São Paulo – The 2022 African Film Festival will occur from July 6 to 20 in São Paulo and from July 7 to 13 in Curitiba. The event will bring together about 50 works from 20 African countries, emphasizing female production and films previously unreleased in Brazil. The festival schedule will include discussions, masterclasses, and panels with African guests. 11 Arab features and three shorts will be screened.
The schedule in São Paulo will include six venues in the capital city: Cinesesc, Sesc Av Paulista, Goethe-Institut, Cinusp, and Circuito Spcine (Lima Barreto Room) Roberto Santos Library), with film screenings and activities. Tickets will range from free admission to BRL 24 (about USD 4.57) per session.
In a hybrid format, the festival will also feature online short film exhibitions hosted by Sesc São Paulo. For more information and the full schedule, please visit the festival website.
Arabs
Among the feature films in the main circuit, curated by festival founders Ana Camila Esteves and Beatriz Leal Riesco, there are five Arab productions. Among the female-directed works are the documentaries A Way Home [Dans La Maison], by Moroccan Karima Saïdi (Belgium, France, Morocco, and Qatar, 2020); Suspended Wives [Lmaalkat], by Moroccan Merième Addou (Morocco, France, and Qatar, 2021); and the fiction A Tale of Love and Desire [Une histoire d’amour et de désir], by Tunisian Leyla Bouzid (France, 2021).
Also on the main circuit will be two other works with co-production from Arab countries. The documentary We, Students! [Nous, étudiants!], by Central African Rafiki Fariala (Central African Republic, France, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Saudi Arabia, 2022); and the fiction Tug of War [Vuta N’Kuvute], by Tanzanian Amil Shivji (Tanzania, South Africa, Germany, and Qatar, 2021).
In the alternative feature circuit, curated by Institut Français Cinéma, there will be six Arab films. The three documentaries will be 143 Sahara Street [143, Rue du Désert], by Algerian Hassen Ferhani, 2019; Talking about Trees, by Sudanese Suhaib Gasmelbari (France, Sudan, Germany, Chad, and Qatar, 2019); and the restored copy of Twenty Years of African Cinema [Caméra d’Afrique], by Férid Boughedir, a French-Tunisian production from 1983.
The fiction works will include The Gravedigger’s Wife [Guled & Nasra], by Finnish-Somali Khadar Ayderus Ahmed (France, Somalia, Germany, and Finland, 2021); You Will Die at 20 (opening picture), by Sudanese Amjad Abu Alala (Sudan, France, Egypt, Germany, Norway, and Qatar, 2019); and Wallay, by Berni Goldblat (France, Burkina Faso, and Qatar, 2017).
In the short sessions, there will be three Arab productions, one from Tunisia and two from Egypt. Within the short session “Fragments of history: singularities and conjunctions,” curated by Kariny Martins and Bea Gerolin, will be the fiction CAI – BER [Cairo – Berlin], by Egyptian Ahmed Abdelsalam (Egypt, England, 2021, 17 min.) and the experimental short Plague Under the Olive Tree, by Tunisian Youssef Ksentini (Tunisia, 2021, 10 min.). The short film session Institut Français Cinéma will feature the fiction Ward’s Henna Party [Henet Ward], by Egyptian Morad Mostafa (Egypt, 2020, 23 min.). The festival will also feature a session of Angolan short films.
The festival
This year’s highlights include the South African thriller Good Madam [Mlungu Wam] by Jenna Bass and Babalwa Baartman. A commentary on racial relations in post-apartheid South Africa, it had its award-winning premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. It will open the African Film Festival schedule with the presence of the filmmakers.
Above Water [Marcher sur l’eau] marks the direction debut of French-Senegalese Aïssa Maïga, who will be in São Paulo to present her documentary. In the film, she records the effects of climate change and globalization on a village in Niger.
Making its world premiere at the African Film Festival, Otiti, by Nigerian Ema Edosio, follows the story of a seamstress who takes on the responsibility of caring for the ill father who abandoned her as a child. Ema is also coming to Brazil to present a masterclass on her experience as an independent filmmaker in Nigeria.
In total, 28 feature films will be presented in São Paulo, 15 in the official selection to screen at Cinesesc, and 13 in the alternative program on the Spcine circuit. “The African Film Festival returns to movie theaters in great style to celebrate the biggest African film festival in Brazil,” highlighted in a note festival director Ana Camila Esteves. “The program is expanding its reach and relevance by bringing African filmmakers to the country and promoting cinematography from the continent among Brazilian audiences,” she added.
Watch the trailers:
A Tale of Love and Desire
Suspended Wives
You Will Die at 20
143 Sahara Street
The Gravedigger’s Wife
Quick facts:
African Film Festival 2022
July 6 to 20 in São Paulo
July 7 to 13 in Curitiba
Virtual short film session hosted by Sesc São Paulo
Translated by Elúsio Brasileiro
