Research Guides: IDS 101: Africa in the Global Era: Films and Websites

Francophone African Films

Bamako (2006) by Abderrahmane Sissako
Call Number: Hatfield Library AV Video (DVD) PN1995.91.B25 B25 2008
Melé, a bar singer, and her unemployed husband Chaka are on the verge of breaking up. In the courtyard of the house they share with other families in Bamako, the capital city of Mali...
French and Bambara dialogue, English subtitles.
Delwende by Pierre Yameogo
Call Number: Hatfield Library AV Video (DVD) PN1995.91.F7 D448 2005
A movie about the (largely misogynistic) tribal custom of scapegoating through witch denunciation and exile - often of the most weak, disempowered, and vulnerable members of the village - in times of hardship, natural disasters, death, and unexplained crisis.
In French and Moor with French and English subtitles.
La genèse Genesis (1999) by Cheick Oumar Sissoko
Call Number: Hatfield Library AV Video (DVD) PN1995.91.B25 .G35 2003
Based on chapters 33-37 of Genesis told from an African perspective, the film portrays the bitter rivalry between the brothers Jacob and Esau. In Bambara with English subtitles.
Kirikou and the Sorceress (1998) by Michel Ocelot
Call Number: Hatfield Library AV Video (DVD) PN1995.9.A6 K57 1998
Based on West African folklore, this is the story of a remarkable baby boy who is born with the ability to speak, amazing intelligence, and extraordinary physical abilities.
Laafi Tout Va Bien (1991) by Pierre Yameogo
Call Number: Hatfield Library AV Video (DVD) PN1995.91.B47 L22 2000
Medical school in France is the hope of Joe, a young man from Burkina Faso, who is an honors high-school graduate in mathematics. However, when he arrives in France, he is told that the medical school's quota is fllled.
In Berba; French subtitles
Lumumba (2000) by Raoul Peck
Call Number: Hatfield Library AV Video (DVD) PN1995.91.F7 L885 2002
Dramatizes the life of Congolese revolutionary, Patrice Lumumba, who lead his country to independence from Belgium in 1960.
In French with English subtitles.
Of Gods And Men - Des hommes et des dieux (2010) by Xavier Beauvois
Call Number: Library AV Video (DVD) PN1995.91.F7 D475 2011
Eight French Christian monks live in harmony with their Muslim brothers in a monastery in the mountains of North Africa in the 1990's. When a crew of foreign workers are massacred by an Islamic fundamentalist group, fear sweeps though the region. The army offers them protection, but the monks refuse. Should they leave?.. French and some Arabic dialogue; English subtitles.
Vacances au pays - Trip to the country by Jean-Marie Téno
Call Number: Hatfield Library AV Video (DVD) DT578 .V33 2000
A Trip to the Country is a voyage in search of the illusion of modernity, which haunts Cameroonian society. French and Bamileke language with English subtitles.

Films by or about Ousmane Sembène

Moolaadé (2004) by Ousmane Sembène
Call Number: Hatfield Library AV Video (DVD) PN1995.91.B25 M66 2007
In a small village in Burkina Faso, four young girls have fled the ritual of "purification" (female circumcision) and seek protection -- moolaadé -- with a circucised woman who helped her own daughter escape excision seven years earlier. Bambara and French dialogue with English subtitles.
Camp de Thiaroye (1987)
Call Number: Hatfield Library AV Video (DVD) PN1995.91.W7 C25 2008
After defending France, a group of black soldiers are placed in a transit camp before returning home. As their stay lengthens, tensions rise until a petty dispute turns into full-scale rebellion. In Wolof and French with English subtitles.
Faat Kine (1999)
Call Number: Hatfield Library AV Video (DVD) PN1995.91.W7 F22 2001
The drama of Faat Kine, an independent single mother and business woman who runs a gas station franchise; and also born in 1960, the same year Senegalese independence was attained. In French and Wolof with English subtitles.
Xala (1974)
Call Number: Hatfield Library AV Video (DVD) PN1995.91.W7 X25 2005
In a fictional African country, a rich, self-made businessman and member of the post-colonial ruling elite takes on a third wife to show the world his wealth, only to be stricken by a curse... French and Wolof with English subtitles.
Sembene!: the inspiring story of the father of African cinema (2015)
Call Number: Hatfield Library AV Video (DVD) PN1998.3.S397 S40 2015
In 1952, Ousmane Sembéne, a dockworker and fifth-grade dropout from Senegal, began dreaming an impossible dream: to become the storyteller for a new Africa.
Ceddo (1977)
Call Number: Hatfield Library AV Video PN1995.91.W7 C33 2001
An historical epic set loosely in the 19th century, the film examines the confrontation between opposing forces in the face of Moslem expansion in Africa. In Wolof and French with English subtitles.
Guelwaar (1992)
Call Number: Hatfield Library AV Video PN1995.91.W7 G83 1993
When Guelwaar, a political activist and a Christian, is mistakenly buried in a Muslim cemetery, family members, political and religious leaders become embroiled in the dispute. In Wolof and French with English subtitles.
La noire de-- - Black Girl (1965)
Call Number: Hatfield Library Reserve PN1995.91.F7 N64 2005
A Senegalese maid goes to the Riviera with her employers and gains a new perspective on what it means to be African outside of Africa. In French with English subtitles.

Other African Films

Everyone's Child (1996) by Tsitsi Dangarembga
Call Number: Library AV Video PN1995.9.D7 E8 1996
In a rural village in Zimbabwe, Tamari and Itai are devastated when both their parents die of AIDS.
Jit (1990)
Call Number: Hatfield Library AV Video PN1995.9.C55 J58 1993
The beat of jit-jive drives the story, set in Zimbabwe, of a fun-loving youth called UK, who is determined to win the heart of Sofi, a stately beauty closely guarded by her gangster boyfriend.
Sankofa (1993) by Haile Gerima
Call Number: Hatfield Library AV Video PN1995.9.D7 S235 1995
The story about the transformation of Mona, a self-possessed African-American woman sent on a spiritual journey in time to experience the pain of slavery and the discovery of her African identity.
Videocassette release of the 1993 motion picture. In English, Twi, and Akan with English subtitles.
Teza (2008)
Call Number: Hatfield Library AV Video (DVD) PN1995.91.A54 T49 2008
After several years studying medicine in Germany, Ethiopian intellectual Anberber returns to his Ethiopia during the repressive totalitarian regime of Haile Mariam Mengistu. In Amharic, English, German; optional subtitles in English
Thunderbolt (2000) by Tunde Kelani
Call Number: Library AV Video PN1995.9.D7 T4388 2000
This feature film focuses on Yinka from the Yoruba tribe and Ngozi, an Ibo, who meet in the National Youth Service Corps in Nigeria. A retelling of the Othello story in an African setting,...
Udju azul di Yonta - The Blue Eyes of Yonta (1991)
Call Number: Hatfield Library AV Video PN1995.91.C8 U3 1994
Offers a portrait of the disillusionment of the revolutionary generation in Guinea-Bissau and the vibrant, if unintended, society which developed after independence in 1973. In Criolo with English subtitles.
Wênd Kûuni - Le don de Dieu (1982) by Gaston Kaboré
Call Number: Hatfield Library AV Video PN1995.91.M6 W45 1991
A mute boy is found abandoned and raised in an African village by a weaver . The mute regains his powers of speech only after a shock, then reveals his origins and reasons for dumbness. Dialogue in Môre (Mossi), with English subtitles.

Feature Films from South Africa

District 9 (2009)
Call Number: HAT AV Video (DVD) PN1995.9.S26 D57 2009
Twenty years ago, aliens from another planet made contact with Earth. Now, the refugee camp they are forced to live in has deteriorated into a slum-like ghetto.
Drum (2004)
Call Number: HAT AV Video (DVD) PN1995.91.G4 D78 2006
Drum tells the story of Henry Nxumalo, South Africa's leading investigative reporter [in the 1950's], exposing the apartheid regime's darkest secrets in the pages of the first magazine aimed at a black readership - DRUM
Forgiveness (2004)
Call Number: HAT AV Video (DVD) PN1995.9.D7 F674 2005
A white former South African policeman who tortured and killed a black anti-apartheid activists seeks forgiveness from the victim's family. (In English and Afrikaans with English subtitles)
Red Dust (2004)
Call Number: In Summit Catalog
A political thriller set in a small South African town during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings.
Son of Man (2006)
Call Number: HAT AV Video (DVD) PN1995.9.B55 S615 2009
A retelling of the life of Jesus Christ, set in contemporary South Africa. Xhosu and English with English subtitles.
Tsotsi (2005)
Call Number: HAT AV Video (DVD) PN1995.91.T67 T76 2006
A young man running with a criminal gang on the streets of Johannesburg, Tsotsi - a nickname meaning thug - is immersed in a world of violence that seems to leave him unaffected, until he discovers an infant in the back seat of a car he has stolen. In Tsotsitaal, with English subtitles.
Yesterday (2004)
Call Number: HAT AV Video (DVD) PN1995.91.Z8 Y47 2006
A drama about the AIDS epidemic in Africa as seen through the lives of one family. Dialogue in Zulu with English subtitles.

Documentary Films

Afro@digital (2003)
Call Number: Hatfield Library AV Video (DVD) HM851 .A37 2003
Looks at the information technology revolution which has become a daily reality in many African countries where the Internet, mobile telephones and digital video cameras are being used with extraordinary creativity. In French, Jula and Yoruba with English subtitles.
Le malentendu colonial -Colonial Misunderstanding
Call Number: Hatfield Library AV Video BV3625.N42 M25 2004
The filmmaker looks at European colonialism in Africa through the lens of Christian evangelism as the model for the relationship between Africa and western countries today. In French, German, and English, with English subtitles.
Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai
Call Number: Hatfield Library AV Video (DVD) SB63.M22 T35 2008
Taking Root tells the dramatic story of Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai, whose simple act of planting trees grew into a nationwide movement to safeguard the environment, protect human rights, and defend democracy
This is Nollywood
Call Number: Hatfield Library AV Video (DVD) PN1993.5.N55 T55 2007
Examines the burgeoning motion picture industry in Nigeria, most of which is shot on relatively small budgets with digital cameras.
Wonders of the African World
Call Number: Hatfield Library AV Video DT14 .W65 1999
This documentary presents Henry Louis Gates, Jr. on a journey from Zanzibar to Timbuktu, the Nile River Valley to Great Zimbabwe, the slave coast of Guinea to the medieval monasteries of Ethiopia in search of the lost wonders of the African world.

Miscellaneous African-related Websites

Below is a selective list of African-related Internet sites. Some of the sites offer a portal to African sites/resources, some provide news and advocacy information, and some provide images and sounds from Africa...you'll find a variety of interesting information by exploring these useful sites:

AfricaFocus
"This website, edited by William Minter, features high-quality analysis and progressive advocacy on African issues, with particular attention to priority issues affecting the entire continent. The heart of the website is the AfricaFocus Bulletin produced and distributed one to two times a week to over 5,000 subscribers."
Africa Focus: Sights and Sounds of a Continent
"Africa Focus brings together, in digital form, two categories of primary and secondary resources: research and teaching materials collected by University of Wisconsin faculty and staff; and unique or valuable items related to these fields held by the University of Wisconsin Libraries."
African Online Digital Library
"The African Online Digital Library (AODL) is a portal to multimedia collections about Africa."
African Studies Internet Resources
"Columbia University's collection of African Studies Internet Resources is an on-going compilation of electronic bibliographic resources and research materials on Africa available on the global Internet."
African Union
The vision of the African Union is: “An integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the global arena.”
Africa South of the Sahara: Selected Internet Resources
"Selected Internet Resources" related to Africa and organized by country or topic. Maintained by Karen Fung, Stanford University.
Bureau of African Affairs
The U.S. Department of State's Web site dealing with Africa. Includes access to information on regional topics, countries, etc.
IRIN-Africa
"IRIN is an award-winning humanitarian news and analysis service covering the parts of the world often under-reported, misunderstood or ignored." This site is a project of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Feature Films about Africa

The Constant Gardener (2005)
Call Number: Hatfield Library AV Video (DVD) PN1995.9.S87 C645 2006
In a remote area of Northern Kenya, activist Tessa Quayle is found brutally murdered. Tessa's companion, a doctor, appears to have fled the scene, and all the evidence points to a crime of passion...
Cry Freedom (1987)
Call Number: HAT AV Video (DVD) PN1995.9.B55 C87 1999
The true story of the friendship between black activist Stephen Biko and white newspaper editor Donald Woods, who was instrumental in bringing Biko's anti-apartheid message to the international community.
Cry, the Beloved Country (1951)
Call Number: HAT AV Video PN1995.9.D7 C82 1992
This is a story of two men, two fathers, one black, one white, drawn together through one father's search for a lost son.
Hotel Rwanda (2004)
Call Number: Hatfield Library Featured (DVD) PN1995.9.B55 H67 2005
Based on the true story of Paul Rusesabagina, a five-star-hotel manager who uses his wits and persuasion in striving to save more than 1,200 Tutsis and Hutus from being massacred by the Interahamwe militia during the 1994 Rwandan conflict.
Invictus (2009)
Call Number: HAT AV Video (DVD) PN1995.9.S76 I585 2010
As hosts of the 1995 Rugby World Cup, South Africa's low ranked national team, the Springboks, have a berth in the tournament. Mandela begins making public appearances supporting the team, and meets privately with captain Francois Pienaar, encouraging him to inspire his teammates to victory.
Mister Johnson (1990)
Call Number: Hatfield Library AV Video (DVD) PN1995.9.D7 M555 1997
Funny and sometimes poignant look at the struggle between men of the British Empire and African villagers.
Nirgendwo in Afrika - Nowhere in Africa (2001)
Call Number: Library AV Video (DVD) PN1995.91.G4 N47 2003
The true tale of a Jewish family who flee the Nazi regime in 1938 and learns to cope with their new life, and each other, on a remote farm in Kenya. In German and Swahili and English, English subtitles.
Outbreak (1995)
Call Number: Hatfield Library AV Video (DVD) PN1995.9.S87 O87 1997
Dustin Hoffman plays Sam Daniels, a take-charge army virologist trying to stave off global biological meltdown. A rare killer virus from the jungles of Zaire has taken hold in a California community.
Sizwe Bansi is Dead (1978)
Call Number: HAT AV Video PN1995.9.D7 S459 1992
Veteran actors Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee discuss black theatre, stylization, avant-gardism, and realism. A performance of Athol Fugard's play, Sizwe Bansi is dead, follows.
Sometimes in April (2005)
Call Number: Hatfield Library AV Video (DVD) PN1995.9.W3 S65 2005
Based on the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, where over the course of 100 days an estimated 800,000 people were killed in a terrifying purge by Hutu nationalists against their Tutsi countrymen. In English and Kinyarwanda with English subtitles.