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.
AFRIKAMERA again brings inspiring African films and cultural stories to Berlin. The focus theme of the 2024 edition, holding from 12 – 17 November, is Believe, a journey into questions of faith, spirituality and empowerment in African cinema. Screenings will take place in Kino Arsenal, fsk, Sinema Transtopia, Brotfabrik Kino and City Kino Wedding in Berlin during the week-long film festival.
The annual film festival ‘AFRIKAMERA – Latest Cinema from Africa’ will focus on four main themes from 2024 to 2027: BELIEVE, CHANGE, REFLECT and CREATE. These themes will provide a lens through which diverse, inspiring, groundbreaking, and at times contradictory perspectives on key social and political issues of the present and future of the African continent will be explored.
The focus of this year’s theme, BELIEVE, is on films that tackle questions of faith, spirituality and empowerment. These elements shape private lives and social relationships in many ways, often being the source of political conflict and a frequent subject in the works of the younger generation of filmmakers.
In addition, highlights from current African cinema, which premiered and were celebrated at major international festivals, will be screened.
The festival will also feature several short film programmes, the special programme BLACK JEWS – BETA ISRAEL, a long series night with a subsequent party, and a ciné concert with a live band at City Kino Wedding, a first-time venue for the festival this year.
AFRIKAMERA will open with THE VILLAGE NEXT TO PARADISE (Somalia/Austria/France/Germany 2024), the feature debut of Somali director Mo Harawe. This atmospheric family drama made history as the first Somali film to have its international premiere in the ‘Un Certain Regard’ section at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The director will be present at the screening.
In OURA EL JBEL / BEHIND THE MOUNTAINS (Tunisia/Belgium/France/Italy/Saudi Arabia/Qatar 2023) by Mohamed Ben Attia, a young father, Rafik, lands in prison for four years following a violent outburst at his workplace. Upon his release, he takes his young son Yassine to the mountains to show him that he can fly. This supernatural drama, which caused a stir at the Venice Film Festival, celebrates the human spirit’s ability to explore and transcend the boundaries of societal realities.
BUFIS (Kenya/Germany 2023), directed by Mahad Ahmed and Vincenzo Cavallo, centres around Assad, the city’s best problem-solver, who assembles fake families from scattered refugees to apply for the US Green Card Lottery. He offers a chance to those who have none: a runaway bride, a prostitute, a single father, a former warlord and many others. Assad writes a script and coaches them until their story becomes truly believable, because only the best story will get them into the United States.
Programme special: BLACK JEWS – BETA ISRAEL
The history of Beta Israel, or Falashas, an ethnoreligious group whose members originally came from Ethiopia and who have mostly emigrated to Israel since the late 1970s, is largely unknown in these parts. Unlike other Jewish Diaspora stories on the African continent, the Falashas’ story is well represented in film. The special programme BLACK JEWS – BETA ISRAEL uses the Ethiopian Jews as an example to explore the complex history of Judaism in Africa and its links to contemporary Israel. The programme includes feature and documentary films on the subject as well as a panel discussion.
In YOU’RE MY FAVOURITE PLACE (South Africa 2022), the fifth feature film by South African director Jahmil X.T. Qubeka, a young girl from the roughest part of East London, whose life has not been the same since the death of her sister Anathi, takes centre stage. On her final day of school, she embarks on a life-changing road trip with three friends. They steal a taxi and drive to the remote landmark ‘Hole in the Wall’ on the Wild Coast, where, according to Xhosa legend, one can speak to the dead.
AFRIKAMERA – Latest Cinema from Africa is an initiative of toucouleur e.V., a collective of German and African cultural creators committed to intercultural dialogue between Africa and Germany.
Since 2008, AFRIKAMERA has been held in Berlin with annually changing themes, serving as a platform for contemporary African cinema in the German capital. To showcase African cinema in all its diversity, AFRIKAMERA cooperates with major African film festivals from Marrakesh to Durban.
Programme information, trailers and more will be available from mid-October 2024 at: www.afrikamera.de
