In his review of the film, David Poland of Hot Blog describes the film as “emotionally over-powering.” (He also speculates on what the Hollywood remake would look like.)

I really liked the film and hopes it gets a wider airing.

In the clips below, you can see the aunties at work.

While making the documentary, “African Underground: Democracy in Dakar,” which “… explores the transformative role of hip-hop on politics in Senegal, West Africa during the February 2007 presidential election campaign,” the filmmakers posted segments on the internet. That’s the first web episode above.

If you liked that, next week the full documentary–now complete–will be screened (Thursday, 23 June) at at The 92nd Y on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

Meanwhile you can watch the web episodes here.

Exactly one year from today, the World Cup kicks off in South Africa.  So its a good time to post about football. Good time to talk about football and film.

One of the teams trying to make it for South Africa 2010 is France. They currently lie second in their group in the European qualifiers for the tournament.  Serbia looks set to take top spot in group play with France having to enter a knockout competition for 2010. In 1998 the French were in a worse position, but won the final of the tournament in Paris against a lackluster Brazil in Paris. (You can watch the goals–including two by Zinedine Zidane–in the video above.)

If you’re in New York City, you can relive that 1998 campaign on screen in the documentary “Les Yeux Dans Les Bleus” (The Year of the Blues), which will be shown as part of the inaugural edition of “Kicking and Screening,” a film festival about football in New York City next month.

The other films are “Once in a Lifetime: The extraordinary story of the New York Cosmos,” “FC Barcelona Confidential,” and “In the Hands of the Gods.”

The festival also includes a panel discussion about David Beckham’s impact on soccer in the United States.

More detail here.

Ousmane Sembène’s films age well.

The Senegalese filmmaker passed in 2006 at 84 years. His features, which include “Mandabe,” “Xala” (it charts the travails of postcolonial elites) and “Moolade” (the latter a polemic against female genital mutilation) can compare with any of the great masters of twentieth century film.

However, it is his first film, “Borom Sarret,” that best represents his oeuvre as well as his politics (which he lived through his films).

“Borom Sarret” seems quaint by today’s standards. It was shot with a 16mm camera in black and white and is only 20 minutes long, but a lot is packed into that twenty minutes.

Before Sembene made films, the Dakar native had already worked as a fisherman, bricklayer, dockworker and labor organizer (in Marseille, France), written a novel, “Les Bouts de bois de Dieu,” (in English, “God’s Bits of Wood”) and studied cinema in Moscow. Those experiences are well reflected in his work.

The story of “Borom Sarret” is straightforward . It revolves around the day in the life of a poor cart driver. He gets taken in by a host of people that he encounters who either want a ride for free or exploits his good nature. The cart driver eventually gets ticketed by a policeman when he ventures into the former European quarter of the city, where his cart gets confiscated. That night he returns home to his wife and child sans cart and no money. The film concludes with the cart driver’s wife handing him their child and leaving, presumably to make money.

I’ve seen the film at lease a dozen times and every time I see something different. I’ve  also use it in classes on modern African politics to illustrate the transition from colonialism to independence. It often leads to discussions of working class life and the role of the state, the market, the police, poverty and decency, including outside Africa, among my students. It is not surprising that a number of contemporary filmmakers—and critics—honor Sembene as the father of African cinema.

* Originally written for the program of a tribute evening to Sembene organized by The New York African Film Festival.

Searing 23-minute film, “Not Yet Rain,” about attempts to ensure safe abortions in Ethiopia, where thousands of women die each year from pregnancy-related complications. Despite the fact that Ethiopia passed a far-reaching abortion law in 2006, safe abortions are still unattainable in most cases.

The film is directed by Brooklyn-based Lisa Russell. (The film was funded by IPAS, a Chapel Hill-based organization “… that works around the world to increase women’s ability to exercise their sexual and reproductive rights, and to reduce abortion-related deaths and injuries.”

“Inja” (Dog), a short film by South African-Australian director Steve Pasvolsky, about a relationship between a dog and two men–a white farmer and a black farmhand in South Africa. (The film won the award for Best Short Film at the American Academy Award in 2003.)

Worth the 17 minutes.

Earlier this month, ESPN screened “Kobe Doin’ Work,” by American director, Spike Lee.

In the film, Lee focused 30 cameras on Kobe Bryant, the star point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers, during a regular season game against the San Antonio Spurs. Lee captured Bryant’s every move at the expense of the game or his teammates.  Lee acknowledged that he got the idea for the film from the 2006 film,”Zidane. A 21st Century Protrait” (2006). In that film, directors Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno trained 17 cameras for 90 minutes on Zinedane Zidane, the French midfielder during a Spanish league game between Zidane’s club, Real Madrid, and Villareal.

What most people don’t know is that both the Bryant film and the Zidane film was based on a much older, and more interesting, football film.

In September 1970 German avant-garde director Helmut Costard–in what was a revolutionary concept at the time–used eight cameras, to film Northern Ireland football star George Best for a league match between his club, Manchester United, and Coventry City. The result was the 100 minute film, “Fußball wie noch nie” (Football as never before), that was released one year later.

I’ve always wanted to see the Best film.

On Tuesday, June 2, Cabinet Magazine is organizing a screening of the George Best film, followed by a discussion with the cultural critic Simon Critchley (300 Nevins Street, Brooklyn, NY, FREE. No RSVP necessary).

Sadly, I can’t go as I will be in Washington D.C. But if you’re in the New York City area, go see it.

In the context of my current obsession with the “South African film industry“–where the national film commission acknowledges that a paltry 8 to 10 high budget films are completed every year which nobody watches*–comes the news about a small, but sustainable film industry in the minority Venda-language.

South African public television screened a documentary about “Vendawood” last month.

I have not seen the film yet, but the PR suggests that the films, mostly comedies, focus on “ordinary life” and have “have become favorites around the country.” Budgets are small, and the actors are “the actors are friends and family members.” As for the old distribution and exhibition question, “… all their films are made for the DVD market and they usually break even within the first month of release.”

The documentary, while noting that films in Venda is aimed at a niche market, asks: “Is this the way to go for South African filmmakers?

Source.

HT: Ryan Fortune

* A rare exception is a film like the new fiction feature, “White Wedding,” which equaled the takings of “Slumdog Millionaire”‘during its opening weekend at South African multiplexes.