One of the most important figures in African film, Paulin Soumanou Vieyra is a name that deserves to be better known. After directing the first substantial film by a French-speaking sub-Saharan African, Afrique sur Seine, in 1955, Vieyra went on to become the first African admitted to study at the Institut des hautes études cinématographiques… Read more »
With her mesmerizing debut feature Faya Dayi, Ethiopian-Mexican filmmaker Jessica Beshir returned to her hometown of Harar to document its rural Oromo community of farmers and the harvesting of the khat plant, the country’s most desired export. Photographed in swooning black and white, Beshir’s Oscar-shortlisted film is both a loving tribute to Ethiopia and a… Read more »
Guest post by Dr. Jeff Holdeman. Halfway around the world and 25 years ago, starting on April 7, 1994, some 800,000 to 1,000,000 Rwandans in a country of 10 million were killed by their fellow Rwandans in just 100 days. Doing the grim calculation yields an answer of 10% of the population killed at an… Read more »