this competition.
In the parallel sections, at the Filmmakers’ Fortnight, a single African film: Sharq 12 by Egyptian director Hala el Koussy. Egypt is also participating in Critics’ Week with Daughters of the Nile by Nada Riyadh and Ayman el Amir. For four years, the two filmmakers follow the journey of young girls who defy their families in a village in which they set up a street theater troupe.
African or Afro-descendant creators are also members of different juries, such as the Franco-Senegalese Omar Sy, member of the official competition jury, or the Moroccan director Asmae al Moudir and her Senegalese counterpart Maïmouna Doukouré who are part of the “Un certain look.” For her part, Rwandan actress Eliane Umuhire is participating in the “Critics Week” jury. Finally, the Belgian-Congolese rapper and director, Beloji, co-chairs the Caméra d’or jury which rewards a first film in all competitions.
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