Sean Jacobs's Blog, page 583

Celebrating African women filmmakers

Two events in London this year focused on female filmmakers working in African cinema. This is high exposure for a demographic of the African film industry that is generally low on the radar.

Last month a group of academics, filmmakers and critics from around the world converged at a conference in London to celebrate the work of African women in film. The event was held at the University of Westminster. Those attending heard from important female filmmakers such as Jihan El-Tahri, director of "Behind the Rainbow" (2008) and Yaba Badoe, director of "The Witches of Gambaga" (2010) who discussed their experiences as independent filmmakers. Writing at subtitledonline.com, Katy Stewart records that both women passionately broached controversial issues, denying labels that are often imposed upon them for the benefit of funders and commissioners.

Earlier in November at Film Africa 2011–the revived version of the London African Film Festival–a special programme of screenings and discussions focused on female filmmakers whose films covered the broad spectrum of short film, experimental, documentary and feature filmmaking.

Directors such as Zina Saro-Wiwa, whose films are exciting pieces of experimental cinema, and Rungano Nyoni, a young Zambian filmmaker and director of the award-winning "Mwansa The Great," were both in attendance in London. They spoke about their experiences, their films and their influences, admitting that to work independently and create narratives of their own choosing is increasingly tough in an industry where the pressures of funders can overwhelm ideas and narratives. Nyoni admits that for her brilliant short film "Mwansa the Great," if Mwansa's father had explicitly died of AIDS, she would have received much more funding. It was only fitting that Nyoni received her award for Best Short Film at the festival by the godmother of African cinema, Sarah Maldoror, whose own work sets a high, politically charged and engaged standard as early at 1973. (You can read my post about Sarah Maldoror on AIAC here)

If both events can be taken as a reading of the current health of African filmmaking, and women's roles within, then the outlook seems far from bleak, in fact, the opposite. It is clear that women are showing a fierce and passionate will to overcome the difficulties of the industry. Whether questioning controversial practices shrouded in belief, as with "Witches of Gambaga," or uncovering the vastly complicated history of one of Africa's most famous political parties, the ANC, as with El-Tahri's "Behind the Rainbow," female directors are not afraid to criticize at the status quo. Zina Saro-Wiwa experiments with narrative and form in her film "Phyllis," an atmospheric portrait of a woman obsessed with watching Nollywood: it's a subversive, feminist response to Nollywood, critiquing the unforgiving treatment of single women in Nigeria in general. All the filmmakers mentioned, and more, are producing critical and exciting films that are changing the way we think about the various pockets of activity that we call 'African cinema' in general.

* The still at the top of this post is from Saro Wiwa's "Phyllis."

New Films

This list is partly self-indulgent. It is also a way–hopefully weekly–for me to keep an online record of films I still would like to see. Here's a few.

First up, Lotte Stoofs's documentary film about the life of a landmark hotel in Beira, Mozambique:

"Swahili Fighting Words," a feature documentary about a Tanzanian filmmaker's search for his family roots:

"The Encounter," a short about "a young white woman on a search for inner peace, [who] gets stuck in an elevator with an older African man":

Then there's "Umkhungo," a short film by a Johannesburg director that weds Hollywood and popular South African beliefs about the supernatural:

There seems to be a few films with themes on gay beauty competitions in Cape Town. We've blogged here about "Glitterboys and Ganglands." Now there's "Sisterhood," a film about 3 farmworkers who dream of acceptance and winning a local drag competition.

The documentary "Blood in the Mobile":

Director Franck Piasecki Poulsen embarks on a personal mission to uncover the origin of the minerals in his Nokia cell phone. Navigating the bureaucracy, corruption, and dangers of eastern Congo, he arrives at Bisie, one of the largest and most notorious illegal mines in the region, where armed groups maintain tight control and inhumane conditions, and child labor runs rampant. Determined to know if his cell phone is funding conflict in Congo, Poulsen works his way into Nokia's corporate offices, where he confronts executives about their mineral supply chain.

Here's the trailer:

Tom hasn't yet seen the film "Blue Bird," by Belgian director Gust van den Berghe, about "two African children" who leave "their village" to find their lost blue bird. Yes the bird is literally black. I think it is supposed to be a fable or a fairy tale:

Finally, some short films in their entirety. (These I have watched):

I like the 3 shorts on cultural producers from the DRC made by Cultural Resistance. First up, "Thembo Kash: Cartooning for Justice," a 5 minute film about a political cartoonist. Sample opinion: "I've drawn Congo as a cake. People are helping themselves, but the Congolese don't benefit from it":

Then there's a film about rapper Lexxus Legal, "a long-time veteran of the hip-hop scene in the DRC":

Finally, there's a film about the legendary Papa Wemba (he's been singing since 1969) talking about his music and politics in the DRC:

The fear-riddled DNA

What was Egg Films thinking? This award-winning South African production house responsible for several corporate commercials and short films created this video for 'The DNA project', a local "not-for-profit company committed to advancing justice through the expanded use of DNA evidence in conjunction with a national DNA criminal intelligence database." The Project prides itself on making this ad which, they say, "creates conversation," because "it is paradoxical: a cigarette saves lives in a commercial where the lead woman dies." If any conversation ensues at all, I've got a feeling it will not be about its intended message to "never disturb a crime scene," but rather about its framing which feeds into a fear-riddled white South African state of mind.

"Iconic" Africa

Four news photos taken in Africa made Time's "Top 10 Photos of 2011″ cut last week. They're all in "conflict" situations–two in Libya's civil war (view it here and here), one in Egypt's Tahrir Square and this one, below, taken by photographer Dominic Nahr in Mogadishu, Somalia on August 9, 2011:

Here's the caption:

I have never watched children die in front of me before. Watching their last breath as their chest slowly and with long pauses slightly expand and then deflate again. Until, it suddenly stops. The children who arrived at the Banadir hospital in Mogadishu were in bad shape, but they were the lucky ones. Some of them who made it to the hospital early enough managed to pull through, even with limited medical supplies and overworked, unpaid, and tired nurses. However, for most, it was a place they came to die. Almost all the children I photographed on the second floor in the children's wing ended up dying. With some I did not even have a chance to know their names or ages. I would return to the room a couple of hours later and the bed the child was lying in before was either empty, or full again with a new child and mother.

In an introduction to the images Time's Ishaan Tharoor writes of these images as "iconic."

Shameless Self Promotion

Occasionally we have to promote our day jobs.  Here an op-ed that occasional AIAC blogger Herman Wasserman and I wrote last week for a South African publication on the latest manufactured scandal by the opposition Democratic Party (not to say that the ANC can't avoid scandals):

Helen Zille and the Democratic Alliance's media office are well schooled in the fine art of dictating the news cycle. In a media environment in which political reporting relies heavily on soundbytes, stage personalities and bedroom antics, they know a gap when they see one.

Such a gap presented itself this week when the Independent Newspaper Group sent out a letter inviting the DA to advertise in a (presumably paid-for) supplement it will be running next year to celebrate the ANC's centenary . She has reported Independent for political bias to the Press Ombudsman.

The tone of Zille's letter suggested she uncovered some type of fraud.

Zille has every right to complain to the Press Ombudsman – that is her right as a citizen of the country.

But in matters of ethics one has to be consistent, and therefore Zille's complaints should be evaluated in terms of the general journalistic practices in the country.

Notions of 'objectivity' and 'independence' are strong concepts in the professional ideology of journalists (and therefore also in the Press Code cited by Zille), and they are usually applied especially vigorously in the context of political reporting.

But these aren't unproblematic or self-evident concepts. Most media practitioners now agree objectivity and independence is very hard to attain or maintain.

The question should be ask whether objectivity and neutrality are always desirable, and whether journalists should not be encouraged to take a position on important issues. Also, we have to ask why objectivity and independence are insisted upon in some instances and not in other cases. Should the DA not also complain when journalists are not objective or independent when reporting (if they bother to report at all) on strikes, "service delivery" protests, economic policy, etcetera?

The irony is that in many of these issues, South African journalists are more likely to parrot the DA's criticism of irresponsible strikers, opportunistic protesters or inefficient government.

Fairness as an ethical value is perhaps a better yardstick for journalists, and one that does not necessarily require of journalists to suspend their intellects, make excuses for having an opinion or paralyse them from taking a stance when needed.

The principle behind the demand for independence in political reporting is of course important; media's widely accepted role is to assist voters or citizens to make informed political choices.

But it is usually not considered unfair reporting when newspapers declare their support for a particular party or candidate. This is common practice the world over.  This is par for the course in mainstream British journalism, which has been so influential in the history of South Africa's press. The Times slant their reporting to the Conservatives, The Guardian historically to the Labour Party.  Even in the United States, where the ideology of 'professionalism' hides the narrow political consensus in the media, newspapers publicly endorse candidates for public office (from police chief, to Judges or President).

In South Africa, the DA (and its forerunner, the DP) has had more success with the country's media—in terms of electoral endorsements—than the ANC could ever wish for. Observers of South Africa's democratic elections noted that while the DA gained less than 2% of the vote, it garnered 90% of editorial endorsements.  The last time a newspaper openly endorsed a candidate was in 1999 when Peter Bruce of Business Day endorsed Bantu Holomisa's UDM.  The DA did not question the bona fides of these papers to deliver a free press.

In fact, more recently the fact that the print media's slant on stories are often line up with DA talking points, is an open secret among journalists and political operatives.

Any sign of support for the ANC is frowned on disproportionally to the same level of sympathy for the DA. (It is interesting to note how journalists reacted with venom towards their colleagues at the New Age, for its purported ANC bias).

This stance can partly be traced to the liberal-democratic normative framework followed by South African media where they see themselves as 'watchdogs' of democracy. This means they usually take up an adversarial stance towards the government, sometimes even a knee-jerk hostility. In a study conducted by one of the authors a few years ago, political journalists that were interviewed often fashioned themselves as an unofficial opposition to the ANC, because the ruling party is so dominant and they believed the country's political system need more balance.[JJ2]

Zille's central criticism, based on an appeal to the Press Code, is that the Independent Group's carrying of a supplement celebrating the ANC's centenary represents a conflict of interest, and that the supplement represents a 'political interest' that will 'influence or slant reporting'.

Putting aside for a moment that we're talking about a paid advertorial here and not editorial copy, it's not impossible to rule out that Independent Newspapers might be less eager to criticise the ANC in a paper that at the same time carries a supplement celebrating its centenary.

But given the press's track record of anti-government and anti-ANC sentiments, this is unlikely. Let's also remember that reporting on a historical event, about a party with a long history that, regardless of your political stance you can't be denied was highly influential in bringing an end to a racial dictatorship, does not in and of itself represent bias or slanted reporting.

At the same time, we recognise this is a paid supplement, and not supposed to be 'neutral' political reporting. The collaboration with the ANC is not hidden away, it is out in the open. It does not purport to give political information to help voters make up their minds in an election, it is a way for Independent newspapers to make money.

But Zille is also selective in her criticism.

There is a conflict of interest here, but it's not the one Zille highlights between 'objective, independent' reporting and the commemoration of a milestone in a political party's history.

It's between media freedom and commercial interests.

And it's that conflict that one sees more and more in the South African media industry, as newspapers wrap business copy in advertising supplements for corporations, paid "lifestyle" supplements, or close parts of their media business that don't guarantee huge profit margins or choose to report on political celebrities (like Malema) rather than on the political substance of their policies (say for instance a good investigative piece on the ethics of offering people money for HIV tests because poverty allows for their health decisions to be commodified).

Zille is right about one thing, and this is that it is deeply ironic that the media are (rightly so) quick to criticise the ANC for proposing a Media Appeals Tribunal and passing a Protection of State Information Bill, yet even quicker to take the ANC's money, or the money of advertisers willing to align themselves with political power for commercial interests.

The ANC centenary supplement might be a foolish commercial decision by  Independen Newspaperst, if it results in them losing support among an anti-ANC readership, or it might win readers for them among ANC supporters. This would be a matter for their marketing department to decide. The point is, this was in all likelihood a commercial rather than a political decision.

But it is this rabid commercialisation that presents the biggest conflict of interest for media in a transitional democracy and a highly unequal country. The ANC supplement ultimately is less about politics than about money– and therein lies the ultimate irony. Independent Newspapers' decision to run this supplement is not so much an example of unethical and misleading journalism – it is a paid for advertorial after all, and the commercial relationship at play is made clear for everyone to see – as it is an indication of the fact that editorial positions in the South African media are all too often for sale to the highest bidder.

If Zille is eager to improve the standards of journalism in the country – and we'll be the first to admit there is plenty of room for improvement – she should rail against the superficiality of political coverage, the lazy press-release journalism that regurgitates verbatim the propaganda of party spokespeople and the tendency for political journalists to amplify the voices of political spin doctors rather than listen more closely to the poor and the marginalized, who are still too often the silent recipients of political policies designed to make headlines. But, since this type of journalism usually works so well for the DA, why would she?

Source.

"The Somali Neurosis"

14-minute clip from a recent TV profile by Norwegian television of a visit by Somali novelist Nuruddin Farah to that country. I never imagined book TV could look this good and informative.

Tradition, immigration, colonialism, exile, etcetera, gets an airing. We especially love how Farah turns the Norwegian interviewer's questions about war, corruption and sadness to the personal or familial.

The clip also includes an interview with Brit-Somali novelist Nadifa Mohamed.

 Here's a link to a second part on Youtube (there's some repetition though).

Kenya Independence Day

Three Kenyan videos to remember today's Independence Day. Three popular tunes for our Independence meme. A 'celebration' of sorts turned out to be a useful lead for the first two. Madtraxx's 'Ida Waiter' (with a nod to South African kwaito and that Prodigy video):

Camp Mulla's making a buzz lately. What with 'Party Don't Stop':

And Mejja's going where few other popular Kenyan artists dare to go in 'Landlord' — talking politics ("usiniharibie siku bana landlord"):

The Economist's Africa

In May 2000 The Economist ran a cover story: "Africa. The Hopeless Continent." People couldn't stop talking about it for a long while afterward. It spawned countless op-eds about Afro-pessimism and -optimism. It even became the basis for "Contemporary African Politics" college courses for a while. Now last week, they ran this feature cover (above) –complete with silhouetted boy with kite running across the savannah– where the magazine predicts a more hopeful scenario for the continent's 54 states. The feature is completed by a glowing leader ("Angola and Equatorial Guinea are oil-sodden kleptocracies, Rwanda and Ethiopia are politically noxious, Congo looks barely governable and hideously corrupt, South Africa is tainted with corruption" but "Africa is at last getting a taste of peace and decent government") and a 3-page article. The most remarkable thing about this cover feature is that it was a non-event. Problem is, the media environment has changed. And no one is waiting for The Economist's verdict any more. Not much new here from the stuff you can read on blogs or the countless boosterist tweets you have to mine through everyday. People who measure Africa's progress by how many dollar billionaires it has will be happy to hear that "the richest black person in the world" is not Oprah Winfrey and her $3 billion fortune –that only makes her "the wealthiest black person in America"– but Aliko Dangote, the Nigerian cement king.

Four news photos taken on African continent made Time's "...

Four news photos taken on African continent made Time's "Top 10 Photos of 2011″ cut last week.  They're all in "conflict" situations–two in Libya's civil war (view it here and here), one in Egypt's Tahrir Square. And this one taken by photographer Dominic Nahr in Mogadishu, Somalia on August 9, 2011:

Here's the caption:

I have never watched children die in front of me before. Watching their last breath as their chest slowly and with long pauses slightly expand and then deflate again. Until, it suddenly stops. The children who arrived at the Banadir hospital in Mogadishu were in bad shape, but they were the lucky ones. Some of them who made it to the hospital early enough managed to pull through, even with limited medical supplies and overworked, unpaid, and tired nurses. However, for most, it was a place they came to die. Almost all the children I photographed on the second floor in the children's wing ended up dying. With some I did not even have a chance to know their names or ages. I would return to the room a couple of hours later and the bed the child was lying in before was either empty, or full again with a new child and mother.

As Time's Ishaan Taroor writes in an introduction to the images: "We're in the business of making icons."

Music Break. Friday Bonus Edition

It's Tanzania's Independence Day today. Ngoni celebrates it in style. He's part of a tribe now:

You won't see or hear a more exciting song by a South African rapper this year than Kanyi's 'Ingoma'. Produced by Mananz, with Teboho Semela (sister of Ben Sharpa) on violin. From Gugulethu, Cape Town:

Also from Cape Town, Nyanga, are Ruffest. Siyabenzela:

Just A Band released a new video. Huff + Puff. It comes with a story, and a decent beat:

On 'Life's Gone Down Low,' Nas sampled the Lijadu Sisters from Nigeria. They were last famous in the late 1970s. But you should be hearing more about them since their albums are being reissued by Knitting Factory Records, starting with 'Danger' this month. Here's a recent video interview and some acapela with the sisters, 53-year-old twins, courtesy of The Fader.

Finally, Canadian-Rwandan rapper Shad K traveled to the mother country to perform at a music festival. A video crew trailed him: