FILMS, VIDEOS & DVDS FOR African Studies

The Future Of Mud: A Tale of Houses and Lives in Djenne A Film by Susan Vogel Presented by the Musée National du Mali

This constructed documentary blends In interviews, information with narrative to show family members the cycle of mud building and the lives of masons talk about the in Djenne, a UNESCO World Heritage city in Mali. town of Djenne, its buildings, and THE FUTURE OF MUD focuses on the mason their desires for Komusa Tenaepo, who hopes that his son will the future, as do succeed him. The film shows a day in the life of a distinguished the mason and Amadou, his young helper from Koranic master, a poor family near Timbuktu, as Komusa decides and a staff whether to allow his son to leave for schooling member of the government office charged with in the capital. preserving the architecture of Djenne. The film reveals the interdependence between The film ends with thousands of participants at the masons, buildings, and lives lived in them. It exam- annual replastering of Djenne’s beloved mosque, ines the tenuous survival of the inherited learning an age-old event, which, for the first time, has been of masons, and the hard work that sustain this specially staged in hopes of attracting tourists. style of architecture. It shows life in Djenne’s mud buildings: courtyards, a blacksmiths’ workshop, a 2007 RAI International Festival of Ethnographic Film modern white vinyl sitting room, the construction site, and Friday prayers at the great mosque. 58 minutes | color | 2007 Sale/DVD: $390 | Order #AF7-01

First Run/Icarus Films | 1 Living Memory Malick Sidibé: A Film by Susan Vogel Portrait of the Artist as a Portraitist Produced by Susan Vogel, Samuel Sidibé, Eric Engles & the Musée National du Mali A Film by Susan Vogel

The film is constructed in six sketches, focusing on This short but sweet film looks at the work of the “Brilliant!... perfect for teaching African art and Ritual Arts, Culture on Display, Style, Architecture, renowned African artist whose photographs have photography.”—Christraud M. Geary, Curator of Contemporary Artists and Music. Alternately sen- documented social and cultural changes in Mali African and Oceanic Art, Museum of Fine Arts, sual, ironic, beautiful and humorous, the film over a forty-year period. In a rare interview, this Boston exposes tensions in a culture assailed by modern- self-taught photographer, now seventy years old, “A timely and highly welcome portrait… highly ization, Islam and global tourism, yet confident discusses his views of photography as a “social recommended for all interested in Malian visual that it will maintain its own distinctive character. art form.” culture and the history of photography!” “Engages the full sweep of Mali’s contemporary MALICK SIDIBÉ showcases many of his best —Professor Tobias Wendl, University of Bayreuth, artistic production with an exceptional visual known photos, especially those documenting Author of Snap Me One: Studiofotografen and conceptual clarity… A must see film for... LIVING MEMORY is a film about Mali’s ancient Malian youth culture in the Sixties. in Afrika students of African art and culture.” culture, and its position in the country’s society —Mary Jo Arnoldi, Curator, African Art and today. Filmed with a Malian crew, cut to the beat Culture, National Museum of Natural History, of Malian music, the film offers an alluring mosaic Smithsonian Institution of perspectives. “Ambitious… Richly textured.” Home of the ancient empires, this landlocked —Holland Cotter, The New York Times desert nation is one of the ten poorest countries yet, paradoxically, a rich culture flourishes, and “Eloquently describes the power of tradition in Malian artists are prominent in contemporary contemporary Malian society... Recommended!” Africa. —Educational Media Reviews Online Samuel Sidibé (Director of the Musée National du 2005 New York African Film Festival Mali), the brilliant Malian cinematographer Racine 2004 African Studies Association Golden Lifetime Achievement Award Keita and Susan Vogel (founder of the Museum Film Festival to Malick Sidibé, 2007 Venice Biennale for African Art, New York) provide unparalleled 53 minutes | color | 2003 2006 African Studies Association Film Festival access and an insider’s vision. Sale/DVD: $390 | Order #AF7-02 8 minutes | color | 2005 Sale/DVD: $125 | Order #AF7-03

Fang: An Epic Journey A Film by Susan Vogel

FANG mixes documentary and fiction techniques to recount an African art object’s journey through a century of peril and adventure, and uses the film styles of each historical period to tell its story—a whole century of Western attitudes towards African culture packed into 8 minutes.

“Highly Recommended! [A] little gem.” —Educational Media Reviews Online

2004 African Studies Association 8 minutes | color/b&w | 2001 Film Festival Sale/DVD: $125 | Order #AF7-04

2 | First Run/Icarus Films See Page 23 for Ordering Information | 3 Bruly Bouabré’s Alphabet Photo Souvenir A Film by Nurith Aviv A Film by Paul Cohen & Martijn van Haalen

from the same period has brought them renewed attention and financial rewards. While the film documents the effort by two French photo connoisseurs to organize an exhibition of Koudjina’s work in Paris, PHOTO SOUVENIR reveals the fickle cultural process by which one- time “photo souvenirs” become “photographic art.”

“PHOTO SOUVENIR has a visual power, it is poetry.”—Skrien Filmmagazine

During the euphoria of a newly Golden Calf for Best Documentary, In the 1950s, Ivory Coast artist Frederic Bruly independent Niger in the 1960s, 2006 Netherlands Film Festival Bouabré created several hundred pictograms, Philippe Koudjina worked as a photojournalist 54 minutes | color | 2006 based on one-syllable words in his language, and later opened his own photo studio. For many Sale/DVD: $390 | Order #AF7-06 Bété, to help people in the Bété community learn years his snapshots of the youth scene in Niamey to read more quickly. Although some 600,000 and his family portraits provided Koudjina with a Bétés live in the Ivory Coast, their language is not good living. taught in schools, and all education is conducted Today Koudjina has fallen on hard times. He is no in French. longer able to take photos because he is slowly Bouabré’s 400 pictograms, in various combina- losing his sight to glaucoma. After being hit by a car, he must use crutches to get around, and he tions, provide a playful yet tangible method of “Recommended! Excellent.” can’t afford medical care. His cameras, photo- instruction, as demonstrated in BRULY BOUABRÉ’S —Educational Media Reviews Online ALPHABET. As the now elderly Bouabré explains, graphic equipment and a disorganized collection his aim was to “form a specific African writing “[Bouabré] deciphers the world as a visual text, of negatives gather dust in a cupboard, while he from scenes of human life.” Today a small creating a comprehensive guide to everything begs on the street in order to survive. and everyone. Over decades Bouabré created number of people continue to use Bruly’s PHOTO SOUVENIR features interviews with a visual manuscript, an art manifesto, of life, alphabet, and museums around the world have Koudjina, who recounts his photographic heyday, death and everything; a metaphysically sympa- exhibited his drawings. while reminiscences by friends and acquaintances thetic curation of the entire modern world.” 2006 Society for Visual are complemented by many of Koudjina’s distinc- —BBC Anthropology Film Festival tive black-and-white photos. 2005 African Studies Association 17 minutes | color | 2004 Film Festival Sale/DVD: $150 | Order #AF7-05 Koudjina’s desperate situation is contrasted with the fortunes of other African photographers such as Malick Sidibé and Seydou Keita, whose work

4 | First Run/Icarus Films See Page 23 for Ordering Information | 5 The Life and Times of Sara Baartman— Last Grave at Dimbaza “The Hottentot Venus” Directed by Chris Curling & Pascoe Macfarlane A Film by Zola Maseko Produced by Nana Mahomo, Antonia Caccia & Andrew Tsehlana

This film tells the story of the Khoi deconstructs the social, political, scientific and In 1969, a small group of South African By combining its clandestinely-photographed scenes Khoi woman who in 1810 was taken philosophical assumptions which transformed one exiles and British film students formed of everyday life with relevant statements from from South Africa, and then exhibited as a freak young African woman into a representation of Morena Films in London to produce films about National Party leaders such as B.J. Vorster that char- across Britain. The image and idea of “The savage sexuality and racial inferiority. apartheid. In 1974 they produced one of the first, acterize the government’s unabashedly racist poli- Hottentot Venus” swept through British popular and certainly one of the most influential, films about cies, LAST GRAVE AT DIMBAZA becomes a stunning “A telling and quite powerful film.” culture. In 1814 she was taken to France, where South Africa’s racist regime. LAST GRAVE AT DIM- indictment of the apartheid system, which had con- —American Historical Review she became the BAZA—shot clandestinely and smuggled out of the trolled South Africa since 1948. The film’s object of scientific “Excellent...An important film.” country—had an enormous impact on global concluding scenes, contrasting increasing labor and medical research —Anthropology Review Database opinion at a critical moment in the anti-apartheid unrest and strikes amongst black workers and the struggle, revealing to audiences worldwide the compulsory training in armaments use for all white that formed the Best African Documentary, bedrock of European 1999 FESPACO African shocking inequalities between whites and blacks in South Africans, dramatically foreshadows the conflict ideas about black Film Festival (Ouagadougou South Africa. It went on to win major awards at that developed during the following two decades, Burkina Faso) female sexuality. many international film festivals. With a newly and which culminated in the end of apartheid with 2001 African Literature restored digital master, LAST GRAVE AT DIMBAZA is the nation’s first multiracial elections in 1994. Using historical Association Conference Film Festival now available for the first time on DVD. drawings, cartoons, “Provides a window to a world one cannot easily 1999, 2000 & 2001 forget… provides the viewer with a clear under- legal documents, African Studies Association and interviews with Conference Film Festivals standing of the life of the average black person in South Africa.”—Esmeralda Kale, Educational noted cultural histo- 53 minutes | color | 1999 cc rians and anthropol- Sale/DVD: $390 | Order #AF7-07 Media Reviews Online ogists, THE LIFE “Continually juxtaposes the two communities of AND TIMES OF South Africa to ghastly effect, and the cold statis- SARA BAARTMAN tics of its commentary are unbearable.” —Time Out

2006 African Studies Association End of the Dialogue Film Festival A Film by Antonia Caccia, Chris Curling, Simon Louvish, Best Film, 1975 FESPACO African Nana Mahomo, Vus Make & Rakhetla Tsehlana Film Festival Filmed throughout South Africa, from Capetown to 55 minutes color 1974 cc END OF THE DIALOGUE is a landmark film that Johannesburg, as well as in the surrounding black | | Sale/DVD: $390 | Order #AF7-09 was one of the first to reveal the full horrors of townships and the desolate bantustans, LAST apartheid to the world. Made in 1970, the film is GRAVE AT DIMBAZA visually portrays the stark con- valuable not only as a record of apartheid, but trasts between living and working conditions for the also as a record of how people’s understanding of majority populace of 18 million blacks and the 4 South Africa was then changing. Produced by a million whites who rule over them. In addition to group of black South African exiles and film stu- revealing the migratory labor system, which sepa- dents based in London, it caused an uproar when rates black families for most of the year, and a it was originally released. More than 30 years after repressive passbook policy to control black workers’ the images and facts still shock. movements, the film examines the gross inequities in such areas as housing, education, health care, “Powerful and distressing... A remarkable film.” industry, and agriculture. —Observer (London)

2003 African Studies Association 44 minutes | color | 1970 Conference Film Festival Sale/DVD: $298 | Order #AF7-08

6 | First Run/Icarus Films See Page 23 for Ordering Information | 7 The Return of Sara Baartman 21 Up South Africa: Mandela’s Children A Film by Zola Maseko Directed by Angus Gibson An ITV Production Sara Baartman arrived in London in 1810. For the Featuring scenes shot in 1992, 1999 next five years, she was a popular freak show and 2006, this documentary follows attraction. When she died in Paris in 1816, Baartman the lives of South African children—rich and poor, was dissected by the French scientist Georges black, white and “mixed race”—from all over the Couvier, who saw her as little more than an ape. country, from the townships to the bushveldt. In the The full story of her life and death is told in process 21 UP SOUTH AFRICA offers unique insights The Life and Times of Sara Baartman (see p. 8). into the social and political changes occurring THE RETURN OF SARA BAARTMAN continues the throughout the country since the fall of Apartheid. story, and tackles difficult issues of artifact and First filmed as 7-year-olds in 1992, these 11 indi- human remains repatriation and the rights of “Recommended! viduals are ordinary South Africans growing up at indigenous people. Fascinating! a time of enormous social change. We see them THE RETURN OF SARA BAARTMAN offers some Striking imagery, now at the age of 21 making their way in the new closure on a tragic episode of racism and imperi- camerawork, South Africa and, alism. After returning Baartman to South Africa, and music.” as we roll back however, questions and uncertainties remain. For —Educational time in this how does an exploited spirit return home, when Media Reviews unique chronicle home, and the accompanying culture, is gone? Online of their lives, we also see them 2004 African Studies Association aged 14 and 7. Film Festival We see where 2004 African Literature Association Film Festival they started—in township slums, 2004 Pan African Film Festival (Los Angeles) old-school man- sions and white 55 minutes | color | 2003 cc Sale/DVD: $390 | Order #AF7-10 suburbs—their world divided along racial lines, as the Everything Must Come to Light policy of A Film by Mpumi Njinge & Paulo Alberton Apartheid begins to crumble. EVERYTHING MUST COME TO LIGHT tells the 2002 African Studies Association “An engaging, real-life view of historic social Film Festival While the fall of Apartheid presented them with unusual stories of of three dynamic lesbian san- change. Having survived political conflict and new opportunities, it also confronted them with gomas (traditional healers) in Soweto, South Africa. 25 minutes | color | 2002 violent crime, these youngsters’ most deadly Sale/DVD: $225 | Order #AF7-11 new challenges. In successive interview sessions, battle has been with AIDS.”—DigiGuide The relationship between the Sangomas and their characterized by disarming honesty, touches of ancestors, the roles the ancestors play in humor and sadness, we see how their attitudes “Angus Gibson has never been content to simply Sangoma healing powers, and the role they play and experiences changed regarding many issues, follow the conventions of film and television in shaping Sangoma sexuality are focal points in from race relations and educational opportunities, industries around him. Through his works he has this documentary. crime and unemployment, to marriage and the explored, questioned, and challenged cultural and AIDS crisis, which has already claimed the lives of racial taboos of South Africa in order to carve out “A fascinating documentary.” several of the children. space for television and films that reflect the peo- —Feminist Collections Quarterly 69 minutes | color | 2007 ples of his native country.”—MIT Office of the Arts Sale/DVD: $398 | Order #AF7-12 8 | First Run/Icarus Films See Page 23 for Ordering Information | 9 Mobutu, King of Zaire On the Rumba River A Three-Part Film by Thierry Michel A Film by Jacques Sarasin

Part Three – The End of a Reign As the Cold War ended, Mobutu felt increasing pressure to open the political process to opposi- tion. Part Three documents the emergence of an opposition movement led by Etienne Tshisekedi, the National Conference (1990 to 1992), and the 1996 rebellion led by Laurent Désiré Kabila. In May 1997, Kabila, Mobutu and South Africa’s President Nelson Mandela met in Kinshasha. Within weeks Kabila took the city, Mobutu fled, and he died in exile in September of that year. The film uses the best contemporary documen- tary material of all of these events. In MOBUTU, KING OF ZAIRE Thierry Michel has crafted an essential history and documen- tary resource.

In the Democratic Republic of the The film’s exploration of the history and continuing Congo today, nearly sixty years after popularity of Congolese rumba is set against a back- This is the definitive visual record of his first hit record, Wendo Kolosoy, affectionately drop of political turmoil that has afflicted this African the rise and fall of Joseph Désiré known as “Papa Wendo,” remains a well-known nation for decades, from the repressive regime Mobutu, ruler of Zaire (the Congo) for over 30 and beloved musician. Renowned for his develop- (1965-1997) of Mobutu Sese Seko, an ongoing years. Drawing upon 140 hours of rare archival ment of Congolese rumba—a popular musical civil war, and a fragile contemporary peace. material and 50 hours of interviews, MOBUTU, style that blends rumba, beguine, waltz, tango, KING OF ZAIRE tells the story of the man at the “Fascinating… will prove a big draw with World and cha cha cha—Wendo is still active, now in his heart of Central Africa’s post-colonial history. and African music crowds as well as documen- 80s, continuing to perform and to record albums. tary lovers and those interested in current Part One – Quest For Power “A stunning documentary.” ON THE RUMBA RIVER introduces us to this leg- African affairs… Key to the film’s power is its Covering the years from Mobutu’s birth until 1969, —American Historical Review endary musician, along with veteran members of total involvement in Wendo’s musicmaking.” Part One documents his journey from cook’s son “Remarkable!... fantastic footage and revealing his band. The film also treats us to musical per- —Robert Koehler, Variety to President of the Congo. In an interview former interviews... Excellent!”—David Moore, University formances by the group, in rehearsals, impromptu CIA Station Chief Larry Devlin confirms that “The film captures the daily life of the founder of of Natal, Durban, for H-SAfrica jam sessions, and lively public performances. Mobutu was seen as a replacement for Patrice the Congolese rumba in the company of thirty Lumumba. Archival footage shows Mobutu’s coup “Great cinematic drama. A rarity.” musical artists… The emotion is pure. The sad- in 1965, Lumumba in captivity with Mobutu —Mail and Guardian ness also… One cannot speak of modern music looking on, and the ensuing four-year civil war. 2001 African Literature Association without evoking the name of Wendo Kolosoy.” Film Festival —Le Potentiel Part Two – An African Tragedy 2000 African Studies Association Part Two documents his rule from 1969 to 1988. Film Festival 86 minutes | color | 2005 | By 1970 Mobutu was the undisputed ruler of Sale/DVD: $398 Order #AF7-14 162 minutes | color | 2000 Zaire, controlling its riches, property and people. Sale/DVD: $490 | Order #AF7-13 Resistance was brutally repressed, and economic crises were constant, as described here by Mobutu’s advisors.

10 | See Page 23 for Ordering Information First Run/Icarus Films | 11 Now on Gacaca In Rwanda We Say… Living Together Again In Rwanda? The family that does not speak dies A Film by Anne Aghion A Film by Anne Aghion

present when the nearly 1,000 Rwandans were gathered for the first of a series of open-air “Pre- Gacaca” hearings, whose two-fold purpose is to clear the prisons of innocent detainees by public approbation, and to educate Rwandans about the Gacaca trials to come. Amidst a people renowned for their reserve, Anne Aghion spent six weeks recording the intertwining stories of survivors and prisoners, and their In 1994, decades of politically motivated ethnic visions of the future. GACACA opens a chapter to scapegoating culminated in a wholesale slaughter of a new era, and is an astonishing, intimate look at the Rwanda’s Tutsi minority. Vast numbers of ordi- the strength of the human spirit. nary citizens became killers, some willingly and some by force. More than 800,000 lives were taken, “Recommended. This is a fine film which will fuel and the country was left in a state of devastation. many lively discussions not only on the issue of justice in Rwanda, but justice in the face of Venturing into the rural heart of the nation, heinous crimes against humanity.” GACACA, LIVING TOGETHER AGAIN IN RWANDA? Aghion’s influential 2002 film Gacaca, Living articulate way—first to the camera, and then to —Educational Media Reviews Online follows the first steps in a bold experiment in recon- Together Again in Rwanda? (see p. 12) captured each other—as these neighbors negotiate the ciliation: the Gacaca (Ga-CHA-cha) Tribunals, which 2005 Association of Genocide the testimonies of both survivors and killers in the emotional task of accepting life side by side. Scholars Conference remote community of Ntongwe. IN RWANDA WE represent a remarkable democratization of justice “With extraordinary sensitivity, Aghion takes us 2003 African Studies Association SAY... returns two years later, as close to 16,000 of for a people accustomed to dictatorial authority. Film Festival into the heart of the problem of reconciliation in these suspects, still untried, are released across a post-genocidal society—not with wordy The Tribunals offer a voice, and perhaps a thera- 55 minutes | color | 2002 the country. Having confessed to their crimes, and Sale/DVD: $390 | Order #AF7-15 abstractions but with the earthy, real expressions peutic catharsis, to survivors. The film crew was having served the maximum sentence the Gacaca of the people, victims and accused criminals, tribunals would eventually impose, perpetrators of who must try to live together. Those seeking to appalling crimes are sent home to plow fields and know whether reconciliation is possible in fetch water alongside the people they victimized. Rwanda must look for their answer in this com- IN RWANDA WE SAY... focused on the release of pelling expression of Rwandan voices.” one suspect, tracking the effect of his return on a —Alison des Forges, Senior Advisor to Human tiny hillside hamlet. What unfolds is astonishing. Rights Watch, Africa Little by little, people begin to talk in a profound, “Recommended!” —Educational Media Reviews Online

2005 Association of Genocide Scholars Conference 2004 African Studies Association Film Festival 2004 African Literature Association Film Festival 54 minutes | color | 2004 Sale/DVD: $390 | Order #AF7-16

12 | First Run/Icarus Films See Page 23 for Ordering Information | 13 Donka: X-Ray of an African Hospital Everything’s Fine A Film by Thierry Michel A Film by Daisy Lamothe

Built in 1959 just before independence, the Donka As we follow the floor-to-floor progress of patients, Hospital in Conakry, Guinea, was designed on a their families, doctors and nurses, portraits alter- European model, with little consideration for nate to form a living chronicle where tragedy African realities. The most important hospital in meets hope. the country, its plight typifies the crisis affecting “Illuminates the dedication of the few who the entire African health sector. struggle against the darkness.” Over the years the hospital has accumulated sub- —San Francisco International Film Festival stantial debt that neither the Guinean state nor inter- national agencies will pay. Compelled to develop its financial autonomy, the hospital enforces a pay-as-you-go policy. This financial strategy is rigorously applied, but at a high human cost. In this hospital of last resort, families strive to save a child or parent, but without money, there are no drugs and little chance for survival. Revenues rise, but access to treatment diminishes.

Golden Spire Award Winner, 1997 San Francisco Film Festival Seydou Konaté is a doctor in Through its engaging portrait of this self-styled Nongon, a small village in Southern “bush doctor,” who must try to prevent epidemics 59 minutes | color | 1997 Sale/DVD: $390 | Order #AF7-17 Mali, without electricity or telephones, isolated by of cholera and AIDS as well as deal with the all- two rivers with no bridges, and a 10-hour drive on too-common but no less life-threatening prob- a dirt road from the capital of Bamako. Working lems of dehydration and diarrhea, EVERYTHING’S out of the Community Health Care Center, with FINE offers revealing insights into the challenges limited staff and technical facilities, he is the only of health care in Africa today. doctor for more than 40,000 inhabitants. “Brings out the plight of current health care stan- EVERYTHING’S FINE portrays Konaté’s everyday dards in rural Africa, intertwined as they are in 6000 a Day— routine, meeting with patients in his office, every country, with political and economic reali- An Account of a Catastrophe Foretold treating a variety of injuries and ailments in the ties…recommended for academic library collec- clinic, lecturing people on the use of condoms to tions supporting health sciences programs, A Film by Philip Brooks prevent AIDS, warning against the dangers of particularly public health, African studies pro- using water from contaminated wells, insisting on grams, and sociology programs.” Filmed largely in Uganda and South Africa, where regular vaccinations for young children, dealing the AIDS crisis has been most devastating, this —Lori Widzinski, Health Sciences Library, with complications of pregnancy, and even com- film reveals how the world’s top decision makers University of Buffalo, for Educational Media paring professional notes with a traditional healer knowingly failed to prevent the spread of AIDS. Reviews Online who comes in for a diagnosis. 6000 A DAY examines the failure of key individ- Heritage Award, 2006 uals, prominent NGOs, and governments to act as Cinema du Réel they allowed a catastrophe to fester. 78 minutes | color | 2006 Sale/DVD: $398 | Order #AF7-20 “A fascinating study.” —Educational Media Reviews Online

2002 African Studies Association 55 minutes | color | 2002 Film Festival Sale/DVD: $248 | Order #AF7-18

14 | First Run/Icarus Films See Page 23 for Ordering Information | 15 Our Friends at the Bank The Price of Aid A Film by Peter Chappell A Film by Jihan El Tahri

The economic development of many Traveling between Washington, DC and Uganda, countries depends on the World Peter Chappell followed the negotiations between Bank. Often criticized and blamed for politically the World Bank and Uganda in order to understand unpopular policies, and confronted with and describe the mechanisms that shape the reality numerous setbacks, the Bank is experiencing a of North-South relations, economic and political difficult time with regard to which strategies to policy, as well as the future of millions of people. adopt, particularly in Africa. “Full of insights and shrewd observations… Uganda, a country that emerged from the dictator- essential viewing for anyone interested in aid ship of Idi Amin and years of civil war with rela- and development.”—Michael Holman, Africa tively high rates of economic growth, is one of its Editor, Financial Times

“model cases.” OUR FRIENDS AT THE BANK looks Library Prize, 1998 at the relationship between the Government of Cinéma du Réel (Paris) Uganda and the World Bank over a period of 18 85 minutes | color | 1998 months, filming events at the highest levels of both. Sale/DVD: $248 | Order #AF7-21

Every day the U.S. donates millions of tons of food to famine victims and other starving people in the world’s poorest countries. This provocative documentary, through an in-depth case study of a recent famine crisis in Zambia, shows how these aid programs solve an immediate crisis but at the same time create worse long-term problems for the recipient nation. THE PRICE OF AID reveals the vast bureaucratic network of American aid agencies involved in the problems for African agriculture and public health, “hunger business.” U.S. aid policies are explained and how foreign aid is involved in the trade war in interviews with representatives from the U.S. between the U.S. and European countries. Agency for International Development, the “Highly Recommended!... an essential addition to Coalition for Food Aid, CARE, the World Bank, the collections of African and postcolonial studies.” Diamonds and Rust Farm and Foreign Agriculture Service, the Food —Educational Media Reviews Online A Film by Adi Barash and Ruth Shatz for Peace Program, and U.S. government officials. “A Winner! Informative, well-balanced, and Zambian government officials, including former Off the coast of Namibia, the crew of a diamond- credible.”—Catholic Library World and present Ministers of Agriculture, as well as mining trawler works tirelessly around the clock Zambian farmers, explain how foreign food dona- 2005 African Studies Association in an atmosphere fraught with racial and political tions perpetuate a state of dependency among Film Festival tension. African and other Third World countries, undercut- 2004 International Film Festival on Human Rights (Geneva) “Fascinating and powerful.”—DOX Magazine ting local agriculture and development projects. 56 Minutes | color | 2004 2001 Golden Gate Award, The film discusses this complex issue in a global Sale/DVD: $390 | Order #AF7-23 San Francisco International Film Festival context, including the role of the international media in identifying famine crises, how America’s 73 minutes | color | 2001 Sale/DVD: was $440 now $348 | Order #AF7-22 export of genetically modified foods creates

16 | See Page 23 for Ordering Information First Run/Icarus Films | 17 J’y Crois—I Believe in It Justice at Agadez A Film by Emile Adriaan van Rouveroy van Nieuwaal & Maarten van Rouveroy van Nieuwaal A Film by Christian Lelong

A beautifully com- “An engaging and educational documentary.” posed political docu- —International Journal of African Historical mentary investigating Studies the decentralization 2004 American Anthropological process in Mali, J´Y Association Film Festival CROIS is the new film 2004 African Studies Association from noted African Film Festival Studies scholar 55 minutes | color | 2004 Adriaan van Rouveroy Sale/DVD: $390 | Order #AF7-24 van Nieuwaal (Leiden University). From the desert sands of the In Niger, the official north, in the ancient justice system of this city of Ségou, on the former French colony banks of the Niger is based on the River, and to the Napoleonic Code. A agricultural fields in small percentage of the south, J’Y CROIS the population still looks at the decentralization reforms from the subscribe to supersti- perspectives of all Malians. tious beliefs and seek the advice of tradi- tional healers. But in this largely Muslim nation, “A passionate film!”—AfriCultures many citizens seek justice from the local Islamic Red Hat—Where Are You Going? judge, or “Cadi,” who interprets Koranic Law. “Recommended!... a unique opportunity to observe the practical implications of these reli- A Film by Emile Adriaan van Rouveroy van Nieuwaal & Maarten van Rouveroy van Nieuwaal Filmed in the village of Agadez in northern Niger, gious practices in individuals’ daily lives.” JUSTICE AT AGADEZ chronicles seven typical RED HAT, WHERE ARE YOU GOING? is an analysis —Educational Media Reviews Online cases heard by the local Cadi. The film unobtru- of the contemporary socio-political position of 2006 African Studies Association sively witnesses these seven “stories”—small civil traditional chiefs in the West African nation of Film Festival disputes, domestic conflicts, marriage problems, Burkina Faso. Combining archival footage with 2006 One World International accusations of theft. With the small vestibule of Film Festival interviews of chiefs and their critics, the film looks his home serving as a “courtroom,” the Cadi lis- 2005 FESPACO at how the chiefs have navigated political change, tens to the complaints and often heated argu- African Film Festival and at how they interact with both the govern- ments of all parties to the dispute, listening 2005 Kampala International ment and people today. Film Festival patiently, frequently posing questions and seeking “Provides food for thought for African scholars clarification, before rendering his judgment. 78 minutes | color | 2005 | and proponents of African rebirth.” Sale/DVD: $398 Order #AF7-26 JUSTICE AT AGADEZ not only demonstrates the —West Africa Review power of Islamic religious beliefs in enforcing 2002 African Literature Association both moral and civil behavior but also provides Conference Film Festival viewers a rare opportunity to see how Islamic law, 2001 African Studies Association Conference Film Festival unlike the manner in which it has often been sensationalized in the Western media, actually 47 minutes | color | 2001 Sale/DVD: $375 | Order #AF7-25 functions on an everyday basis.

18 | First Run/Icarus Films See Page 23 for Ordering Information | 19 Kuxa Kanema—The Birth Of Cinema Lagos / Koolhaas A Film by Margarida Cardoso Written and Directed by Bregtje van der Haak

Creation of the National Institute of Cinema (INC) was the first cultural act of the Mozambique Government after independence in 1975. Reflecting the country’s commitment to independ- ence and socialism, the history of the INC and its films cannot be disassociated from the movement embodied by the new presi- dent Samora Machel and the Mozambique Liberation Front. Lagos’ population is expected to reach 24 million LAGOS / KOOLHAAS follows Koolhaas during his Footage from “Highly Recommended!” people by 2020, which would make it the third research in Lagos over a period of two years as he the films show —Educational Media Reviews Online largest city in the world. Every hour, 21 new wanders through the city, talking with people and Mozambique’s inhabitants set out to start a life in the city, a life recognizing the problems with water, electricity 2005 New York African that is highly unpredictable and requires risk and traffic. But instead of judging the city to be trajectory from great hope to great disillusion- Film Festival taking, networking and improvisation as essential doomed, he is able to interpret this “culture of ment. Weaving these images together with inter- 2004 African Studies Association views with INC filmmakers, KUXA KANEMA Film Festival strategies for survival. congestion” positively, helping to develop a new constructs a history of the birth and death of local concept of the big city. 52 minutes | color/b&w | 2003 Rem Koolhaas is a Professor of Architecture and cinema, and the birth and death of an ideology. | Order #AF7-27 Sale/DVD: was $390 now $348 Urban Design at Harvard. For the past eleven “A fascinating and provocative insight into the years Koolhaas and students from The Harvard very extremes of globalizing modernity and Project on the City have come to Lagos, Nigeria urbanization…makes for engaging and stimu- Matamata and Pilipili regularly to research the type of urban environ- lating viewing.”—Visual Anthropology Review A Film by Tristan Bourland ment that is produced by explosive population “Excellent… Highly Recommended!” growth. In the 1950s Albert Van Haelst, a Belgian goers. —Educational Media Reviews Online missionary and film fanatic, made some twenty 2004 African Studies Association More than fifty years later, MATAMATA AND films in the Congo: the Matamata and Pilipili Film Festival PILIPILI reveals these forgotten gems. Through series. These comic heroes, an African answer to 55 minutes | color | 2003 them, and through the story of their creation, and | Laurel and Hardy, delighted Congolese movie- Sale/DVD: $390 Order #AF7-29 their reception by Congolese audiences, MATA- MATA AND PILIPILI reclaims an important episode in Congolese cultural history.

“A significant documentary.”—Professor Sheila Petty, University of Regina, for H-AfriLitCine

1997 African Studies Association Film Festival 1997 Margaret Mead Film Festival, New York 58 minutes | color | 1997 Sale/DVD: was $390 now $348 | Order #AF7-28

20 | First Run/Icarus Films See Page 23 for Ordering Information | 21 Two Selections from the Global Film Initiative More Films & DVDs on Africa This annual series of feature films from Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East help promote cross-cultural understanding through the medium of cinema. Story of a Beautiful Country Women of the Sahel Now on A Film by Khalo Matabane A Film by Paolo Quaregna & Khorma A National Film Board of Canada Production Mahamane Souleymane Follows the journey of a Examines the work done A Film by Jilani Saadi young black filmmaker trav- in the hidden “informal KHORMA tells the story of a young orphan living eling countrywide in a mini- sector” of Niger’s in a small Tunisian town. He is under the protec- van in search of the “new” economy by women, tion of Bou Khaleb, who trains him to become a South Africa. His quest whose work helps their professional announcer of marriages, births, and becomes a forum for ordi- families survive while deaths. When the apprentice is later selected to nary people to talk about the men are away in replace his ailing mentor, Khorma takes his new controversial issues such as land, race, language, search of seasonal work. post seriously, but soon alienates everyone by his globalization, democracy, identity, and violence. “A welcome addition.”—African Studies Quarterly unorthodox methods. “Recommended!... Engaging.” 52 minutes | color | 1996 “A charming yet merciless farce.”—Al Jadid: —Educational Media Reviews Online Sale/DVD: $390 | Order #AF7-36 A Review & Record of Arab Culture and Arts 73 minutes | color | 2004 cc Sale/DVD: $440 | Order #AF7-33 Searching for Hawa’s Secret “Immerses us in the often-hilarious power strug- A Film by Larry Krotz A National Film Board of Canada Production gles amongst the practitioners of the ‘religion White City, Black Lives business.’”—Levantine Cultural Center A Film by Teboho Mahlatsi Tells the story of the unlikely partnership Five residents of White City, a neighborhood in 90 minutes | color | 2002 between a Canadian Sale/VHS: $248 | Order #AF7-29 Soweto, using small Hi8 cameras, tell the story of microbiologist and a their own lives, in their own way, to represent Kenyan prostitute in the themselves to their fellow citizens, and the world. scientific quest to find Kabala “An interesting, unusual and highly evocative a vaccine for AIDS. account.”—MC Journal: the Journal of Academic A Film by Assane Kouyaté “Excellent... highly recommended.” Media Librarianship —Educational Media Reviews Online “Succeeds perfectly in 56 minutes | color | 1997 cc depicting the struggle Sale/DVD: $390 | Order #AF7-35 47 minutes | color | 2000 | between two genera- Sale/DVD: $248 Order #AF7-37 tions [over] the conflict between tradition and Ordering modernity in Africa Information today... With a great Please refer to Order deal of finesse, Assane Numbers on all Orders. Kouyate shows us the divisions surrounding Sales: DVDs are “leased for the life of the DVD.” Hamalla, who was banished from his village in this inexorable trans- Shipping: An additional fee for Mali because of ancient prejudices, returns four formation of African shipping and handling is added years later, now versed in modern technology at a society.”—Isabelle Audin, Clap Noir to all sales. First Run / Icarus Films time when the village’s holy ancestral well, 2002 Cannes International 32 Court Street, 21st Floor Film Festival Ordering: Submit all orders by pur- symbol of the community’s spirituality, has Brooklyn, NY 11201 become contaminated. KABALA’s poetic vision Jury Prize, 2003 Ouagadougou chase order, on official institutional International Film Festival letterhead stationery, or pay in Phone: (718) 488 8900 cleverly bridges its themes of the necessity of Fax: (718) 488 8642 advance of shipping. Please refer to accepting technology, while at the same time 107 minutes | color | 2002 Toll Free: (800) 876 1710 Sale/VHS: $248 | Order #AF7-30 Order Numbers on all orders. leaving no doubt of the power of traditional ways. [email protected] www.frif.com 22 | First Run/Icarus Films 23 PRSRT STD U.S. Postage PAID RIPON PRINTERS

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34 DVDs for African Studies Including 5 New Releases!