Cameroon’s enfant terrible filmmaker Jean-Pierre Bekolo is back with another work that I suspect will be much talked about. His last film, “Le President” (“The President”), which premiered during Fespaco 2013 (not in Official Selection, but at the Goethe Institut of Ouagadougou, Burkina… Continue Reading →...
- 6/20/2016
- by Tambay Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
Filmmaker Jean-Pierre Bekolo will be the keynote speaker at the African Film and Politics Conference organized by the Africa Media Centre at the University of Westminster in London.Bekoko will screen his latest film The President, which will be screened on the Sunday Nov. 10th, with a Q and A with the director afterward, and which criticizes both his country’s dictatorship as well as Western cinematic conventions, as a case study for his lecture about “making movies from a mental and physical place.”Along with Bekolo, writer, academic and filmmaker Imruh Bakari, who is the former Festival Director of the Zanzibar International Film Festival, and currently a Senior...
- 10/27/2013
- by Sergio
- ShadowAndAct
A film that screened during Fespaco 2013 (not in Official Selection, but at the Goethe Institut of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso), and which has effectively been banned in the filmmaker's country (Cameroon) due to content that's critical of the government, Jean-Pierre Bekolo's latest film, Le President (The President), has been picked up by African video-on-demand platform Buni TV (www.buni.tv, a service of Buni Media, the production company behind The Xyz Show, Kenya’s hit political satire show with an audience of 10 million), which will thankfully make the film widely-available. In short, Cameroonian authorities didn't approve of the film's seemingly daring,...
- 10/7/2013
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
From the same folks who brought you The Future Weird last month (which included a screening of Cameroonian director Jean-Pierre Bekolo’s satirical sci-fi vampire film Les Saignantes), comes another screening series event titled The Future Weird: Black Atlantis, which will include the U.S. premiere of Simon Rittmeier's Burkina Faso-shot, 30-minute 16mm sci-fi film Drexciya, as well as shorts from Akosua Adoma Owusu, Nikyatu Jusu, Barry Jenkins, Kibwe Tavares + more. All names I'm sure you're familiar with.The event will take place on Monday, August 26 at 8pm, also at Spectacle Theater (like the last screening series),...
- 8/26/2013
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
A film that premiered during Fespaco 2013 (not in Official Selection, but at the Goethe Institut of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso), and which has effectively been banned in the filmmaker's country (Cameroon) due to content that's critical of the government, here's a trailer for Jean-Pierre Bekolo's latest film, Le President (The President). In short, Cameroonian authorities didn't approve of the film's seemingly daring plot, which sees the film's fictional president disappear a few days before elections (although it's clearly meant to be the country's real-life president, Paul Biya, who has been in power for more than 30 years). In the film, a mockumentary, which I have seen and will...
- 7/31/2013
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
'The Future Of Weird: Visions Of Excess' (Films By Jean Pierre Bekolo, Wangechi Mutu, Kibwe Tavares)
An intriguing event taking this week, Wednesday, July 31, at Spectacle Theater, 124 S. 3rd Street, Brooklyn, New York 11211. Included in the screening series is Cameroonian director Jean-Pierre Bekolo’s satirical sci-fi vampire film Les Saignantes (The Bleeders), a film I saw here in NYC about 4 years ago. In short, the film (billed as sci-fi, although it's more of a genre-busting trip) is about 2 high-class prostitutes, who also happen to be lesbians (they call themselves "Les Saignantes," or "The Bleeders" or "The Bloodettes") in the year 2025, who use their sexuality to gain access to some of the highest ranking political officials in Cameroon, supposedly with...
- 7/29/2013
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
In case you haven’t heard… today is the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day!
And while you can visit the International Women’s Day website (Here) to network and learn about or share related news, events, resources, and much more, here at Shadow And Act, I’m making my small contribution to celebrate the occasion with a survey… yes, I’m making you work on International Women’s Day
But I think you’ll like the question and find it easy enough to answer, so here it goes… list your top 5 black feminist/black woman-centered films. Like I said, easy enough, right?
I suspect we’ll see some mentions of Julie Dash’s Daughters of the Dust, Kasi Lemmons’ Eve’s Bayou, Cheryl Dunye’s Watermelon Woman, or Ayoka Chenzira’s Alma’s Rainbow, or maybe even Tyler Perry’s For Colored Girls, or really almost all of Tyler Perry’s films.
And while you can visit the International Women’s Day website (Here) to network and learn about or share related news, events, resources, and much more, here at Shadow And Act, I’m making my small contribution to celebrate the occasion with a survey… yes, I’m making you work on International Women’s Day
But I think you’ll like the question and find it easy enough to answer, so here it goes… list your top 5 black feminist/black woman-centered films. Like I said, easy enough, right?
I suspect we’ll see some mentions of Julie Dash’s Daughters of the Dust, Kasi Lemmons’ Eve’s Bayou, Cheryl Dunye’s Watermelon Woman, or Ayoka Chenzira’s Alma’s Rainbow, or maybe even Tyler Perry’s For Colored Girls, or really almost all of Tyler Perry’s films.
- 3/8/2011
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
Skimming the just-released list of titles in the Berlinale Forum next month – the festival’s section dedicated to avant-garde and experimental filmmaking…
Immediately noticed Congolese filmmaker Djo Tunda Wa Munga’s Viva Riva!, which screened at the Toronto Film Festival last fall, as This post from Sergio last August mentions.
I thought I’d mention the film again, as I’ve uncovered a few still images from it, as well as a poster (to the left), and some first impressions; but, unfortunately, still no trailer.
But first, let me say that it’s certainly very rare to hear/read the words “avant-garde” or “experimental filmmaking,” and African cinema from any country, spoken or written in the same sentence. Not that filmmakers in (or films about) Africa don’t work in those styles… we can go back to the films of Jean Rouch and his “mentees,” as well as Ousmane Sembene’s La Noire De,...
Immediately noticed Congolese filmmaker Djo Tunda Wa Munga’s Viva Riva!, which screened at the Toronto Film Festival last fall, as This post from Sergio last August mentions.
I thought I’d mention the film again, as I’ve uncovered a few still images from it, as well as a poster (to the left), and some first impressions; but, unfortunately, still no trailer.
But first, let me say that it’s certainly very rare to hear/read the words “avant-garde” or “experimental filmmaking,” and African cinema from any country, spoken or written in the same sentence. Not that filmmakers in (or films about) Africa don’t work in those styles… we can go back to the films of Jean Rouch and his “mentees,” as well as Ousmane Sembene’s La Noire De,...
- 1/17/2011
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
The Babelgum Online Film Festival names Van Poynton's 'Where the Monsters Go' as Best Narrative Short, production wraps on the set of Eilish Mernagh's 'The Prodigal Son' and Red Jam Productions' 'Mr Foley' wins Best Sound Scape at the Euopean Centre for the Arts. The Babelgum Online Film Festival's Jury Prize for Best Narrative Short has been awarded to 'Where the Monsters Go', from Irish director Van Poynton (Rough Patch). The renowned international jury of Carlos Battilana, Jean-Pierre Bekolo Obama, Richard Linklater, Sally Potter, Annie Sundberg, Rick Watson and Jason Wishnow judged the shortlisted films and the winning shorts will screen as part of a ceremony during the Tribeca Film Festival in New York on Wednesday 28th April.
- 4/27/2010
- IFTN
I actually saw this film here in NYC about 2 years ago… other than the soundtrack, which I dug, the film didn’t do much for me. Being part Cameroonian (the filmmaker is Cameroonian, and the film is set there), I really wanted it to like it. But didn’t. Although I didn’t hate it.
However, being that I’m much more Zen nowadays, and have been revisiting films from past years that I initially didn’t care for, I’m going to give it a second look, and see if my reception of it changes. Watching the trailer for Pumzi, the Kenyan sci-fi dramatic short which just screened at Sundance, reminded me of it. And, given that most of you likely haven’t heard of it, consider this your intro.
In short, the film (billed as sci-fi, although it’s more of a genre-busting trip) is about 2 high-class prostitutes (they call themselves “Les Saignantes,...
However, being that I’m much more Zen nowadays, and have been revisiting films from past years that I initially didn’t care for, I’m going to give it a second look, and see if my reception of it changes. Watching the trailer for Pumzi, the Kenyan sci-fi dramatic short which just screened at Sundance, reminded me of it. And, given that most of you likely haven’t heard of it, consider this your intro.
In short, the film (billed as sci-fi, although it’s more of a genre-busting trip) is about 2 high-class prostitutes (they call themselves “Les Saignantes,...
- 2/11/2010
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
Similar to the Golden Globes because it is a foreign group of film journalists who conduct the voting (though I'm sure they have no mandate to prefer films loaded in stars), this year's the 15th Lumiere Awards has a pair of films in the top tier that recently that duked it out for the Louis Delluc award. Philippe Lioret's Welcome (which just got picked up by Film Movement this week) and Jacques Audiard's A Prophet (a Spc release next February) received five and four noms respectively. - Similar to the Golden Globes because it is a foreign group of film journalists who conduct the voting (though I'm sure they have no mandate to prefer films loaded in stars), this year's the 15th Lumière Awards has a pair of films in the top tier that recently that duked it out for the Louis Delluc award. Philippe Lioret...
- 12/18/2009
- IONCINEMA.com
So… I’ve looked over the list of Sundance feature films in and out of competition, searching for any and all films by and/or about people of African descent, and, as has been the case for many years with all the most “industry-relevant” film festivals – festivals that consistently attract industry execs, looking for product to buy and/or sell (Sundance, Cannes, SXSW, Toronto, etc) – there are so few films by and about people who aren’t white; for the purposes of this blog, I’m obviously most interested in films that tell stories primarily about black people, all over the world.
Last year, like most other years, there were 2 or 3 “black films,” at most, that attracted enough industry and audience attention to garner distribution deals – Medicine For Melancholy, A Good Day To Be Black & Sexy, & Ballast; If I’m forgetting any, let me know. Regardless, my point is that...
Last year, like most other years, there were 2 or 3 “black films,” at most, that attracted enough industry and audience attention to garner distribution deals – Medicine For Melancholy, A Good Day To Be Black & Sexy, & Ballast; If I’m forgetting any, let me know. Regardless, my point is that...
- 12/8/2009
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
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