Political and Economic Development
When Newsreel launched this collection, it was the first and largest collection of African cinema in the United States — and it remains an unmatched resource today. African cinema offers what mainstream Western media rarely does: Africa rendered in its own complexity, beauty, and contradiction, by filmmakers who know it from the inside. Spanning documentary and fiction, master filmmakers and emerging voices, from Francophone and Lusophone countries to Nigeria's Nollywood to post-apartheid South Africa, these films explore women's rights and gender, the legacies of colonialism, political corruption and civil war, cultural identity, sexuality, and the tensions between tradition and modernity. Many titles come with discussion guides and articles by African filmmakers and scholars, making this an essential resource for African Studies, Cinema Studies, and anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the continent and its people.
Articles to help you view and teach African cinema written by African filmmakers and scholars are also available.
The Political and Economic Development collection includes the following titles:
Afro@DigitalAfro@Digital looks at the impact of various digital technologies across a broad swath of present-day African life and asks how the technology is affecting African culture and how it can best serve the interests of Africa and the global South.
All About DarfurA Sudanese immigrant to the UK returns to her homeland to understand why the seemingly racially harmonious country of her memories has become the scene of one of the worst instances of ethnic cleansing in recent history. What she discovers is that race may be too crude a concept to understand the crisis of Darfur.
Allah TantouOld home movies, newsreels and a prison diary are interwoven to link personal and public history in this assessment of human rights abuses in Guinea-Conakry.
Arlit: Deuxième ParisArlit: Deuxieme Paris is a case study in environmental racism set in a uranium mining town in the Sahara desert of Niger. Here European corporations extract nuclear power and profits leaving behind disease, contamination and unemployment.
DaresalamThe first feature film on civil war in modern-day Chad puts a human face on the cycle of violence that engulfs many African countries.
EzraAward-winning complex psychological study of a child soldier.
Faat KineIn Dakar, Senegal Faat Kine, an independent, single mother and successful business owner looks back over twenty years of triumphs and hardships - including the betrayals by men in her life. A dramatic tribute to the strength and resilience of African women by Ousmane Sembene, the father of African cinema.
Femmes Aux Yeux OuvertsWomen in four African countries are shown organizing around issues of marital rights, reproductive health, female genital mutilation, and entrepreneurship.
Guimba the TyrantAn historical allegory by Cheick Oumar Sissoko tells the tale of a tyrant overthrown.
Liberia: A Fragile PeaceA chronicle of the period from the departure of Charles Taylor to the election of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the first African woman head of state, that presents the difficulties of rehabilitating a nation destroyed by war. As one Liberian so eloquently stated in the film, "We have an historic opportunity to re-create our state, and that's not something most people have in their lifetime."
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