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Black
🇸🇳 SenegalA Senegalese bank-robber born and raised in France is getting over a disastrous heist. As he considers going straight, his cousin calls him from Dakar with an easy opportunity.
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Ceux de la colline
🇧🇫 Burkina FasoLike a modern-day version of Deadwood, a makeshift gold mine on the remote Diosso hillside in Burkina Faso has attracted a swarm of gold-diggers and dynamite blasters, healers and dealers, vendors and prostitutes, children, holy men and barbers. Living in the promiscuous closeness of a crowded and improvised gold town, these men and women are recklessly determined to find the gold that will change their lives. The film explores their desperate quest for fortune and elusive happiness. The gold rush is relentless.
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The Exchange: Six Faces of the Gambia
🇬🇲 Gambia The 2000sOn a journey to West Africa, award-winning documentarian Mathew Welsh fashions portraits of six 'middle class' Gambians - taking us beyond stereotypes about Africa - and teaching us that we in the Developed World have a lot to learn from West Africa about how we give, how we live. These are six personalities that will resonate with a Western audience.
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The Figurine
🇳🇬 Nigeria The 2000s The 1900sNo one told them about the next seven years... — Two buddies and a girl, down on their luck, have their lives changed when one of them discovers a mysterious figurine in an abandoned shrine which, according to legend, bestows seven years of good luck. But no one told them about the next seven years...
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For the Best and for the Onion
🇳🇪 NigerThe Galmi purple, the onion from Niger, pervades West African markets with four hundred thousand tons a year. In Galmi, Salamatou's been waiting for her wedding for two years. Her father Yaro, urged both by her future in-laws and the village gossip makes a decision : "The wedding will take place at the harvest !" Yaro is aware that to be up to his commitment this time, he has to produce more and sell at a higher price...
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Johnny Mad Dog
🇱🇷 LiberiaA cast of unknown performers are used in this drama about child soldiers fighting a war in an unnamed African country.
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Pray the Devil Back to Hell
🇱🇷 LiberiaPray the Devil Back to Hell chronicles the remarkable story of the Liberian women who came together to end a bloody civil war and bring peace to their shattered country.
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Dreams of Dust
🇧🇫 Burkina FasoNigerian farmer Mocktar comes to Essakane, a dusty gold mining camp in Burkina Faso, seeking work. Haunted by a tragedy-laden past, Mocktar stoically adapts to the horrid working conditions of his fellow miners. Enter the beautiful widow Coumba, who shares Mocktar's endurance but dreams of a better life.
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Arugbá
🇳🇬 NigeriaAdetutu faces many responsibilities. She must juggle her role as Arugba (the virgin) in the annual community festival with her studies at the university. She must also care for an ailing and grieving friend. Other plot points include Adejare, a demanding king, Adetutu's blossoming musical career, and her growing fondness for a gifted artist named Makinwa which places a strain on Adutu's relationship with the other members of her all female musical group.
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Arlit: The Second Paris
🇳🇪 NigerDocumentary on the lives and hopes of the people living in Arlit, Niger and working in its uranium mine.
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A Ilha dos Escravos
🇨🇻 Cabo Verde The 1830sAfter a violent civil war, D. Miguel, the last Portuguese absolutist king, is defeated by the liberals, led by his brother D. Pedro. In 1834 D. Miguel left for exile. His supporters don't give up on returning him to the throne. Willing to do anything they even try to use the slaves of the colonies. A mysterious emissary is sent to Cape Verde to prepare an uprising. But other reasons were behind his visit to the archipelago ....
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Hitman
🇳🇪 Niger The 2000sMost believe his very existence is a sin. But others know he is a necessary evil. — A genetically engineered assassin with deadly aim, known only as "Agent 47" eliminates strategic targets for a top-secret organization. But when he's double-crossed, the hunter becomes the prey as 47 finds himself in a life-or-death game of international intrigue.
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Ezra
🇸🇱 Sierra LeoneEzra, jeune ex-soldat Sierra-Léonais, essaie tant bien que mal de retrouver des repères pour revenir à une vie normale après la guerre civile qui a ravagé son pays. Son quotidien est partagé entre un centre de réhabilitation psychologique et un tribunal de réconciliation nationale organisé sous l'égide de l'ONU. Durant le procès en réhabilitation auquel Ezra participe, il doit affronter sa soeur qui l'accuse du meurtre de leurs parents. Ezra, qui a traversé cette violente guerre civile complètement drogué et alcoolisé, ne se souvient de rien. Ezra reconnaîtra-t-il l'horreur et par ce fait, permettra-t-il à sa soeur et à sa communauté villageoise d'accéder au pardon ?
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Faro: Goddess of the Waters
🇲🇱 MaliFaro is a real goddess of a real tribe (the Bamana) in the West African country of Mali. In a landlocked country like Mali, covered in part by the Sahara Desert, water is a resource that can never be taken for granted. The Bamana village in Faro: Goddess of the Waters not only sits on a riverbank, but also depends for much of its food on fish from the river. Faro is the dominant character in this film, the unseen force for which all action takes place. (c) Ferdy on Films [Marilyn Ferdinand]
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The Two Faces of War
🇨🇻 Cabo Verde 🇬🇼 Guinea-BissauA documentary shot in Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde and Portugal that includes a series of interviews and testimonies of people who lived through the period of the anti-colonial war and liberation in Guinea-Bissau. This documentary, directed by Diana Andringa and Flora Gomes, sets the tone for a debate around the themes of reconciliation and historical memory in the post-conflict period of the Portuguese colonial war.
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Waiting for Men
🇲🇷 MauritaniaIn Mauritania, a country seemingly bound by tradition and male dominance, three women speak freely about sex, love and money.
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Letters to a Stranger
🇳🇬 NigeriaYou don't have to find a perfect person to experience a perfect love. — Talking to a stranger can be very therapeutic for the fact that you can say exactly how you feel without fear, judgment and insecurity. But what happens when that stranger becomes a reflection of the decision you should make?
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Blood Diamond
🇸🇱 Sierra Leone 🇬🇳 Guinea 🇱🇷 Liberia The 1990sIt will cost you everything. — An ex-mercenary turned smuggler. A Mende fisherman. Amid the explosive civil war overtaking 1999 Sierra Leone, these men join for two desperate missions: recovering a rare pink diamond of immense value and rescuing the fisherman's son, conscripted as a child soldier into the brutal rebel forces ripping a swath of torture and bloodshed countrywide.
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Bamako
🇲🇱 MaliMelé 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.
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Abeni
🇳🇬 Nigeria 🇧🇯 BeninAbeni is in love with Akanni, the son of Chief Bello's former gateman. But Chief Bello is not in support of his daughter's intention to marry a pauper's son. Will Chief Bello succeed in breaking the bond between the lovebirds?
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Lili et le baobab
🇸🇳 SenegalAged 33, Lili goes to Africa for the first time in her life, to Agnam, a Sahelian village in the northeast of Senegal.
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Early in the Morning
🇬🇳 Guinea The 1990sYaguiné and Fodé, schoolboys who try in vain to find work to help their poor families. Lured by the symbols of Western affluence and power that surround them, the two stow away on a flight to Europe.
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Batuque, the Soul of a People
🇨🇻 Cabo VerdeIn 1462, the first African slaves were settled on the island of Cape Verde brought by the Portuguese colons. It is supposed that they were the first inhabitants of the archipelagos. They carried with them the rhythms and the seeds of what became the BATUQUE: a music form, performed mostly by women, both singers and dancers. The singers, repeat very strong lyrics, sitting in a circle and beating the rhythms with their hands on a piece of cloth between their legs. While one woman performs a very sensual dance with her hips in the middle of the circle. During the colonial era, it has been strongly forbidden but it remained alive in clandestinity. The group Raiz de Tambarina, one of the oldest groups of Batuque on Santiago island, is composed of ordinary people, saleswomen, fish merchants, drivers... Through their every day life and performances we discover Cape Verde today and their passion for the Batuque.
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Lord of War
🇱🇷 Liberia 🇸🇱 Sierra Leone The 1980s The 1990s The 2000sWhere there's a will, there's a weapon — Yuri Orlov is a globetrotting arms dealer and, through some of the deadliest war zones, he struggles to stay one step ahead of a relentless Interpol agent, his business rivals and even some of his customers who include many of the world's most notorious dictators. Finally, he must also face his own conscience.
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Sahara
🇲🇱 Mali 🇳🇪 Niger 🇳🇬 NigeriaDirk Pitt. Adventure has a new name. — Scouring the ocean depths for treasure-laden shipwrecks is business as usual for a thrill-seeking underwater adventurer and his wisecracking buddy. But when these two cross paths with a beautiful doctor, they find themselves on the ultimate treasure hunt.
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Workingman's Death
🇳🇬 Nigeria The 2000sA documentary on the extremes to which workers will go to earn a living. — Is heavy manual labour disappearing or is it just becoming invisible? Where can we still find it in the 21st century? Workingman's Death follows the trail of the HEROES in the illegal mines of the Ukraine, sniffs out GHOST among the sulphur workers in Indonesia, finds itself face to face with LIONS at a slaughterhouse in Nigeria, mingles with BROTHERS as they cut a huge oil tanker into pieces in Pakistan, and joins Chinese steel workers in hoping for a glorious FUTURE.
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Emmanuel's Gift
🇬🇭 GhanaHe's like no one we've ever known, but he's all we aspire to be. — If you are born disabled in Ghana, West Africa you are likely to be poisoned, or left to die by your family; and if you are not poisoned or left for dead, you're likely to be hidden away in a room; and if you're not hidden, you are destined to spend your lifetime begging on the streets. Of the twenty million people in Ghana, two million are disabled. This is the story of one disabled man whose mission-and purpose- is to change all that forever. In Emmanuel's Gift, filmmakers Lisa Lax and Nancy Stern have uncovered a story as compelling as it is important. Narrated by Oprah Winfrey, the film chronicles the life of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah, a young Ghanaian man born with a severely deformed right leg, who today, against incalculable odds, is opening minds, hearts and doors-and effecting social and political change throughout his country.
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Delwende
🇧🇫 Burkina FasoAfter a young boy dies of meningitis, Napoko Diarrha (Yaméogo) is accused of eating his soul because of a local sexist tradition. While this happens, her husband feels disgraced that Diarrha resists the idea of marrying off their daughter, so he exactes his revenge by spreading a dangerous rumor that would probably get her killed. Because of this, Diarrha's fate falls into the village elder's hands. When she finds out she will go trial, she decides to flee to the nearest town, Ouagadougou, before that can take place. After successfully leaving her village, Diarrha's age causes her health to decline, while her daughter grows up. Some time later, her daughter decides to travel to Ouagadougou, in search of her missing mother. Once they are reconnected, they attempt to escape from their male-dominated society.
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L'appel des arènes
🇸🇳 SenegalLove story set among wrestlers in Senegal.
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Moolaadé
🇧🇫 Burkina Faso 🇸🇳 SenegalWhen a woman shelters a group of girls from suffering female genital mutilation, she starts a conflict that tears her village apart.
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Tasuma: The Fighter
🇧🇫 Burkina FasoA village elder veteran expecting his pension buys a mill on credit for the community, but the repeated requests are ignored by the government bring back his fighting spirit.
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Tears of the Sun
🇳🇬 Nigeria The 2000sHe was trained to follow orders. He became a hero by defying them. — Navy SEAL Lieutenant A.K. Waters and his elite squadron of tactical specialists are forced to choose between their duty and their humanity, between following orders by ignoring the conflict that surrounds them, or finding the courage to follow their conscience and protect a group of innocent refugees. When the democratic government of Nigeria collapses and the country is taken over by a ruthless military dictator, Waters, a fiercely loyal and hardened veteran is dispatched on a routine mission to retrieve a Doctors Without Borders physician.
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Little Light
🇸🇳 SenegalFatima is a little girl of eight years. By opening and closing the refrigerator, she wonders if the light stays on when the door closes...
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Traces, empreintes de femmes
🇧🇫 Burkina Faso« Traces, women's imprints » is a film that ventures to the discovery of three grandmothers kassenas (Burkina Faso,) their granddaughter, and the exclusively feminine art of this region's mural paintings. Between these women's portraits and a traditional art form, « Traces » is a painting on paintings that reflects upon transmission, education and memory in the context of a world in mutation.
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Waiting for Happiness
🇲🇷 MauritaniaBefore immigrating to the West, Abdallah travels to the coastal city of Nouadhibou, Mauritania, to visit his mother. Although he grew up there, Abdallah feels anything but at home in his old neighborhood: He can no longer speak the local dialect, and he wears western clothes that immediately cast him as an outsider. But, as Abdallah spends time with a young boy and an elderly electrician, he can't help but feel a sense of loss for the life he's abandoning
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Faat Kiné
🇸🇳 SenegalA forty-year-old woman refuses to give into the stigma of unwed motherhood and climbs the ladder of success in a male dominated field.
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Adanggaman
🇬🇳 Guinea The 17th CenturyIn West Africa during the late 17th century, King Adanggaman leads a war against his neighboring tribes, ordering his soldiers to torch enemy villages, kill the elderly and capture the healthy tribesmen to sell to the European slave traders. When his village falls prey to one of Adanggaman's attacks, Ossei manages to escape, but his family is murdered except for his captured mother. Chasing after the soldiers in an effort to free her, Ossei is befriended by a fierce warrior named Naka.
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Amílcar Cabral
🇨🇻 Cabo VerdeDocumentary about African freedom fighter Amílcar Cabral, whose story is told by his relatives and friends. Amílcar, besides being a humanist and nationalist, was also a brilliant poet.
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Cry Freetown
🇸🇱 Sierra Leone The 1990sAn account of the victims of the Sierra Leone Civil War and depicts the most brutal period with the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels capturing the capital city on January 1999.
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Bronx-Barbès
🇨🇮 Côte dIvoireA drama set in the brutal world of Africa's ghettos, Bronx-Barbes opens with an introduction to Toussaint and Nixon, two teenaged friends who are out of work and commit petty thievery in order to eat. After accidentally murdering a ganglord one night, the two are taken under the wing of a group of thugs who populate the Bronx, a tough neighborhood run by a Mafia-like organization. Toussaint is able to scale the ranks of the neighborhood hierarchy, while Nixon ends up in jail for burglary, and is only released after Toussaint raises the money to free him. Eventually, the friends move on to Barbes, an even rougher neighborhood where they find that it takes more than just friendship to survive.
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Doulaye, une saison des pluies
🇲🇱 Mali -
Life on Earth
🇲🇱 Mali The 1990sLa Vie Sur Terre (Life on Earth) is a 1998 Malian comedy/drama film written and directed by, and starring Abderrahmane Sissako. It is set in the village of Sokolo and depicts rural life on the eve of the 21st century. Runtime is 61 minutes.The film earned Sissako awards at the Fribourg International Film Festival, the Ouagadougou Panafrican Film and Television Festival and the San Francisco International Film Festival.
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Woubi Chéri
🇨🇮 Côte dIvoireThis documentary shows a few days in the life of various members of Abdijan, Ivory Coast's gay and transgendered community. We get to meet a variety of woubis, yossis, etc. The hero/heroine of the film is a statuesque young man named Barbara who is organising the annual year-end party of the Ivory Coast Tranvestite Association, to be held December 27, 1997.
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Dribbling Fate
🇨🇻 Cabo VerdeLife has moved too fast for Mane. at the age of 50 he watches the slow sacrifice of his ideals. His wife, Lucy, has locked him in to a daily routine. His work in a small commercial shop and grocer's has worn him out. His dreams have evaporated into the drought of the beaten earth of Mindelo. Now forgotten, with his past as a great football player for Mindelense, in St Vincent in Cape Verde, he only has the belated compassion of his friends, neighbours, and cafe companions: "He was important", "He was the keeper in Cape Verde", "He could have played for Benfica!" Mane rejects the loss of his status as a hero. When training a youth team he sees himself again in KALU, a rebellious but talented youth. He is guided by a whirlwind of thoughts; he was also young, had opportunities, felt the sting of love and wasted his flame. A beaten leather ball shines in his hands once again, Benfica, his club, calls him to the Portuguese Cup Final.
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Amistad
🇸🇱 Sierra Leone The 1830s The 1840sFreedom is not given. It is our right at birth. But there are some moments when it must be taken. — In 1839, the slave ship Amistad set sail from Cuba to America. During the long trip, Cinque leads the slaves in an unprecedented uprising. They are then held prisoner in Connecticut, and their release becomes the subject of heated debate. Freed slave Theodore Joadson wants Cinque and the others exonerated and recruits property lawyer Roger Baldwin to help his case. Eventually, John Quincy Adams also becomes an ally.
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Destiny
🇬🇳 GuineaThough gay-themed stories about "coming out" and accepting one's sexuality are not uncommon in Western countries, such tales are still rare in many conservative African nations. Considered a ground-breaking film in its native Guinea, and filmed amidst a storm of controversy, Mohamed Camara's Dakan is the first of its nations films to directly address issues surrounding homosexuality. The story centers on the romance between two 20-year-old men, Manga and Sory who are first seen making out in a car. The trouble begins when Manga tells his widowed mother about his love for Sory, who is busy contending with his outraged father. The parents insist that the two never see each other again. Manga's mother then uses witchcraft to cleanse her son and change him into a heterosexual. Time passes and eventually Manga begins to date a girl. But it soon becomes apparent that try as he might, Manga's heart belongs to Sory.
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Tableau Ferraille
🇸🇳 SenegalTells the story of an idealistic young politician's rise and fall. Daam, a well-intentioned but vacillating European-trained politician must choose between two social paradigms exemplified by his two wives. The first, Gagnesiri, is the village beauty, who waits patiently for Daam. Unfortunately, they are unable to conceive a child, so Daam takes European-educated Kiné, who is eager to get ahead by marrying a politician. Daam becomes involved in a shady business deal with Président, a local businessman; when the details are made public, he is forced out in disgrace.
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The Pariahs of Cinema
🇧🇫 Burkina FasoWithin the framework of the “Half a Century of Locarno, Thoughts on the Future” project, seven directors, Idrissa Ouedraogo among them, have the chance to express their vision of the future of the film industry by means of a short film. “The state of the film industry the world is a vast issue,” says the director from Burkina Faso. “I would rather speak about my films, about African films and their relationship with the world”.
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