THE AFRICAN COURIER. Reporting Africa and its Diaspora! The African Courier is an international magazine published in Germany to report on Africa and the Diaspora African experience. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine appeared on the newsstands on 15 February 1998. The African Courier is a communication forum for European-African political, economic and cultural exchanges, and a voice for Africa in Europe.
From 8–13 November, ‘Afrikamera – Latest Cinema from Africa’ presents, among others, a selection of current feature, documentary and short films dealing with issues of migration and life in the African diaspora.
Among the films to be screened at the film festival, which has been holding in Berlin since 2008, is Fati’s Choice of the Ghanaian filmmaker Fatimah Dadzie. It narrates the story of a pregnant Fatima who fled across the Mediterranean to Italy, but then decides to return to her family and her four children after six months of disillusionment to the consternation of her people at home.
With his documentary debut No U-Turn, Nigerian director Ike Nnaebue embarks on a journey into his own past, of how more than 20 years ago, he made his way from Nigeria to Europe, but then turned back in Morocco. Eventually he studied filmmaking in Lagos. Nnaebue tries to understand what motivates young people in West Africa today to embark on the dangerous journey to an uncertain future.
In Keni Ogunlola’s short film Lodgers, featuring the comedian AY (Ayo Makun), two Nigerian professionals decide to move to England. There, they meet the fate of many who believe the grass is always greener in Europe as things become uncomfortable for them.
Altogether, 19 films will be screened at the week-long festival, which for the first time, will hold in four venues across the German capital city.
While the Arsenal, the traditional venue of Afrikamera at the iconic Potdamerplatz, will host the opening and the closing events, films will be shown as well at the Humboldt Forum, Heinrich Böll Foundation and BrotfabrikKino. Moreover, a small selection of films will also be streamed online at Indiekinoclub as part of the 2022 festival.
Beyond the film screenings, Afrikamera provides an important platform for networking between German filmmakers and their counterparts from Africa and its diaspora. The 2022 festival features three public discourses on the topic of migration and diaspora as well as exchanges with the directors of some of the screened films who will be in Berlin for the festival.
Afrikamera is organised annually by the non-profit cultural association toucouleur e.V. which, using the medium of film, presents to the Berlin audience the diversity of the African continent. The festival shows that the continent does not only consist of problems such as violence, diseases and natural disasters by presenting the diverse facets of everyday life in Africa.
Sola Jolaoso
For the full programme of AFRIKAMERA 2022, visit: https://www.afrikamera.de/en/
